Relieve Sciatica Without Medication in Oakland and Alameda Chiropractor

Suffering from persistent sciatica that won’t go away? Have you considered corrective chiropractic care which has the potential to provide significant relief?

A study reported in the October 2010 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics at NCBI concluded: “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.”

Spinal manipulation makes sense, because chiropractors are experts on the spine. And, says a report from Harvard Medical School, in nine out of 10 cases, sciatica is caused by a displaced disk in the lower spine. Other causes include degenerative disc disease, bone spurs, spinal stenosis, and general wear and tear on the lower spine. Sciatica is also common among pregnant women.

What is Sciatica?

The sciatic nerve is a nerve that extends from the lower back to the toes. The main function of the sciatic nerve is to control movement and sensation of the lower extremities.

Sciatica is pain felt along the path of the sciatic nerve. The pain originates from the lumbar spine, spreads to the outside of the thigh, the front of the leg, the outer ankle to the toes. Depending on the location of the lesion, the direction of pain may vary.

Symptoms

The most common symptoms of sciatica include:

• The pain starts in the lower back, then spreads down the buttocks, down the back of the leg, ankle and even toes. However, your discomfort can also appear anywhere along the path of the sciatic nerve.
• The pain can come on suddenly or be a dull ache. Sometimes it can feel like a jolt or electric shock. The level of pain increases when the patient overexerts himself, changes position, coughs, sneezes.
• In addition, the patient also feels numbness, tingling, or muscle weakness in the legs or feet.

Causes of sciatica

• A herniated disc is one of the leading causes of sciatica. The nucleus pulposus of the disc escapes from the fibrous capsule and directly presses on the sciatic nerve, thereby leading to injuries.
• Some other types of bone and joint diseases: In addition to herniated discs, spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, spinal discitis or lumbar spondylolisthesis can all cause sciatica.
• Injuries to the lower back: Injuries to the lower back, if left untreated, can lead to sciatica pain.
• Living and exercising in the wrong position: Standing too much, sitting too much, often wearing high heels, … are also the causes of disc herniation.
• Due to age: The older the patient, the more prone to degeneration the patient’s spine is, thereby directly affecting the sciatic nerve.
• Heavy labor: Regularly having to do jobs related to heavy lifting causes damage to the sciatic nerve. Over time leading to sciatica pain.

It can be seen that the cause of sciatica is mostly related to the spine. When the nervous system is operating efficiently, nerve energy from the brain travels down the spinal cord and out to every organ and limb in our body. When the spine is misaligned, as occurs in sciatica, that flow of energy is disrupted, similar to water flowing out of a hose with a kink in it.

Medical treatment typically involves heat and/or ice packs, pain medication, muscle relaxers, steroid injections, physical therapy and even surgery. However, none of those treatments deal with the root cause of the problem: your spine, which also houses your nervous system.

Chiropractor Sciatica in Oakland and Alameda

Chiropractic for sciatica in Oakland and Alameda offers a non-surgical, drug-free treatment option. Chiropractors such as Dr. Cynthia Boyd and her team at Symmetry Health Center are experts in Chiropractic BioPhysics (CBP), the most researched, published, scientific, and results-oriented corrective chiropractic technique.

That means they are among only a handful of Oakland, Alameda and East Bay chiropractors trained to rehabilitate and realign the spine back to health for a long-term solution to sciatic pain.

If you live in here, take advantage of our no-charge consultation to determine whether you or a loved one is a candidate for care at one of our Symmetry Health Center locations.