Sciatica is a complete pain in the butt, quite literally. Regardless of how it arrived, there are options, outside of drugs and surgery to combat it’s stubbornness. Contributing factors include past injures, sleeping positions, activity levels, and your occupation. Making sure your spine is moving properly is step number one to keeping sciatica at bay!
Understanding Sciatica
The symptoms of sciatica can range from mild discomfort to severe pain ranging anyone from the butt to the underside of the foot. Muscle spasm, disc herniation, pelvic dysfunction, hip mis-alignments can all cause sciatic symptoms. There does not even have to be direct compression of the sciatic nerve for it to become irritated; a mosquito merely flying around your head is enough to bother you, the same goes for the sciatic nerve.
How Chiropractic Care Works
Step number one is ensuring your spine is moving like it’s suppose to. If the bones in your back don’t move properly, that puts excess strain on the muscles and joints which can cause irritation of the sciatic nerve, giving you sciatica. By ensuring the lower back, hips and sacroiliac joints are functioning properly, you’re well on your way to overcoming sciatica.
Benefits of Chiropractic Treatment for Sciatica
1. Improved posture: Poor posture, whether standing or sitting, puts excessive strain on certain joints of the body; that excess strain contributes to the development of sciatica.
2. Hip and knee dysfunction: Hip and knee dysfunction affects the movement and stress placed upon the lower back; Ensuring the hips and knees can move properly minimizes the stress upon the lower back and sciatic nerve.
3. Disc degeneration: Our discs act like a sponge, the fluid moves in and out of them throughout the day as we move. If the lumbar spine isn’t moving well, that means that fluid isn’t moving well and that promotes inflammation which can lead to sciatica.
4. Routine care: As a chiropractor, my job is to look at movement patterns and to reverse any potential problems before they lead to a major problem. It’s much easier to detect and deal with a minor leak prior to it creating a great deal of damage.
Conclusion
How you move, the way you sit, what you do for work, and how you spend your free time puts you on a path which either moves you closer to or further away from developing pain, like sciatica. Having proper spinal movement ensures that your body can deal with the stresses placed upon it in the most efficient and effective manner possible. When this stress and strain begins to accumulate in the body, that is when major problems, like sciatica can arise.