Is There Chiropractic Treatment for Sciatica?
By Dr. Tim Fargo
The short answer to this question is a resounding, “Yes”. Before I answer the question more fully, let’s define some of the terms. First off, “sciatica” is pain involving the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is a very large nerve that derives its fibers from the lower lumbar and upper pelvic region (lumbar four, five, and sacral one and two nerve roots). The sciatic nerve is quite large and is about as big around as your thumb. As you can see in the illustration below, the nerve lies right in the middle of your butt and then courses down the back of your leg.
The sciatic nerve makes significant contribution to the workings of your muscles and sensation in large portions of your leg and foot. It will particularly cover the muscles and allow sensation in the back of the leg and into the bottom and side of the foot. Like all nerves, the sciatic nerve is susceptible to direct compression and stretching forces. When the nerve is compressed, stretched, or injured a person might well feel pain, numbness, or tingling along its course or in the areas that it feeds. In addition, it is common for people to experience muscle weakness in the areas controlled by the sciatic nerve.
Sometimes simple imbalances (misalignments) of the pelvis will cause muscle spasm deep in the butt muscles, and particularly with a muscle called the “piriformis”. Such circumstances can create sciatic pain. Other times, the nerve can be directly compressed by herniated discs in the lumbar spine. Below you will see an illustration of a disc herniation.
When a disc herniates, it’s jelly center, the nucleus, squishes out and can compress nerve roots as you see pictured above. If one of those nerve roots is contributing fibers to the sciatic nerve then the person will experience sciatica.
Since nerves are susceptible to being stretched and to surrounding inflammation, misalignments in the lumbar spine and pelvis can also cause sciatica. The treatment for sciatica in a chiropractic office, then, would be predicated on what is determined to be the actual cause of the nerve root irritation. In the case of a herniated disc, we do gentle spinal manipulation to restore normal mobility to the pelvis, hips, and lumbar spine, and may also do decompression traction to reduce pressure on the disk and retract some of the material that has squished out.
If the sciatica is a result of pelvic imbalance, spasm of the piriformis muscle, or misalignments of the lumbar spine, then the solution involves precise spinal adjustments palliative modalities like ice and electrical muscle stimulation for pain and inflammation.
The net conclusion is that we do indeed successfully treat sciatica in the majority of cases. If sciatica proves unresponsive to conservative care, we refer for advanced imaging (MRI) and sometimes even for surgical consultation. Fortunately, it is relatively rare that we need to resort to such measures. If you, a friend or family member are suffering with sciatica, then call our office and discuss the situation with one of our doctors. We are looking forward to helping you.
