Natural Sciatica Pain Relief
Chiropractic and sciatica is a good match because chiropractic can address many of the issues that can cause sciatica pain. Sciatica occurs when the sciatic nerve is inflamed, compressed, or irritated.
The sciatic nerve is the largest and longest nerve in the human body. It starts at the spinal column close to your pelvis and runs down each leg. This nerve can be as wide as your thumb near its origination point. As the sciatic nerve progresses down the lower extremity, it breaks into five branches that serve your thigh, knee, calf, ankle and foot. From this, it is easy to see why it can be so incapacitating when this nerve is compressed.
Sciatica is a collection of symptoms including weakness, pain or numbness anywhere along the length of the sciatic nervepathway, which runs from the lower back, through the buttocks, and down the backs of the legs. Sciatica symptoms are very common, resulting in more lost work days than anything else except the common cold. Learn how Chiropractic, a drug-free, all-natural approach can provide the sciatica relief you need to get you back to work – and back to the things you enjoy.
Hard as it may be to believe, sciatica is not the cause of your crippling leg or back pain – it’s the symptom of it. Sciatica refers to the pain that occurs somewhere along the path traveled by the sciatic nerve, and it can be caused by a wide variety of underlying problems. Although the severity of sciatic pain is often so great that people assume it must be triggered by a major trauma such as a car accident, the truth is that sciatica is often the result of small, unnoticed events that create a cumulative effect. Bad posture, obesity and insufficient muscle tone, along with countless other factors, can, over time, weaken the back. Then something as simple as swinging your legs out of bed one morning can leave you incapacitated.
What Causes Sciatica Pain?
Some of the underlying causes of sciatica include:
- Herniated or bulging disc(s) in the lower back
- Bone spurs in the lower back
- Degenerative disc disease
- Trauma
In the case of herniated or bulging discs, the discs press on or crowd nearby nerves, creating irritation and inflammation that results in pain in the leg(s), back or both. Similarly, bone spurs (often resulting from arthritis) can protrude into the spinal area normally reserved for nerves, irritating the nerves and resulting in sciatica pain. With degenerative disc disease, often one disc protrudes over another, pinching and inflaming the nerve. In a traumatic event such as a car accident, any number of things can compress a nerve, leading to the painful effects of sciatica. And finally, in many cases the cause of sciatica is simply not known.
What is known is that the underlying cause is often found in the lower back, with some structural nerve interference – which creates a domino effect of irritation and inflammation in other nearby nerves, ultimately resulting in compression of the sciatic nerve and the excruciating pain of sciatica. Fortunately, an all-natural solution exists!
Healing Sciatica Naturally
Traditional sciatica treatment options typically include drugs, exercise and even surgery – but these approaches only address the symptoms, not the cause of the problem. Pain relievers merely mask the symptoms of sciatica, and the pain returns every few hours anyway. Bed rest (or even just sitting) often worsens sciatica pain. Exercises and physical therapy do nothing to correct the underlying mal-positioned discs and can further irritate overtaxed structures. And surgery permanently alters the structure of your bones and discs. On the other hand, chiropractic works with your body’s own ability to heal itself to create lasting relief for sciatica.
Whether your sciatic pain is in your back, your legs or both, it is likely the result of a subluxations in your back, and correcting subluxations safely and naturally is just what chiropractors do! Chiropractic has helped millions find sciatica pain relief. Chiropractors focus on correcting the underlying cause of your problem, rather than simply offering temporary relief of symptoms.
Sciatica Relief Now!
Of course, results vary from one person to the next, but the reason chiropractic is the most sought-after alternative health care approach in the world is because we get results. Often patients report complete sciatica relief after a few visits. With regular chiropractic care, their sciatica flare-ups are both less frequent and less severe.
Take action today to address your sciatica pain at its source! Chiropractic is a safe, natural solution to your sciatica. Don’t let sciatica keep you from doing the things you love for one more day!
Source: http://www.choosenatural.com/alternative/medicine/9L/sciatica/sciatica.htm
Chiropractic Care For Sciatica – And What Do They Do?
First, let me tell you why today’s traditional treatment methods for sciatic nerve pain just flat out miss the boat. The medical community is so conditioned and focused on treating only the symptoms and trying to get in as many patients a day as possible, that many people are misdiagnosed and/or wrongly treated. In order to get rid of your sciatica you must first know what is causing your pain, and there are four conditions cause sciatica, but which is causing your pain? Sciatic nerve pain is simply caused by pressure being placed on the sciatic nerve and there are primarily four things that can create this. Chiropractors are a drugless form of medical care. In fact, it is accepted that this kind of care should be done before any invasive procedure is pursued such as back surgery. Chiropractic care has been well documented in being successful for sciatica. Sciatic pain is right up a Chiropractor’s alley, as Chiropractors are legendary in treating patients with back problems. They routinely diagnose and successfully treat back and leg pain. Whether you have a pinched nerve, muscle, ligament or tendon ailments that may be causing your pain a chiropractor will take the proper time to examine your back and leg pain to determine the exact source of your sciatic pain. Essentially, chiropractors help your body heal itself.
