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HELP FOR SCIATICA PAIN
(Keywords: Help for sciatica pain, Exercises for relieving sciatica, Sciatica stretches, How to cure sciatica, Sciatica cures, Sciatica back pain treatment)
For the purist:
sciatica (noun)
sciatic (adjective)
But internet users like to google "sciatica pain" so sciatica pain it is! The consumer is always right!
What is SCIATICA?
HELP FOR SCIATICA PAIN
The sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in the body, as thick as your finger and runs from the lower back to the foot. Before thinking about how to cure sciatica you should understand first what it is, otherwise, if you don't do the right exercises for relieving sciatica, the miserable affliction will start all over again next week.
There are two principle causes of sciatica:
Chemical irritation of the sciatic nerve
Pinching of the sciatic nerve
There are other rare causes such as tumors, but they really are very rare. If you have loss of bladder control, weight loss, cancer elsewhere... well, yes, the other causes of sciatica leg pain must be considered.
Searching for something specific? Say, " slipped disk ". Just type it in here...
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The origin of the SCIATIC NERVE
The sciatic nerve is made up of three nerve roots located at the very bottom of the spine: the so-called L4, L5 and S1 roots. They travel down the spine in what is called the horse's tail and then escape via a "foramen".
What is a foramen?
On each side of the spine a "intervertebral foramen" or IVF, or just "foramen" is located at each spinal level, strategically and vulnerably placed right between a facet joint and the disc joint. Both can be causes of sciatica by interfering with the nerve roots.
HOW DO THEY INTERFERE WITH THE NERVE ROOTS?
Chemical irritation
Both the facets and the vertebral end plates are made of hyaline cartilage, one of the tissues in the body that has no blood supply. They are supplied with nutrients and oxygen, and waste products removed, by fluid in and around the joints.
HYALINE CARTILAGE ...
If either the disc of the facet joints are fixated, the synovial fluids in the joints are not adequately refreshed causing a build up of waste products. This toxic soup of wastes is now known to be one of the causes of sciatica.
Pinching by a disc bulge
A bulging or slipped disc can physically press on the nerve root causing sciatica symptoms - pain, tingling, numbness and weakness in the leg. Very occasionally it can also cause bladder problems.
SLIPPED DISC SYMPTOMS Case File ...
Pinching by an arthritic facet
A chronically subluxated facet joint is starved of oxygen and nutrients. Experiments on white mice show that degeneration of the hyaline cartilage (scientists call it Immobilisation Arthritis) sets in within 13 hours. Gradually the shape of the facet changes, becoming large and flattened and allowing the vertebra to subluxate forwards (called an "antero-lysthesis") which can pinch the nerve root located just forward of the facet.
Immobilisation Arthritis ...
SCIATICA BACK PAIN TREATMENT
One's first thought should be of prevention before sciatica cures. From Chiropractic Tips you can get some very basic lumbar exercises. We all sit too much, our core muscles become weak and a few simple exercises done faithfully every day will do wonders for sciatica back pain treatment. Think Immobilisation arthritis prevention and sciatica stretches before sciatica nerve treatment!
How to cure sciatica? Frankly, a "cure" doesn't exist. Once you've had a bad attack of sciatica, no matter what help for sciatic pain you seek, it will remain a vulnerable part of your body. Exercise, exercise, exercise... is your best bet.
CHIROPRACTIC EXAMINATION
HELP FOR SCIATICA PAIN
Your chiropractor will start with a posture examination. Do you have the sign of Pisa? Do you have a short leg, what is known in Chiropractic jargon as a Leg Length Inequality?
LEG LENTH INEQUALITY ...
Next your chiropractor will test your ranges of motion. Does bending forwards hurt? Most important, does bending increase the pain or cause a tight feeling in the leg? If so, you certainly need help for sciatica pain.
If bending backwards, or to the side causes pain to radiate down your leg then you may have a condition called Lumbar stenosis. It too responds well usually to Chiropractic. Here one of our monthly newsletters. Have you signed up yet?
CHIROPRACTIC HELP Lumbar Stenosis ...
NEUROLOGICAL EXAMINATION
Next your Chiropractor will be looking for "hard neurological signs". Can you stand on your heel, raising your big toe, can you go up and down several times on your toes, taking your full weight on one foot? Then the reflexes and tests for numbness or increased sensation in the skin. It's all quite involved and gives precise information as to which nerve root is affected. Sometimes it can be more than one level causing considerable scratching of the head! That's where a MR scan is so useful.
ORTHOPAEDIC EXAMINATION
Your Chiropractor will do a series of orthopaedic tests to help in making a diagnosis before starting help for sciatic pain. The purpose of these tests is to stress the affected tissue, and they may cause some pain, and occasionally "after pain". The artful examination looks to make a diagnosis without actually aggravating the condition.
For example the Slump test places increasing sciatic nerve stretches to determine whether the nerve is just irritated, or actually pinched.
SLUMP TEST FOR SCIATICA
MOTION PALPATION
Motion palpation, a technique developed by Belgian chiropractor Henri Gillet, is an important part of the Chiropractic examination. Your chiropractor will carefully examine your spine and pelvis looking for fixated joints. It'a a difficult procedure, more of an art than a science perhaps, and requires many years to perfect. After thirty years in Chiropractic I'm still learning...
It's an absolutely vital part of my protocol, because my Sciatica back pain treatment is based on these motion palpation findings.
CHIROPRACTIC TREATMENT
HELP FOR SCIATICA PAIN
Here is where there is considerable variation depending on your condition, and your Chiropractor's preferred treatment protocol. One chiropractor might prefer using a Thompson drop treatment (my first choice), another frank manipulation, an activator, pelvic blocks, McManus traction... all of these have their place, one perhaps more suited to your condition that another.
REHABILITATION @ Exercises for relieving sciatica
Good chiropractic care ALWAYS is followed up with a rehab regimen. Accept that you must exercise, or the pain will be back, sooner rather than later. That's true if you have surgery, physio, pills or chiropractic.
In all honesty, I cannot guarantee, in fact I think it's unlikely that lower back exercises can fix a sciatica. But they can do wonders to prevent the next bout of sciatica once your chiropractor has reduced the pressure on the nerve. No harm in trying them to see if you can get help for sciatic pain, though... perhaps for a week or two.
Then say to yourself, honestly is this improving? If not, well, you know what to do!
Rule of thumb:
If you get pain in the leg, or a tight leg with forward bending then do the disc exercises on YouTube.
If you get pain in the leg whilst bending backwards then do the facet exercises.
"First of all, thank you ever so much for your website! I'm a consecrated fan of Chiropractic... Once again, THANKS SO MUCH for your site and Newsletter! VERY educational and I have recommended it."
A.Y.Jr.
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SCIATICA TREATMENT
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