Chiropractic for Sciatica
Chiropractic is an excellent way to help ease sciatic pains. If you are local to the Peterborough area and suffering with sciatica; we can help.
If you have sciatic pain in the legs, pain in the arms or even the back of the head; this can often be from a mechanical issue within the spine. The discs between each vertebrae are pads of gel which separate the bones and act as ‘shock absorbers’ and allow the bones to move freely so that we can function. As we age, these discs tend to get smaller and smaller, a bit like the sole on a well-worn shoe. That combined with poor posture is why people shrink in height as they age.
The problem is that as the discs get compressed over decades and get smaller – the gel begins to bulge out. Think of when you bite into a donut and the jam comes out the other side. This bulge can then irritate the delicate nerve tissue around and in the spine causing sciatic pain if the nerve runs down the leg, and Brachialgia if it runs down the arm. The spine is a ‘suit of armour’ that protects your spinal cord which is an extension of your brain. The cord nerve tissue is very tightly packed within the spine column.
What happens when the intricate spinal column doesn’t work correctly?
Restriction of movement followed by pain in the lower are usually the first warnings of reduced spinal function. That can then progresses onwards to eventually cause irritation to the nerve roots (the communication pathways of the body), then the sciatica/brachialgia pain begins. People often present with pins and needles in the legs or arms, sometimes people report burning pains, shooting electric pains down the leg/arm or numbness.
What this means to me as a chiropractor, is that your body is not functioning correctly. The pain is a warning system to tell you there is loss of function and that your body is sustaining ongoing ‘wear and tear’ changes. Not only that, but sciatic pains can be an obstacle preventing you from living a high-quality and fun life. Activities that you would want or need to do become a lot harder.
Here is some food for thought.
If your spine and nervous system are not working correctly and telling you with pain and sciatica. If the brain controls every system within your body through the spine. Do you think there could be other losses to function within your body in systems that you don’t feel as prominently as the sciatic pain? The nerves that exit the spine also control the muscle contractions in the legs. Are your legs stronger or weaker with sciatica pains? The nerves that exit the spine in your lower back and control the contraction in the muscles, also control the bowel and kidneys. Will these systems be affected too?
So how can chiropractic help with your sciatic pains?
What chiropractors do is restore function to the spine. When the mechanical spine functions correctly like a car, it will go on and on. We restore movement to the joints over time and reposition any distortion in the structure. With better movement you can do more activities and do them better which will improve the quality of your life. The more movement you have the better your sport and body performance are. With correct mechanical function and alignment sciatic pains are generally relieved.
That said the rate of your recovery and the extent of it depend on the quality of the tissue when we assess it. The function of the spinal tissue and the nervous system can be potentially amplified, maintained and managed just like your teeth. You don’t wait for your teeth to hurt until you brush them. If you haven’t looked after the spine for 70 years, it will be harder to restore the correct function completely; Just like if you haven’t looked after your teeth for 70 years. The tissue may need to be managed, as unlike a gear box in a car; you can not just replace a spine and nervous system.
Chiropractors can assess for weakness in your neuro-muscular tissue and use this information to better calibrate the transmission of messages from your brain to your muscles making them stronger. In an Olympic taekwondo team trained to perfection, they were found to get 8% stronger in the muscles from chiropractic care. Chiropractors make specific changes to increase the function of the spine and nervous system and help relieve your sciatic pains so that you can be happier in life.
In a study on the effects of chiropractic on a stroke patient, they were found to have 65% stronger contractions in the leg muscles. If you would like to know more on this, please write ‘Heidi Haavik’ into youtube and you will be able to find out more information on the science of chiropractic in some short very easy to understand videos. Also, on our website we have a tab linked to the current research references on chiropractic https://www.peterboroughchiropractor.co.uk/.
Chiropractic can be used for a lot more than simply relieving sciatic pains. Where medicine uses drugs and chemicals to heal, the intention of chiropractic is to do the same thing using the nervous system. By maximising neural-spinal function; chiropractic looks to heal the body from the inside out, rather than the outside in. Not just in a ‘dealing with problems’ capacity but also prevention, which is much better than cure.
There is not a lot of scientific data available on the effects of chiropractic unfortunately. Very few neurologists in the world are studying the effects that we can achieve. But the information like that above about the Olympians and stroke patients is beginning to slowly emerge. I WOULD REMOVE THIS PARAGRAPH.. WHY HIGHLIGHT THE NEGATIVES.
For any sciatica pain Issues; please visit the Peterborough Chiropractic website and book a consultation today.
You can contact us on 01733 555 568.
We are located at:
28B Priestgate
Peterborough
PE1 1JA
