If sciatica is impairing your ability to live well and pain-free, Dr. Sam Aljamal at Back To My Health in Richardson, TX, offers various natural treatment techniques to help you experience lasting relief.
Sciatica and Chiropractic Care
Fun fact: you have more than seven trillion nerves in your body. These nerves create a complex system that controls both voluntary and involuntary movements and functions. A not-so-fun fact is that just two of these nerves – the sciatic nerves – are at the center of numerous back pain cases.
The sciatic nerves are the longest in the body. They travel between the lower back and the feet. This means that if one becomes compressed or pinched, it can cause back pain, hip pain, pain in the buttock, leg pain, and foot pain. This pain can be anything from a dull throb to a sharp, shooting sensation. Additionally, sciatic nerve compression often causes numbness, tingling, and muscle weakness.
What Causes the Sciatic Nerve to Become Compressed?
Two of the main culprits are bulging and herniated discs. In both cases, the spinal disc sustains more pressure than normal. With a bulging disc, that pressure causes the disc itself to protrude outside its space, which can then press against the nerve. With a herniated disc, the outer casing tears, and the inner filling escapes, which often lies on the nerve.
Poor posture, poor lifting technique, and sudden trauma, such as a car accident, usually lead to herniated or bulging discs. However, degenerative disc disease, overuse of the back muscles, and chronic back injuries can also be to blame. Sciatic pain can also be caused by un-leveled hips and/or unstable sacrum.
How Can Chiropractic Care Relieve Sciatic Nerve Compression?
Chiropractic treatment for sciatica is highly customized and can vary depending on the provider. Some of the most common techniques used by Dr. Aljamal at Back To My Health in Richardson, TX, include the following.
- Adjustments: Spinal adjustments help restore proper alignment, which plays a vital role in removing unnecessary pressure from the discs and nerves.
- Spinal decompression: This method gently and comprehensively stretches the back, creating the proper amount of space for the discs, pulling herniated and bulging discs back into place, and removing pressure from the nerves.
- Stem cell generation: When nerve damage has occurred or issues like degenerative disc disease are involved in your nerve compression, stem cell generation can help stimulate healing.
- Therapeutic exercise: Stretching and strengthening the back through targeted movements can help remove pressure from the discs and nerves, as well as improve your spinal support.
Learn more about how to heal naturally from sciatica with help from Dr. Aljamal at Back To My Health in Richardson, TX. Call (972) 792-7500 to schedule an appointment today.