Chiropractic Elk Grove

Ok, I am going to talk about this again because it keeps on coming up.  It keeps on coming through the door.  If you think you have sciatic pain or you’ve been told that you do by your medical doctor I am going to tell you what to do to help get rid of the pain.  I have shared on an individual basis with some of you that come in complaining of it.  I thought I would share it with more/with as many that want to read about it.  Some people have true sciatica while others might have a problem with their piriformis and have piriformis syndrome.  The piriformis muscle sits in the middle of each buttock.  This is how it can appear on either side.  The muscles starts at the sacrum (a part of your spine) and ends (attaches to) the top of the femur (what you may call the hip bone or top of leg bone).  This muscles function is to rotate our leg out.  If we do this action too much, possibly because our hips are rotated, the muscle begins to tighten up.  The sciatic nerve does make this muscle move.  The nerve takes different paths in each one of us.  For some of us the sciatic nerve may go over, under or through the muscle.  Under normal conditions the nerve should innervate (give instruction to the muscle to move) and move on past it to innervate other muscles lower down in the leg.  If the muscle is too tight, abnormally functioning, the nerve with act up by giving us that signal of radiating pain down our leg.  You should still go to see a chiropractor to get your hips straightened out so that the muscle doesn’t continue to tighten up.  There is something you could do to the muscle to “calm” it down, stretch it out and keep the pain from returning.  This is how you do it:  Start with lying on your back.  If the pain is primarily on the right side.  Cross the right leg over your left, placing your right ankle on the upper part of your left knee, creating a figure four.  Then bend your left knee bringing your left knee (that is carrying your right ankle and leg) up to your chest.  The best part I have found to hang on to (for best results) is pulling the left bent knee towards yourself with both hands by placing hands on top of that knee or if you can between that same bent knee.  I hope you understand what I am trying to describe here.  You can look up stretches of piriformis muscle, I am sure, by now on YouTube for a visual.  If it still doesn’t make sense come in and I’ll show you.  This can keep the pain away for some of you at least until you can get in next to get adjusted.  We really do want you out there living a happy healthy life. 

Stretch,

Dr. Munoz

A lot of people come in to the office thinking they have “sciatica.”  Either they heard from their friends what it is supposed to feel like or their medical doctor has diagnoses them with it.  I wanted to bring some light to the subject.  Medical doctors will want to perform massively invasive, open back surgeries. 

Description of Sciatica

Sciatica is a layman’s term for a pinched nerve that can cause pain that runs from the buttocks down the back of the leg.

The sciatic nerve is about an inch or so long in the buttocks made of multiple spinal nerves. When people commonly refer to sciatica it is not necessarily a problem of the sciatic nerve, it’s a problem of the nerve when it is being pinched as it exits from the spine from a herniated disc or a bone spur. 

As chiropractors we have seen sciatica also be caused by subluxations, a misalignment of the spine that creates a
radiculopathy, pressure on the radicular nerve (nerve root) and rotation of the hips.  You might just have Piriformis syndrome that presents itself in our bodies and is very similar to sciatica but should be treated differently.

The causes of subluxations are sometime unknown to the patient or are caused by direct trauma.  Subluxations in terms of sciatica are a result of prolonged external pressure on the nerve, and pressure on the nerve from nearby body structures. It can also be caused by entrapment — pressure on the nerve where it passes through a narrow structure. The damage slows or prevents conduction of impulses through the nerve.

Signs & Symptoms of Sciatica (How you might feel when you show up to the office):

The sciatic nerve can also be injured by fractures of the pelvis or other trauma to the buttocks or thigh. Prolonged sitting or lying with pressure on the buttocks may also injure it. Systemic diseases, such as diabetes, can typically damage many different nerves, including the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve may also be harmed by pressure from masses such as a tumor or abcess, or by bleeding in the pelvis.

Symptoms of sciatica include sensation changes, numbness, decreased sensation, tingling, burning and pain in the buttocks, down the back of the legs, the back of the calf or the sole of the foot. Sciatica can also cause weakness in the legs, knees and feet and in severe cases can cause loss of mobility.

No one is minimizing how you feel.  This is a serious issue and you may need surgery.  What I want you to do is think about the choices you have to “fix” it.  Before you go the traditional medical/surgical route what I would do if I were you is to see a chiropractor and see if they can get the pain to go away.  Try chiropractic first.  Although we don’t only go  pain in regards to how well you are doing, in this case you could determine if the chiropractic treatments are working/helping based upon your level of pain.  In other words, if the pain decreases in this case, I would think you would agree that something is being done to your body that is bettering the situation and may take you further away from the need for surgery.  My first recommendation is that you have a discussion about your progress with your current chiropractor if you are not seeing the results you were looking for.  I would even suggest that if one chiropractor/series of chiropractic adjustments are working for you to give chiropractic another chance through another chiropractor.  It may be the type of chiropractic adjustment or the individual chiropractor’s way of case management that didn’t work and not necessarily the whole chiropractic approach all together.  In other words, don’t throw away the baby with the bath water.  We are all very different.  I am suggesting you try another one and even explain to the new/second chiropractor what the situation is.  I guarantee you that the second chiropractor will give you great care and attention in hopes to get relief for you so that you don’t “leave” chiropractic all together.  After all, in the end you always have the medical, traditional, surgical route to go if both attempts get no results. 

Just trying to help you out with some choices - think about it,

Dr. Munoz

Source: Article ”Sciatica and Sciatic Nerve Pain,” Laser Spine Institute, LLC, www.laserspineinstitute.com