Sciatica

The sciatic nerve is made of nerves from your lumbar spine. It then branches off the spine, travels through the hips, into the buttocks, passes by the piriformis muscle and down the back of each leg.

The sciatic nerve serves two main functions for your body. It helps move the muscles in your legs and feet. In addition, it helps you feel sensation in your legs.

Sciatica, also called lumbar radiculopathy, is a condition defined by injury, compression or inflammation of the sciatic nerve. It can be quite painful and troublesome.

Many people who experience sciatic pinpoint their pain to their back pocket. Typically, the pain appears along the back of your buttocks, through the hip, down the legs and thighs. Additional symptoms include those that are nerve-related such as pins and needles, a burning sensation, tingling and numbness in the leg, and leg weakness. Symptoms can be constant or intermittent.

The number one cause of sciatica pain is a slipped, bulging or herniated disc in the lumbar region of the spine that presses on a nerve root that is exiting the spinal column and causes you pain and other sciatica related symptoms. Other causes of sciatica include misalignments in the lower spine, nerve entrapments or compression somewhere along the sciatic nerve, and a tight or spasming piriformis muscle that is in the buttock region.

Scar tissue, nerve entrapments and nerve compression anywhere along the sciatic nerve can cause pain and symptoms. In addition, the piriformis muscle that is in the buttock region sometimes gets tight or starts spasming and can also press against and irritate the sciatic nerve. However, the most common causes of sciatica pain are lumbar spine misalignments and slipped, bulging and herniated spinal discs.

Injections, medication, over the counter pain relievers, radiofrequency and exercises are common treatment options used to alleviate and eliminate sciatica pain. However, they are only temporary solutions to ease the pain but are not aimed to correct the underlying cause of the problem. Spinal misalignments and slipped, bulging and herniated spinal discs are progressive conditions that, if left untreated, continue to get worse over time.

At Lynch Chiropractic and Chronic Pain Solutions, we find the cause of your sciatica pain and fix it so you can feel better and enjoy life. Your healing starts with a consultation, thorough health history, examination and possibly x-rays to pinpoint the cause of your pain. Then Dr. Lynch will provide you a plan of action with therapy(s) aimed to fix your problem and eliminate your pain.

Treatment may include:

• Instrument Adjusting with a hand-held instrument is used to gently realign misaligned spinal bones and slipped, bulging and herniated discs. There is never any twisting or thrusting motions. This technique of chiropractic alignments reduces pain and discomfort, reduces inflammation, improves your flexibility, increases your range of motion, restores joint motion, improves your nervous system and prevents early on-set of Osteoarthritis.
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  Low Level Laser Therapy can quickly and dramatically reduce acute and chronic pain by reducing inflammation, reducing free radical production and oxidative stress, improving blood flow, enhancing tissue repair, and improving cellular energy production by increasing production of cellular ATP.
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  Rapid Release Therapy is used to release scar tissue adhesions as well as to release over-tightened muscles such as the piriformis muscle.

All treatment is safe, effective, feels good and is without the adverse side effects of medication and surgery.

If you want help eliminating your sciatica pain by restoring function to your body, please contact us at (434) 245-8456 or fill out the form below to schedule your consultation.