What Is Sciatica? What Are the Symptoms?
Sciatica refers to nerve pain around the sciatic nerve. This pain can be unbearable, but treating sciatica pain with chiropractic services is a solution. The symptoms of sciatica can include:
- Pain originating from the lower back down through the buttocks and legs
- The feeling of numbness or weakness in the lower back
- Pain that worsens with movement
- Feeling phantom pins and needles in the lower limb
- Loss of bladder or bowel control
- Significantly reduced range of movement
If you’re experiencing any combination of the above systems, you should explore options for treating sciatica pain. One such option is embracing chiropractic care.
How Can Chiropractic Services Help Relieve the Pain?
Chiropractic care works for sciatica because it can address the root cause of the problem and the symptoms. Chiropractors can use various approaches when treating sciatica pain. The treatment options they select will relate to the cause of sciatica for a specific patient.
Some of the options you’ll find in a sciatica treatment plan include, but are not limited to:
- Stretches and exercise – Stretches can provide instant sciatica pain relief. Some personalized stretches can help improve a patient’s range of motion, reducing or eliminating sciatica symptoms.
- Spinal manipulation – Spinal adjustments help to restore misalignments in the spinal column. The adjustments help reduce muscle spasms, inflammation, and sciatica pain.
- Ice cold therapy – This treatment relieves sciatica pain by reducing inflammation around the affected area.
- Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) – During this treatment, the chiropractor will use a portable muscle-stimulating machine to reduce muscle spasms and control acute pain.
What Are Some of the Most Common Causes of Sciatica?
The most common cause of sciatica is a slipped or herniated disk. It’s the cause of the pain in the vast majority of cases.
Other common causes of sciatica include:
- Spinal tumors – Tumors can compress the root of the sciatic nerve, causing pain.
- Lumbar spinal stenosis – This condition is the narrowing of the nerve passageways. The abnormal narrowing reduces the available space for the nerve and spinal cords.
- Spondylolisthesis – Patients with this condition have a misaligned disc.
- Injury – Any form of injury that affects the spine can cause sciatica pain.
- Cauda equina syndrome – This is a rare condition affecting the sacral and lumbar nerve roots.
How Can You Prevent Sciatica From Occurring?
You can prevent sciatica by implementing some behavioral changes. Some of the things you can do include the following:
- Quality movement – Having good mobility and joint stability is important for reducing wear and tear on your joints, muscle, and nerves & for preventing sciatica.
- Mind your posture – Maintain good posture at all times to avoid putting too much pressure on your lower back. Walking with a hunch or slouching in a chair for long periods can put too much strain on your lower back.
- Shed some weight – Excessive body weight will put a lot of pressure on your sciatic nerve. Taking steps to avoid becoming overweight is an excellent way to prevent sciatica pain.
- Quit smoking – A regular smoking habit can accelerate degenerative disc disease and other disc-related problems.
- Avoid sitting for long periods – Always stand up at least once an hour and complete some stretches to relieve any built-up pressure around the sciatic nerve.
Will I Need To See a Chiropractor on a Regular Basis To Keep the Pain Away?
You’ll need to see a chiropractor regularly only if you have persistent sciatica. With the combination of chiropractic treatment and our recommended behavioral changes, you can slowly reduce the pain’s severity. Our goal is to get you pain-free with the fewest appointments possible.
Until the pain goes away, be sure to keep up with chiropractic appointments. The treatment duration will depend upon the cause of the sciatica pain.
The number of treatments will reduce over time as you start to feel better. After you recover, your chiropractor will likely recommend maintenance visits to help your body retain the new alignment.
Sciatica Pain Relief & Recovery at St. Johns Chiropractic & Performance
St. Johns Chiropractic & Performance is a chiropractic clinic in St. Johns, FL, providing personalized plans for treating sciatica pain. Our team spends time one-on-one with our patients to get to the root of the problem.
Contact the St. Johns Chiropractic & Performance team at 904-217-7078 to schedule an appointment.
