Sciatica Chiropractor

Sciatica Chiropractor: A Simple Adjustment Can Change Everything

Sciatica Chiropractor

If you’ve ever experienced sciatica, you know it can be more than just a pain in the back. That sharp, shooting pain down your leg can disrupt your daily life. Even the simplest tasks feel impossible. Nearly 40% of us will experience this pain in our lifetimes.

For some, it becomes a severe and progressively worsening condition that steals our enjoyment for life. But can a sciatica chiropractor fix sciatica? The short answer is yes, and here’s why.

What Is Sciatica?

Sciatica neuropathy isn’t just one condition—it’s a symptom of an underlying issue. Typically, this nerve pain is caused by a pinched nerve in the lower back.

The pain radiates along the sciatic nerve, which runs from your lower back through your hips and down each leg. Sciatica can also cause numbness, tingling, sudden jutting pain, or weakness in the back, hip, and down into the leg. You may or may not even feel it in your back!

This pinched nerve can result from:

  • Herniated disc / bulging disc
  • Muscle inflammation or spasm
  • Piriformis Syndrome (dysfunction of your hip rotation muscle), more common in those who turn their feet out.
  • Bone spur
  • Spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spinal column)
  • Among other causes.
Sciatica Relief

How Do Chiropractors Treat Sciatica?

Chiropractors are experts in musculoskeletal health. This makes us well-suited to treat sciatica. At the end of the day, a pinched nerve is a mechanical problem. Something is putting excessive physical pressure on the sciatic nerve. That something is usually happening in the spinal column, and sometimes the hip.

Don’t Send an AI Engineer to Do a Mechanics Job

Because sciatica is most often due to body mechanics, it doesn’t make sense to approach this with a chemical treatment (medication)—at least not as a long-term solution. That’s like trying to fix a flat tire by engineering some advanced AI-powered software. It’s over-complicating a problem that—more often than not—has a simple solution… and creating more problems (side effects) than it fixes.

So, what can a chiropractor do for sciatica pain?

  • Step 1. Free the trapped nerve.
  • Step 2: Help the nerve heal from months or years of entrapment.
  • Step 3. Make sure it doesn’t get trapped again.
Nerve pain relief

What to Expect During Sciatica Treatment?

When you visit a chiropractor for sciatica, we’ll start with a thorough assessment to determine the root cause of your pain. This might involve a physical exam, medical history review, and sometimes imaging tests like X-rays or MRIs.

Once the cause of your sciatica is identified, the chiropractor will develop a personalized treatment plan. Here are some common techniques we might use:

Spinal Adjustments & Manual Therapy

Your personal chiropractor will use controlled force to adjust your spine, aiming to relieve pressure on the sciatic nerve and carefully move the vertebrae back into alignment. This can reduce pain and improve your mobility—often instantly.

Exercise Program

Your Truspine chiropractor might recommend specific core, hip, and leg exercises to strengthen the muscles supporting your spine, improving your posture and preventing future flare-ups. We take time to show you how to perform these exercises to support spinal health because we want to see you get long-term sciatica relief.

If you do have a desk job, we’re definitely going to recommend you not sit so damn much. It only makes it worse!

Here are 5 sciatica exercises we might recommend.

Lifting and Form Instruction

Proper lifting techniques and body mechanics are crucial in preventing sciatica from recurring. Your chiropractor will guide you on the best practices for lifting and maintaining good posture at work and play, reducing strain on your back and promoting greater range of motion. If you perform repetitive actions at work or play certain sports, speak with your chiropractor about it.

We can personalize your treatment plan around your lifestyle and unique needs.

Nutrition Therapy

Even though the nerve is now free, months or years of entrapment have damaged the nerve, and it will need time to heal. A well-balanced diet can play a key role in your recovery and overall nerve health. Your chiropractor may offer nutrition or supplementation advice to help reduce inflammation and support the healing process. Ensuring your body gets the nutrients it needs to stay healthy and pain-free is part of what we do as chiropractors.

Stop masking pain with medication. Chiropractors get to the root cause! Go ahead and schedule an initial consultation, including a comprehensive evaluation and first treatment.

