Many sciatica chiropractors would say that if you’re experiencing a shooting, piercing pain that runs from the lower back to the legs, you’re probably suffering from sciatica pain. The sciatica is the longest nerve in your body, running from the buttocks right down to the toes.
The nerve could experience pain whenever you have a trapped nerve, disc herniation, Piriformis syndrome, or trigger point referral. Typically, symptoms of sciatica include the following:
- Leg pain that worsens when you sit
- Burning or tingling running down the leg
- Weakness, numbness, or difficulties moving your foot or entire leg
- Constant pain on one side of your lower back
- An intolerable and intense pain that makes it difficult to stand up
While sciatica pain could be debilitating, chiropractic treatment from a sciatica chiropractor could identify the root cause of the pain and relieve it gently and naturally. This care includes pain relief without costly and harmful side effects. As such, here is how a sciatica chiropractor can help:
Provide Accurate Diagnosis
Chiropractic care is founded because restricted spinal movement could lead to pain and reduced function. If you’re experiencing sciatic pain, a sciatica chiropractor will analyze and review your medical history to know the root cause of the pain. They could also send you for an x-ray exam to help diagnose the cause of the pain. Chiropractic treatment aids the body in healing itself with non-invasive (non-surgical), drug-free treatment.
Chiropractic Massage Therapy
The chiropractic massage is a great way of relieving sciatica pain. It can induce deep muscle relaxation and release endorphins as natural painkillers. While regular spa massage may release tension and sore muscles, chiropractic massage focuses on soothing and healing sciatica.
Sciatica chiropractors know the whole musculoskeletal system of the body. They know where and how to put pressure to guarantee that the healing process kicks off.
Cold and Heat Therapies
Alternating heat and cold therapy have been utilized by sciatica chiropractors to do wonders and offer quick relief from sciatica pain. Heat could release tight muscles and dull the agony away. The cold therapies would slow down the blood flow and help ease the signs of inflammation. Whether to utilize both and how often to switch them, the sciatica chiropractor would know what’s best for your situation.
Ultrasound and Other Methods
Ultrasound is the gentle heat generated by sound waves penetrating deep into the body’s tissues. It can improve circulation (promoting healing) and lessens cramping, muscle spasms, swelling, and pain. Other modalities that a sciatica chiropractor could use to help ease sciatica pain include low-level laser therapy, also called cold laser therapy. It enhances healing by reducing irritation, edema, swelling, and musculoskeletal pain.
Furthermore, a sciatica chiropractor could use the TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) unit. A small, battery-powered nerve stimulating device increases endorphins, relaxes muscle spasms, and reduces pain.
Chiropractic Adjustments
A sciatica chiropractor could apply spinal adjustments and manipulations to enable a herniated disc to rest back into position and take the pressure off your sciatic nerve. The adjustments could also free limited spinal movement and restore misaligned vertebral discs. This method varies from a quick high-velocity thrust to minimal force and gentle pressure.
The chiropractor can gently move the lower back vertebrae to avoid pressing on the sciatic nerve. That will lessen the pain and regain nerve signal flow and mobility. Furthermore, a sciatica chiropractor could use the manipulations with physical therapy to ease muscle spasms, which will help with long-term relief.
Spinal Decompression
Sometimes, the discs in the spine can dry out naturally and get thinner, resulting in spine compression and pinched nerves. As the name suggests, a sciatica chiropractor uses spinal decompression to relieve the compression of the nerves that are causing sciatica pain. That can include techniques to lengthen your spine and enhance the space between the vertebrae.
Chiropractic Exercises
Moving in some ways can worsen sciatica pain. However, depending on the underlying cause of the problem, a sciatica chiropractor will suggest exercises that avoid sciatic nerve aggravation and help release the pressure that comes from tight and inflamed muscles. Those exercises include stretching programs that you could do right at home. Yoga is also helpful for pain management. For example, the reclining pigeon pose could stretch the piriformis muscle, release pressure on the nerve, and ease irritations.
Lifestyle Changes
Chiropractors explore all aspects of your life. They might suggest a new way to stand, sit, sleep, and lift to protect the positioning of your sciatic nerve. This guidance could help you strengthen the back muscles to keep the disc in place. That’s crucial because the stronger the back is, the less likely discs would slip to put pressure on the sciatic nerve again. Hence, chiropractors can help ease sciatica pain both short and long-term.
Why Do I Need To Get A Qualified Sciatica Chiropractor?
Finding an experienced sciatica chiropractor to diagnose and treat a patient’s sciatica could seem daunting. Many chiropractors are out there, so it becomes difficult to determine which one is the best for your certain case.
There are four main steps that you have to take before finding a qualified chiropractor: determining if you have sciatica, knowing whether or not this condition needs an urgent treatment plan, and defining what kind of care you desire from the provider (massage therapy, spinal adjustment), and lastly checking their credentials with the local health board.
You may be feeling some pressure in the lower back on one side. This pain may come about as intermittent shooting sensations down the leg past the knee joint nearly all day long, especially when you walk or lean forward.
You might also be standing up straight and seeing a difference in height from the left to the right side of the body. These are sciatica symptoms – pressure on your lower back’s nerves, causing pain anywhere along its path through the buttocks and legs. Sometimes this condition will come out as weakness, numbness, tingling sensations, or even burning feelings in those parts too.
If these symptoms seem like something you’ve been experiencing for a while now (months), it’s time to find a sciatica chiropractor specializing in treating sciatica patients. And it would help if you also considered getting a referral from your family doctor to make sure that nothing risky or serious is going on, like an infection.
A qualified sciatica chiropractor will diagnose the issue and take care of it with treatments, exercises, or education. They’ll make recommendations based on what’s causing the lower back pains.
That includes herniated discs being pushed out too far against bone tissue if specific vertebrae are misaligned due to natural wear and tear over time or even sitting in the same position for too long.
Bottom Line
Sciatica pain could be incapacitating, and although it is common, it is no reason you should have to tolerate it. With a proper diagnosis, you can get relief by starting a treatment program. Your chiropractor at HOT Chiro is well trained and equipped to offer the relief you need on the pressure and sciatica pain you are feeling to get back to enjoying life. Contact us today!
FAQ
Can chiropractors fix sciatic nerve pain?
A chiropractor can help alleviate sciatica pain. Using spinal manipulation techniques, as well as other natural practices, sciatica chiropractors can help relieve the pressure on your sciatic nerve.
How does a chiropractor help sciatica?
Sciatica chiropractors have been known to help treat sciatica by helping the body heal itself. It is a non-surgical treatment and doesn’t use medications, making it an ideal choice for many sciatica patients.