When Sciatica Strikes, Your Chiropractor May Have the Best Answers
Although sciatica is a relatively common form of low-back and leg pain, the true meaning of the term is often misunderstood. Sciatica is actually a set of symptoms—not a diagnosis for what is irritating the nerve root and causing the pain.
According to the American Chiropractic Association, sciatica occurs most frequently in people between the ages of 30 and 50 years old. Most often, it tends to develop as a result of general wear and tear on the structures of the lower spine, not as a result of injury.
Looking Closer at Sciatica
Sciatica is persistent pain felt along the sciatic nerve, which runs from the lower back, down through the buttock, and into the lower leg. The sciatic nerve is the longest and widest nerve in the body, running from the lower back through the buttocks and down the back of each leg. It controls the muscles of the lower leg and provides sensation to the thighs, legs, and the soles of the feet.
What are the symptoms of Sciatica?
The most common symptom associated with sciatica is pain that radiates along the path of the sciatic nerve, from the lower back and down one leg.
Some may experience a mild tingling, a dull ache, or even a burning sensation, typically on one side of the body. Some report pins and needles sensations in the toes or feet, and numbness or muscle weakness in the affected leg or foot.
Practice Good Prevention To Protect Your Spine
While it’s not always possible to prevent sciatica, you can protect your spine by exercising regularly, maintaining proper posture and a healthy weight, avoiding prolonged bed rest, not smoking, and using good body mechanics when lifting.
How Chiropractic Can Help
Chiropractic offers a non-invasive, drug-free treatment option. The goal of chiropractic care is to restore spinal movement, improving function while decreasing pain and inflammation.
Depending on the cause of the sciatica, a chiropractic treatment plan may cover several spinal adjustments, ice/heat therapy, and rehabilitative exercises.
Chiropractors believe wellness and routine chiropractic care should be as basic to our lives as healthy diets and daily exercise.
They offer the purest form of chiropractic care, providing full spinal adjustments using the diversified technique to check for subluxations, which are misalignments of the spine.
Subluxations are misalignments of one or more vertebrae in the spine and/or joints. When the misalignment is corrected it may have far reaching effects on back, neck and sciatica pain.
If this direct focus on chiropractic wellness sounds just as great to you as it does to majority of the people in the U.S., make an appointment and find out more.
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