Sciatica is the pain radiating along the path of the sciatic nerve from the lower back, hips to the buttocks, and down the leg.
The pain can be tingling, numbing, burning, constant, dull, pounding.
It usually affects only the side the nerve is affected by, but it can affect both sides too.
The causes for sciatica usually are issues that cause a strain on or damage the sciatic nerve.
These causes can be:
- Herniated or Bulging disc: The vertebral cushioning sac or disc with fluid gets herniated or bulges and presses on the same sciatic nerve it was protecting causing sciatica.
- Obesity: With extra and/ or uneven weight distribution, the spine gets put under immense pressure and compresses inwards, and adds pressure to the nerves, it might just be the sciatic nerve, leading to sciatica.
- Age: As we age, our bones become weaker and we might have herniated discs, bone spurs that affect the nerve.
- Occupation: Jobs that require long hours of sitting or standing or driving, lifting heavy things, all put pressure on the spine, leading to many issues, of which sciatica can be one too.
- Diabetes: This affects the nerves, weakening and degenerating them. Sciatica is caused by damage to the sciatic nerve.
- Arthritis: Arthritis types affecting the bones cause the bones to add pressure on the nerves and cause pain in different areas, including sciatica.
- Issues like spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, degenerative disc diseases: These affect the room and cushion for the nerve, pressuring it and making them send pain signals. This includes the sciatic nerve too.
- Trauma injuries: When the spine is injured, it affects the nerves too.
- Cancer: Tumors can weaken the body, and thus the nerves, and tumors close to the sciatic nerve press onto the nerve, causing sciatica.
There are a few remedies for sciatica. Surgeries, medication, and complementary and alternative therapy.
While chronic issues like cancer, arthritis, diabetes, etc. need to be treated with surgeries or medication, the others don’t need such advanced treatments( especially when issues not caused by a disorder don’t have medications specific to their cause, just pain medications, which are temporary and addictive.)
For these issues, spinal decompression is the best treatment, and even for chronic issues, this can be a great pain management technique.
Spinal decompression comes under chiropractic care and refers to the treatment of stretching or elongation of the spine in different angles and directions.
This helps create a negative intradiscal pressure making the disc realign back into the proper place and fill up with the influx of oxygen, and nutrients to help heal the spine and remove the pressure off the nerve. This treatment improves posture, increases body immunity, improves blood circulation, increases body mobility and flexibility, reduces pain, optimal body functioning, etc.
All of that usually after the first session.
The improved healing makes you a lot more pain resistant, makes you less susceptible to future damage, and makes sure that if there is any future damage, the body can heal fast enough on its own to a large extent.
Spinal Decompression is non-invasive and highly effective, making it suitable for people of all ages and most health conditions.
The treatment is super relaxing and is a lot more inexpensive in comparison to surgeries.
If you are experiencing sciatica now, book an appointment with your nearest licensed chiropractic and get better!
Happy healing!