Ongoing Adjustments

Once the pain stops, it’s so easy to say “goodbye to your chiropractor. Thanks for helping me live pain-free.” But the truth is that like anything in life, adjustments are necessary to maintain your pain-free existence and support overall health. The mechanics that caused the sciatica in the first place are still there.

Regular chiropractic adjustments can help maintain spinal alignment, preventing the recurrence of sciatica. These ongoing adjustments are tailored to your specific needs and are designed to keep your spine healthy, reduce the risk of future flare-ups, and support your overall well-being.

Your chiropractor will work with you to determine the optimal frequency for these adjustments, ensuring long-term relief and mobility. We encourage you to make visiting your chiropractor a new healthy habit!

More reading:

Will a Chiropractor Help Sciatica? The Benefits Explained

Chiropractic care is non-invasive and drug-free, focusing on addressing the root cause of your pain rather than just masking the symptoms.

Here’s what you can expect from chiropractic treatment:

  • Pain Relief: Spinal adjustments can relieve pressure on the sciatic nerve, providing immediate and long-lasting pain relief. Many of our patients have been suffering from sciatica for years. Many are surprised that after just one to three adjustments, they’re no longer in pain.
  • Improved Mobility: By realigning your spine, chiropractic care can help restore your range of motion, making it easier to move without pain.
  • Prevention: Regular chiropractic care combined with nutrition and core strengthening exercises can help prevent future episodes of sciatica by keeping your spine and muscles in optimal condition.

What kind of nerve pain do you have? take the quiz.

How Many Visits to Chiropractor to Help Sciatica?

The timeline for recovery varies depending on the severity of your sciatica and how long you’ve been experiencing symptoms. Some people notice improvement after just a few sessions and may be able to shift into maintenance. Others might require several weeks of 2-3 times a week treatments before proceeding to less frequent visits. Your chiropractor will monitor your progress and adjust your treatment plan as needed to ensure you get the best results.

Should I Go to a Chiropractor for Sciatica?

If you’re dealing with sciatica, chiropractic care is worth considering. But we’re chiropractors, so of course, we’re going to say that. Hear me out!

Would you prefer a natural, non-invasive approach to pain relief? The non-invasive chiropractic care may appeal to you.

Do you like the idea of treating the root cause rather than the symptoms? Chiropractic care may be a good option.

If you’re currently experiencing side effects from medications prescribed by your treating doctor, we’ll work with them to help you reduce your dose as your pain becomes more manageable with drug-free means.

Remember, we perform a thorough assessment with imaging if necessary. If we determine you’re one of the few who is unlikely to benefit from sciatica chiropractic adjustments, we’ll send your records and what we found to your primary doctor or another specialist. We work with the medical community as part of an integrative medicine approach.

The Science Behind Chiropractic Care for Sciatica

  • A randomized controlled trial compared real evidence-based chiropractic adjustments for sciatica with disc herniation causing leg pain to what they called “sham chiropracty”, which was basically someone randomly popping the control group participants’ backs. 28% of the real chiropractic group experienced complete elimination of pain compared to 6% in the placebo group. 55% of the chiropractor group no longer experienced the radiating pain associated with sciatica, even if they were not 100% pain-free. Most with sciatica will probably agree, the sharp, sudden radiating pain is the worst part of sciatica. It stops you in your tracks!
  • Several systematic reviews agree that most patients have at least modest improvement in sciatic nerve-related back pain.
  • Another observational cohort study including nearly 3000 participants, found that radiating-sciatica pain patients receiving chiropractic care experience better long-term outcomes vs. conventional medical care. Patients experienced moderate to significant reductions in pain.

The Bottom Line: Can a Chiropractor Fix Sciatica?

Sciatica can be debilitating, but it doesn’t have to control your life. A chiropractor can not only help relieve your current pain but also address the underlying causes to prevent future issues. If you’re tired of living with sciatica, it might be time to see how chiropractic care can help you get back to doing the things you love—pain-free.

To get to the root cause of pain and discomfort, schedule an initial consultation, including a comprehensive evaluation and first treatment.

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