Sciatic Nerve
Your sciatic nerve is the longest and largest nerve in your body. It begins in your lower back as five smaller nerves joining together and extends to your pelvis, thigh, knee, calf, ankle, foot and toes.
What Is Sciatica?
When this large nerve becomes inflamed the condition is called sciatica (pronounced si’ad-
Chiropractic adjustments help keep your spine off your nerves.
Along with pain there may be burning, pins and needles, tingling, prickling, crawling sensations or tenderness. Ironically, the leg may also feel numb!
To complicate matters, although sciatica pain is usually in the back of the legs or thighs, in some people it can be in the front or side of the legs or even in the hips. For some, the pain is in both legs: bilateral sciatica!
Like A Knife
The quality of the pain may vary. There may be constant throbbing but then it may let up for hours or even days, it may ache or be knife-
Causes of Sciatica
Like most other conditions, sciatica has a wide variety of causes. An unhealthy spine with a protruded or ruptured disc which can irritate the sciatic nerve is one cause. Sciatica has been reported following accidents, injuries and even childbirth, usually due to spinal misalignment (1). However, advanced diabetes can also cause sciatic nerve irritation, as can arthritis, constipation, tumors and even vitamin deficiencies.
Many sciatica sufferers have experienced dramatic relief after chiropractic care.
The Medical Approach
The medical approach to sciatica is usually to treat its symptoms with painkillers, muscle relaxers and orthopedic devices such as traction and physical therapy. Sciatica is particularly frustrating to treat with drugs because in many cases even strong painkillers bring little or no relief. However, relief may be obtained by injecting painkillers directly into the nerve roots! As with all painkillers, there is always a risk of drug dependency. In extreme cases orthopedic surgery may be resorted to.
For years medical doctors have prescribed bed rest for sciatica, yet there is little objective data to show it works. In fact there is increasing evidence that it is ineffective for low back pain as well as sciatica (2).
The Chiropractic Approach
Many sciatica sufferers have experienced dramatic relief after chiropractic care (3-
In one controlled study four different approaches (spinal care, traction and two types of injections) were used to deal with low back pain and sciatica. The group that had spinal care experienced the greatest degrees of recovery. Interestingly, a large number in the traction group eventually required surgery (8).
In another study 20 patients aged 20-
Chiropractic care appears to have the most effect on sciatica when used first. Unfortunately many people seek medical care first. Even so excellent results may be obtained with subsequent chiropractic care.
In another study, 3, 136 people with lower back and sciatica pain who had previously had physiotherapy and drugs with no positive results were given chiropractic care.
A follow-
Your sciatic nerve begins in your lower back as five smaller nerves joining together and extends to your pelvis, thigh, knee, calf, ankle, foot and toes.
Neurogenic Claudication
Another cause of leg pain involves damage to the spinal nerves that go to the legs. This condition is called neurogenic claudication. The sufferer can’t walk for long periods of time and has to stop periodically and rest. Symptoms may include pain and parasthesias (nerve sensations) that commence after walking and disappear following a rest period. There may be cramping, pain, numbness, aching, and/or fatigue usually in the calf but also in the foot, thigh, hip or buttocks. Although one way of dealing with this condition is surgery, spinal care should be tried first before medical and surgical techniques are resorted to. (11).
Conclusion
All sciatica sufferers should see a doctor of chiropractic to ensure they have spines free from the vertebral subluxation complex (subluxation). A subluxation causes spinal misalignment, disc and nerve pressure, and stresses the entire body.
If you do have sciatica, from whatever cause, a chiropractic spinal adjustment is needed to remove pressure on your nerves, rebalance your spine, take stress of your discs and permit your body’s muscles, glands and tissues to function in a more balanced manner.
Every sciatica sufferer should visit their doctor of chiropractic for a spinal checkup.
All sciatica sufferers should see a doctor of chiropractic to ensure they have spines free from the vertebral subluxation complex (subluxation).
References
1. Fonti S, Lynch M. Etiopathogenesis of lumbosciatalgia due to disc disease; chiropractic treatment. In J. Mazzarelli (Ed.), Chiropractic: Interprofessional Research. Torino, Italy: Edizioni Minerve Medica, 1983:59-
2. Patrick CAJ, Vroomen MD, Marc CTFM, et al. Lack of effectiveness of bed rest for sciatica. The New England Journal of Medicine. 1999;340:418-
3. Johnson EW. Sciatic nerve palsy following delivery. Postgrad. Med. 1961;30(5).
4. Barge FH. The chiropractic vertebral subluxation and its relationship to vertebrogenic lumbar pain, cruralgia and sciatic syndromes. Chiropractic Research Journal. 1995;3(2):25-
5. Livingston M. Spinal manipulation: a one year follow-
6. Mathews JA, et al. Back pain and sciatica: controlled trials of manipulation, traction, sclerosant and epidural injections. British Journal of Rheumatology. 1987;26:416-
7. Osterbauer PJ, Fuhr AW. Treatment of chronic sciatica by mechanical force, manually assisted, short lever adjusting and a video assisted stretching program: a quantitative case report. Proceedings of the Consortium for Chiropractic Research Conference on Research and Education, 1992. Palm Springs, CA.
8. Cox JM, Shreiner S. Chiropractic manipulation in low back pain and sciatica: statistic data on the diagnosis, treatment and response of 576 consecutive cases. JMPT. 1982;7:1-
9. Bronfort G, Evans RL, Anderson AV, et al. Non-
10. Downs S. Unilateral intermittent claudication of the left lower extremity. JMPT. 1988;11:322-
11. Nall SK. The role of specific manipulation towards alleviating abnormalities in body mechanics and restoration of spinal motion. JMPT. 1982;5:11-