Sciatica is a symptom — a painful one — typically of something amiss within one or more nerves in the spine. While this condition’s source is usually the back, sciatica often presents itself as shooting pain, severe tingling, numbness, loss of motion or cramps in the leg. Fortunately, chiropractic techniques and holistic healing modalities can help alleviate and often resolve pain issues due to sciatica.
Primary Causes of Sciatica Pain
Again, sciatica is not a condition in itself, but rather a symptom resulting from an injury or condition that causes nerves in the spine to become ‘pinched.’ Even simple swelling can irritate nerves and result in excruciating pain flowing into affected areas in the buttocks and legs. Some conditions that source sciatica include:
- Herniated/Bulging or Slipped Discs: These conditions put pressure on nerve roots and are the most typical source of sciatica.
- Spinal Stenosis: Often associated with aging, stenosis occurs as the spinal canal narrows and causes pinching on nearby nerves.
- Piriformis Syndrome: The small piriformis muscle within the buttocks becomes tight or has spasms, putting pressure on the sciatic nerve.
- Spondylolisthesis: This is when a vertebra slips out of alignment and narrows the area where nerve endings flow causing sciatic pain.
Our Sacramento chiropractor will give you a full physical evaluation to help determine the cause of your sciatic pain. We’ll advise a series of chiropractic and diagnostic exams to confirm that you have sciatica.
Steps a Chiropractor Uses to Diagnose Sciatica
During a physical exam, you’ll do some motion and straight-leg tests to determine when and what specific motions instigate pain. This helps the chiropractor pinpoint affected nerves that may be associated with disc injuries. However, certain examinations require specialized equipment to get a proper diagnosis of the source of sciatica symptoms. They may include:
- Digital X-rays to identify spinal or pelvic subluxation or other irregularities done in the clinic.
- Referral for Nerve Conduction Velocity studies to evaluate how effectively electrical impulses flow through affected nerves to determine the degree of the injury.
- Referral for MRI studies to a local imaging center.
Once we've identified the issue, our chiropractor can begin working up a personalized treatment plan for your sciatica pain.
Chiropractic Treatments for Sciatica Symptoms
Chiropractors use holistic and natural remedies honoring ancient practices and philosophies and integrating them with modern healing technologies. These non-invasive techniques are widely used within chiropractic treatments for sciatica.
- Chiropractic adjustments, possibly including the Vertebral Distraction Pump, to align the spine, alleviate nerve pressure, relieve pain and other sciatica related conditions.
- Cold therapy and warm heat as your condition requires.
- Electrical Muscle Stimulation to reduce spasms, pain and encourage nerve communications.
- Physiotherapy and Core strengthening exercises
Our Sacramento chiropractor has the latest and most effective tools to get you back where you need to be -- sciatica free!
Suffer from Sciatica Pain? Contact Anderson Chiropractic Today
At Anderson Chiropractic in Sacramento, we can help alleviate your pain. We also want to make scheduling your appointments as easy as possible by offering online scheduling and the ability to fill out all forms prior to your arrival. This gives us more time to spend addressing your concerns and putting you at ease. Go online to make an appointment or call us at (916) 485-5433.