Sciatica is where the sciatic nerve, which runs from your lower back to your feet, is irritated or compressed. It usually gets better in 4 to 6 weeks However, when sciatica doesn’t resolve on its own, it can lead to chronic pain and muscle weakness.
How to check if you have sciatica?
If you have sciatica, your: bottom, back of your leg, foot and toes may feel, painful – the pain may be stabbing, burning or shooting. Have tingling – like pins and needles and become numb and weak.
Your symptoms may be worse when moving, sneezing or coughing. You may also have back pain, but it’s not usually as bad as the pain in your bottom, leg or foot.
Can Chiropractic Care Help with Sciatica?
Yes! Chiropractic care is a popular natural treatment for sciatica. It can relieve pain without medication and is generally considered a safe treatment option. An important step in working out how to help our guests with sciatica is trying to understand what the underlying cause of the painful sciatica might be. This allows our treatment to target the true cause, allowing long-term improvement and injury prevention to occur, rather than just masking the symptoms. Therefore, the exact treatment our guests experience for their sciatica will differ from someone else’s. Chiropractors are expertly trained to assess and treat problems related to the musculoskeletal and nervous systems; this is why Chiropractors can help with sciatica.
Chiropractic care doesn’t describe one specific treatment, but it includes the whole package of care. At Bolton Spinal Health, we often treat our sciatica guests with a combination of joint manipulation, soft tissue release and massage, as well as corrective adjustments. This combination not only helps to reduce pain in the short term but also helps in the long-term management of the problem allowing our guests to live life to the full and giving them confidence, the problem will not reoccur in the future.
IDD Therapy at Bolton Spinal Health
At Bolton Spinal Health we offer IDD Therapy. IDD Therapy is a great way to treat sciatica when hands on treatment is not as effective. This is usually used for people who have had sciatica along time and are considering surgery. For us at Bolton Spinal Health surgery is the last thing we want our guests to go through. IDD Therapy uses computer-controlled pulling forces delivered by the SPINA medical devices to gently distract (draw apart) targeted segments of the spine in order to take pressure off specific discs and nerves whilst at the same time, gently stretching tight muscles and stiff ligaments.
By decompressing (taking pressure off) an injured or bulging disc and stretching the soft tissues, we can improve mobility in the spine and allow the body’s natural healing mechanisms to operate more efficiently. In so doing, we can relieve pain caused by muscle spasm and alleviate nerve compression and irritation cased by bulging discs.
Focus on Recovery
As well as performing the above treatment, it is important to focus on recovery and carry on with normal daily activities as much as possible. We suggest trying not to sit or lie down for long periods – even if moving hurts, it’s not harmful and can help with treatment working better and faster. Other things that may help include general exercise and gentle back stretches as we suggest through our newly added service rehab my patient, as well as asking the local pharmacist about painkillers that may help – even if they just temporarily mask the pain, they will help you move more which will help your overall recovery.
In summary, sciatica and sciatic nerve irritation is a very common condition that affects many different demographics of people. While it can be very uncomfortable, sciatica can be helped by chiropractic and massage care. The timeline for recovery will depend on the severity of the pain and lifestyle. If you have any questions about how we can help with sciatica pain call us on 01204 848 887.
