What is sciatica? True sciatica is pain down the back of one or both legs along the distribution of the sciatic nerve, from the lower back down the back of your leg and sometimes right down to your foot. It is caused by dysfunction in the joints of the lower spine (subluxation) leading to nerve interference; in other words, you feel the pain in the leg but the problem is usually in the lower back.
This nerve interference may be as a result of direct pressure on the nerve, inflammation in the area around the nerve of increased muscle tension (secondary to the subluxation) causing pressure on the nerve. And remember that only 10% of your nerves are pain fibres, so not only will this be causing pain, it will also be interfering with many other nerve messages, including those supplying your cells, tissues and organs. So these subluxations can be contributing to many other health issues as well, some of which you may not even feel.
It used to be thought that bed rest was the best solution for sciatica but we now know that often makes it worse. Medications can help to dumb the pain but will not remove the nerve interference whilst surgery will cause irreversible changes to the discs or bones often leading to secondary problems.
Chiropractic care on the other hand can be a very effective, safe, non-invasive strategy for effectively dealing with sciatica. The aim of the chiropractic care is to adjust the spine and remove the interference to the nervous system. This not only helps relieve the pain in the sciatic nerve but also helps the rest of your body to heal and regenerate too.
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