It is important to understand that sciatica is not an actual diagnosis but rather an underlying symptom of your problem. Achiropractor will start by assessing the known four culprits of the symptom sciatica. These four are:
• Herniated disc problems
• Spinal stenosis (narrowing)
• Piriformis Syndrome
• Isthmic Spondylolisthesis
Condition 1 – Piriformis Syndrome
This is the most common cause of sciatic pain and is created when pressure is placed on the sciatic nerve by the piriformis muscle. Muscle imbalances pull the hip joints and pelvis out of place and this changes the positioning of the piriformis muscle, which then places pressure on the sciatic nerve.
Condition 2 – Herniated Discs
Pressure caused by a herniated or bulging disc. A herniation is when a disc protrudes out from between the vertebrae and this can either be caused by an event like a car accident, or, by months or years of uneven pressure due to muscle imbalances. This can sometimes cause sciatic pain, but it is also important to note that many people with herniated discs don’t even experience pain or symptoms, and many don’t know they have the condition.
Condition 3 – Spinal Stenosis
Pressure can be caused by spinal stenosis, which is a decrease in the space between the vertebrae. This is primarily caused by uneven pressure and compression due to muscle imbalances.
Condition 4 – Isthmic Spondylolisthesis
Pressure can be caused by Isthmic spondylolisthesis which is simply when a vertebrae slips or moves. This can sometimes pinch the sciatic nerve but often times people who have this condition don’t have any sciatic pain, symptoms, or even know they have it! Sciatica comes about either due to a traumatic event, muscle imbalances, or a combination of both. The event scenario is most likely the catalyst for sudden onset of sciatic pain. So what happens? When there is undue stress on the Piriformis muscle that stress causes it to go into spasm and then you have pain due to the Piriformis muscle putting pressure on the sciatic nerve.
The best pain relief method for sciatica is to relieve the pressure on the sciatic nerve.
Whenever we discuss pain relief – whether for sciatica or any other injury – it’s important to distinguish between just relieving the pain and actually recovering from the injury. Most short-term pain relief is just that… short-term. If the underlying cause of the sciatica is not corrected the pain will inevitably return.
Anyone who suggests that there are many ways to treat sciatica is confusing temporary pain relief with actually correcting the problem. The only real solution for sciatica is to permanently relieve the pressure on the sciatic nerve and that requires rebuilding the support structure of your back.
It is necessary for a chiropractor to determine if your pain is caused by a herniated or ruptured disc. This condition in medical terms is known as sciatic neuritis. Neuritis means the nervous system is involved (neuro = nerves and itis = inflammation). The diagnosis (evaluation) and treatment program will be for “disc injury”.
If you don’t have neuritis, then the chiropractor will check for spinal stenosis. Spinal stenosis is another common cause of sciatica that is a narrowing of the spinal column that can generate inflammation of nerves. If this is your diagnosis for your leg pain, then you will be treated specifically for that.
So far, you don’t have a herniated disc or spinal stenosis so the chiropractor will look for lumbar facet symptoms. Your facet joints come in pairs at the back of each spinal vertebrae. These facet joints link the vertebrae above to the one below to form a functioning joint that allows for movement of the spine. Facet joint syndrome is referring to pain that occurs in your facet joints. These joints are filled with synovial fluid just like your spinal discs. Your discs act as cushions between your vertebra and the fact joint allows your vertebra to move in a number of different directions.
Don’t have any of the above? Now the chiropractor will look for nerve entrapment syndrome. What this is about is mechanical imbalances in the spine and hip with damaged discs (but not herniated) with facet joint movement restrictions. This can lead to muscular tightness that may lead to nerve entrapment of the sciatic nerve. The muscles involved here are the piriformis muscles.
Therefore, the goal of a chiropractor is to diagnose and treat you for that specific problem. This involves active hands on care to return full motion to the spine by treating disc, joint and muscle problems. The chiropractor’s goal is to return normal back function. The chiropractor’s job doesn’t end there. Overly, the chiropractor knows that prevention of back problems is important and will instruct you on how to keep your back healthy.
Chiropractic sciatica treatment involves focusing all attention towards certain spinal adjustments that ease or reduce the pressure on the compressed nerve or nerve root. The chiropractor performs certain adjustments along the spine which cause the compressed nerve to reach an unblocked or unobstructed state, thereby relieving the root cause of the sciatica pain. The Chiropractor may also require an X-Ray to conclusively decide that the cause behind the pain is related to any kind of obstruction of, or pressure on, the sciatic nerve. In almost all situations, sciatica pain comes from a protruding disc in the back and swelling discs are highly commonplace in the lower spinal column area. In general the discs act as cushions between the bones of the vertabrae; now at any rate if a disc in between the bones begins to pressing on the nerve around the backbone area, it is many agree tumors might arise resulting in the pressure being applied to the nerves in the back.
Though sciatica is often confused as a disorder, it is actually just a symptom that points towards a probable compressed sciatic nerve.