Sciatica is a medical term used to describe pain felt in the lower back, buttock and various parts of the leg and foot. In addition to pain, which is sometimes severe, there may be numbness, muscular weakness, pins and needles or tingling and difficulty in moving or controlling the leg (See reference 1). Sciatica is a symptom of another medical problem, not a medical condition on its own. This occurs when there is pressure or damage to the sciatic nerve or its component nerve roots. This nerve starts in the lower spine and runs down the back of each leg. This nerve controls the muscles of the back of the knee and lower leg and provides sensation to the back of the thigh, part of the lower leg, and the sole of the foot.
What causes sciatica?
Because sciatica is a symptom of another medical condition, the underlying cause should be identified and treated. It may be caused by general compression or irritation of the spinal nerve roots that come together to make the sciatic nerve (this is also called a lumbar radiculopathy), or by compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve itself. Some of the more common causes of sciatica are disc herniations, spinal joint inflammation, piriformis muscle irritation, or even just sitting on a large wallet in your back pocket (See reference 1).
The healthcare professionals at Able Body Health Clinic are experts in the differential diagnosis of conditions that cause sciatica and can advise you on your treatment options, or tell you if your condition requires a visit to your medical physician.
How can sciatica be treated?
Depending on the cause, sciatica can sometimes resolve on its own; however, some cases of sciatica may not resolve themselves if ignored. For many people with sciatica, there are treatments that can shorten the recovery time and reduce the likelihood that the pain will come back:
Chiropractic care can be a very effective therapy for many causes of sciatica!
A 2011 review of medical research concluded that chiropractic spinal manipulation can be effective for the treatment of some causes of sciatica (See reference 2).
Your chiropractor will likely also recommend one or more of the following steps to calm your symptoms and reduce inflammation.
- Application of heat or ice to the painful area.
- Maintaining specific pain-relieving postures
- Stretching the affected muscles
- Performing specific exercises
- Massage Therapy (See reference 3)
- Acupuncture (See reference 4)
A recent study found that 60% of people with a disk herniation causing sciatica benefited equally as well from chiropractic care as they would have from surgery (See reference 5).
References
1) U.S. National Library of Medicine: PubMed Health: Sciatica. Retrieved September 18, 2012. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001706/
2) Leininger, B; Bronfort, G; Evans, R; Reiter, T (2011). Spinal Manipulation or Mobilization for Radiculopathy: A Systematic Review. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America 22 (1): 105–125.
3) Jada Bell (2008). Massage therapy helps to increase range of motion, decrease pain and assist in healing a client with low back pain and sciatica symptoms. J Bodyw Mov Ther.12(3):281-9.
4) Ziling Huang, Sixing Liu, Jing Zhou , Qin Yao, Zhishun Liu (2019) Efficacy and Safety of Acupuncture for Chronic Discogenic Sciatica, a Randomized Controlled Sham Acupuncture Trial. Pain Med. 20(11):2303-2310.
5) McMorland G, Suter E, Casha S, du Plessis SJ, Hurlbert RJ (2010). Manipulation or microdiskectomy for sciatica? A prospective randomized clinical study. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 33(8):576-84.