What is Sciatica? 

The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in the human body!

It begins at the lumbar region of the spinal cord and runs down the hip, into the buttock and down the leg.  The sciatic nerve is responsible for allowing you to control and feel your legs!

Sciatica is a name given to a pain that radiates along the path of the sciatic nerve.  When someone experiences sciatica usually feel pain that ranges in intensity from moderate to excruciating pain in the back, buttocks, and legs. Sometimes they feel weakness or numbness in these areas.

Sciatica is most often caused by an underlying structural dysfunction that causes injury to the nerve or to an area that impacts the nerve, such as the vertebra of the spine being out of alignment.  

 This misalignment of the spine is called a Vertebral Subluxation.

                                                                               (Sub – Lux – A – Shun)

Why Haven’t I Heard This Before?

Unfortunately, several unfortunate souls are diagnosed with sciatica every year. Some of them are lucky enough to get the relief that they need.  However, a good number of these people do not.  The reason for this is that for a percentage of the population, their symptoms were being caused by the vertebral subluxation complex.  Since only about 8% of the U.S. population utilizes the care provided by a chiropractor…and chiropractors are the only doctors who are trained to locate, analyze and treat the vertebral subluxation, these people were not able to treat the root cause of their Sciatica.  Hence, their treatment was ineffective.

In a recent paper published in a peer-reviewed medically indexed chiropractic journal, McMorland, Suter, Casha, du Plessis, and Hurlbert (2010), the authors concluded that “Sixty percent of patients with sciatica who had failed other medical management benefited from spinal manipulation to the same degree as if they underwent surgical intervention…Patients with symptomatic LDH [lumbar disc herniation] failing medical management should consider spinal manipulation…” (McMorland et al., 2010, p.576).

For more great information about the science of chiropractic, I recommend the book:

The Science of Chiropractic:  Circa 2015 by Mark Studin, D.C. and William Owens, D.C.

Can Chiropractic Help Me?

Chiropractic care has been shown to be very effective way to manage sciatica!

The reason for this is simple.

Although there are several different causes of sciatica:  Spinal Disc Herniation, Spondylolisthesis, Spinal Stenosis, Piriformis Syndrome, etc., one of the most common causes is the vertebral subluxation complex – the primary disorder that chiropractors and chiropractors alone – are trained to locate, analyze and treat!

With that reasoning!  If the symptoms of sciatica are the result of a vertebral subluxation, then chiropractic care may be the only solution for the problem.

What’s even better, is the fact that this solution doesn’t require drugs or surgery!