Sciatica is one of the most common causes of pain as it affects around 10 to 40 percent of the global population. It’s also one of the main reasons why people come to an upper cervical chiropractor.
Many sciatica patients often describe it as a tingling or numbing leg pain that usually starts from the lower back or hips then radiates towards the legs. Depending on your condition’s intensity and frequency, you can either have an acute or chronic type. If the symptoms usually go away after a few weeks, you have the acute type. On one hand, if your pain doesn’t resolve itself for months or years, you can quickly tell that it’s the chronic form.
Unfortunately, most patients don’t know that they have sciatica. Some think that their tingling leg or hip only resulted from a long day at work. Others completely ignore the problem. If you experience any of sciatica's main symptoms, you should get diagnosed as early as possible. This will allow you to find the best options to manage your condition and possibly resolve it through natural means. To help you figure out if your leg or hip pain originates from your sciatica nerve or your muscles, check out the list of five questions we prepared below.
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If you’re an athlete, your muscles and ligaments can sometimes get strained because of your usual routine. Regular practices, workouts, and other physical activities could cause a bit of muscle pain, especially on the back and legs. The same can be said for physically active individuals. If you frequently hit the gym and run on treadmills or lift heavyweights, you can also experience muscle stress and strain. It’s likely that the pain you experience results from piriformis syndrome, a condition where your hip joint compresses your sciatic nerve.
Sciatica is not always about pain. Some patients report numbness or tingling in one of their legs. This results from your sciatic nerve's pinching, which runs along your lower back to the rest of your lower body. The stress on the sciatic nerve impedes the normal flow of brain signals to your lower extremity. That’s why the affected parts usually experience temporary loss of sensation. Typically, if you have the acute type of sciatica, the symptoms go away eventually. However, if you experience prolonged numbness or if your leg suddenly feels weak, we recommend seeking medical attention.
When reporting to your doctor or seeing an upper cervical care chiropractor, it’s crucial to provide specific details on your condition. It enables them to help you better. You can determine if your leg or hip pain comes from muscle strain or sciatica nerve problems by pressing hard on your lower back muscles. If you can reproduce the same painful sensation, your leg pain is muscle-induced. If not, then you have sciatica.
If the doctor suspects that you have sciatica, he will need to confirm with a simple test. You will need to lie down and stretch your feet. Then, the doctor will raise one of your legs by up to 70 degrees. If you have sciatica, you will feel pain in your legs and down to your toes. This procedure stretches your sciatic nerve, so if it’s pinched, you will definitely experience pain.
Most of the time, sciatica doesn’t require emergency assistance. In fact, roughly 80 percent of sciatica cases heal independently. However, if you have bilateral sciatica and you experience loss of bowel control and bladder function, this could mean trouble. It is mostly a rare problem. However, when it does happen, it means that there is intense pressure on your nerves. You should seek medical assistance as soon as possible. Your physician might prescribe a few types of medications to help you manage your bladder and bowel problems.
So, where does an upper cervical care chiropractor fit in the picture? How can these professionals help you manage your sciatica? If you have tried almost every approach in the book to relieve your hip and leg pain but found no relief, you can try upper cervical chiropractic care. It can help patients like you by diagnosing their upper spinal bones.
Upper cervical chiropractors provide upper cervical corrections or adjustments to fix bone misalignments. Oftentimes, after a neck injury, the position of the uppermost cervical bones gets messed up. It results in the uneven distribution of the head’s weight. When left uncorrected, the structural problem progresses, affecting the shoulders' position and the rest of the spine. Ultimately, it could result in the pinching of your sciatic nerve.
A local upper cervical chiropractor near your place can help you resolve the issue by precise and gentle adjustments. Many sciatica patients have reported resolution of their condition or decrease of their sciatic pain following their upper cervical adjustments. You, too, can enjoy these life-changing benefits. You can search for an upper cervical doctor near you to help you recover.
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The content and materials provided in this web site are for informational and educational purposes only and are not intended to supplement or comprise a medical diagnosis or other professional opinion, or to be used in lieu of a consultation with a physician or competent health care professional for medical diagnosis and/or treatment. All content and materials including research papers, case studies and testimonials summarizing patients' responses to care are intended for educational purposes only and do not imply a guarantee of benefit. Individual results may vary, depending upon several factors including age of the patient, severity of the condition, severity of the spinal injury, and duration of time the condition has been present.
