For those suffering with Sciatica, even the smallest tasks can be painful and difficult to complete. Sciatica is a common pain, which affects the sciatic nerve. This is a crucial nerve running from your lower back, down each leg. When you have Sciatica, the pain can be in either leg (or both) and can be felt in the hip area, buttocks, or feet too.
Common symptoms of Sciatica
Different people feel sciatic pain in different ways, and it affects people in different places too. Because the sciatic nerve stretches across such a large area of your body, people can experience flare-ups and pain across a wide variety of areas.
Some of these include:
- Lower back pain
- Sharp / stabbing pain in hips or legs
- Sharp pain in buttocks and lower hips
- Burning or tingling down the leg
- ‘Pins and needles’ sensation in the leg or buttocks
- Weakness in legs
- Numbness in legs or feet
- Shooting pain from buttocks down the legs
- Constant sharp pain in hips
- Pain when walking or sitting
For the majority of people, Sciatica usually only affects one side of the body, however it can affect both sides in bad cases. It depends on where the sciatic nerve has been affected.
How can a Chiropractor help?
Because Sciatica can vary so much from person to person, a personalised approach to healing needs to be taken, and this is something that can be done by chiropractic care. Unfortunately medication will not get rid of the Sciatica and usually doctors will only be able to prescribe pain relief or medication for inflammation (which can help manage the symptoms, but will not get rid of the issue).
A Chiropractor will work with you to understand the cause of the Sciatica, and will use a variety of methods to start addressing the issue and bring balance back to the body. Using a Chiropractor to help your Sciatica can help get rid of the pain quicker, and can help prevent it from occurring again in the future.
Sciatica Treatments Used by Chiropractors:
Ice/Cold Therapy: This can help by reducing the inflammation of the affected area and can help control the nerve pain. It reduces inflammation and helps control sciatic pain.
Ultrasound: This is a gentle treatment and works by generating sound waves that penetrate into the affected bodily tissues. It can help to increase circulation and reduce any spasming of the muscles. It also helps reduce cramps, swelling, stiffness and pain too (which can be a main part of the discomfort felt when suffering with Sciatica).
Adjustments (Spinal Manipulations): Spinal adjustments are what you expect to experience when you visit a Chiropractor, and it is certainly something that can aid Sciatica recovery. The Chiropractor can help restore flexibility and movement to the lower part of the body. This helps to restore normal vertebral movement in the spine, which can in turn reduce nerve irritation and pain.
Recommend home exercises: As part of your chiropractic treatment for sciatica, your chiropractor will likely recommend a few exercises and stretch to maintain at home. These will be tailored to you, and where you pain is originating from, and they can help build muscle strength and flexibility to prevent future cases of Sciatica arising.
