Sciatica
We can eliminate sciatica pain and make sure it doesn’t return. How? We help strengthen your spine, correct your posture and teach you how to move properly with the new and improved posture.
Do you suffer from lower back or neck pain? If you’ve been experiencing burning, shooting pain, particularly in the back of your legs or lower back area, it may be a symptom of a deeper problem—and sciatica is one possibility. This usually occurs as a result of nerve root irritation in the sciatica nerve, commonly triggered by a disc herniation or spinal stenosis. But with the right combination of physical therapy, stretching and exercise, sciatica treatment is possible.
If you are looking for a way to reduce your pain and treat your sciatica, contact Pain Arthritis Relief Center today for sciatica treatment.
What is Sciatica?
Sciatica is one potential reason for your lower back or neck pain. But what does it mean? Sciatica refers to pain that forms around your sciatic nerve, typically impacting your lower back, hips, buttocks and legs—and usually only on one side of your body. It’s usually triggered by a herniated disk or stenosis that causes part of your sciatic nerve to compress, leading to inflammation, pain or numbness in one leg.
The majority of sciatic patients can resolve their issues with a non-invasive sciatica treatment, although surgery remains a possibility.
Causes of Sciatica
Although there are many variations of leg pain conditions, sciatica usually refers to pain found in the back of the leg.
“Sciatica refers to any pain in the distribution of the sciatic nerve, which means that any nerve root that contributes to the sciatic nerve could produce that pain. The problem can also be due to referred pain from other structures in the low back, such as the disks, the small joints and the muscles or ligaments,” Gert Bronfort, DC, PhD, and professor in the Department of Research at Northwestern Health Sciences University explains.
Such pain does not originate only in the lower back region. “The term sciatica is a catch-all term representing multiple causes of leg pain that may or may not be due to a problem from the lower back,” adds Frederick Carrick, DC, PhD, DACAN, DABCN, DACNB, FACCN. “Leg pain ‘sciatica’ may be referred from problems elsewhere in the human body, ranging from tumors to vascular diseases.”
Effects of Sciatica
If your leg pain doesn’t go away, don’t ignore it—it could be indicative of sciatica. A dull pain or numbness in the buttock, leg, or foot is often the first sciatica symptom you’ll notice.
“That’s the body’s way of saying you better take care of it, or something worse might happen,” says Tim Mick, DC, an associate professor and chair of the Department of Radiology at Northwestern Health Sciences University. “Untreated, sciatica can lead to a loss of muscle strength and muscle size that may be irreversible. Eventually, there can be problems with gait.”
He adds, “Patients may trip and stumble, or they may have a foot drop in which muscle weakness related to diminished nerve conduction causes an inability to flex the foot backward. And because the same spinal lesions that commonly produce sciatica may also affect the nerves supplying the sphincter muscles of the bowel and bladder, incontinence (loss of bowel or bladder control) can result.”
Sciatica Diagnosis
Diagnosing sciatica can be as complex as defining it. James Cox, DC, DACBR, and author of the textbook Low Back Pain: Mechanism, Diagnosis and Treatment, has focused much of his 37-year practice on low-back pain and sciatica. He considers making a sciatica diagnosis to be one of the greatest challenges in the clinical practice.
According to Dr. Cox, who practices in Fort Wayne, IN, causes of sciatica include:
- Disk herniation
- Stenosis
- Piriformis syndrome
- Pregnancy
- Developmental and acquired stenosis
- Spinal primary and metastatic tumor
- Infection
- Tethered cord
- Neuropathies
- Endometriosis
- Epidural hematomas
- Other less common causes
Although disk herniation and stenosis tend to be the most common causes of sciatica, it’s important to consider other possibilities to make a proper diagnosis. Because chiropractors—like Advanced Spine & Wellness in Rockville, MD—focus on the whole body, they are well suited to diagnose sciatica and perform treatment accordingly.
Sciatica Treatment in Rockville, MD
Fortunately, sciatica treatment is possible and, if done correctly, can lead to a pain-free life where you can enjoy all the activities you used to. Sciatica treatment usually involves a combination of physical therapy, stretching and exercises. Surgery is always an option as well, but for those interested in nonsurgical and drug-free alternatives, chiropractic could be exactly what you need.
Pain Arthritis Relief Center offers chiropractic as well as physical therapy, acupuncture and other services to sciatica treatment clients in Rockville, Gaithersburg, North Potomac, Potomac and Bethesda. Don’t live in pain any longer! Contact us today.
Client Review
“Doctor Tony did an amazing job and within my first week, I felt immensely better than the first day. The treatment took about 5-6 weeks and I am more than grateful to Doctor Tony and the Pain Arthritis Relief center staff.”
Adrian K.
