PAIN CENTER OF GWINNETT

By: Dr. Ray Alexander, Chiropractor in Lawrenceville, Ga.

Leg Pain/Sciatica and Chiropractic

The pain is so bad I can’t sit or lay down!
What is it and what can I do about it?

 If you are experiencing intense pain, burning or tingling, numbness or weakness that runs through your buttocks and/or down the back of one leg and may or may not be accompanied by lower back pain, there’s a good chance you may be suffering from sciatica.  This debilitating condition makes it difficult to stand, sit, lay down, or walk.

The sciatic nerve runs from your low back down through the buttocks and along the back of each leg.  It is a large nerve about the size of a finger.  In most cases, sciatica occurs when a lumbar (low back) joint is out of alignment (position) or a disk herniates or bulges and there is pressure on the sciatic nerve.  Often this situation is caused by or further aggravated by improper lifting, sudden twisting or jarring of the back during a sports activity, sudden movements or just plain wear and tear.

When a disk herniates, the soft core of the disk protrudes or bulges into the spinal cord causing the nerves to send involuntary signals that cause a sensation of tingling, numbness, burning, or pain. As this pain can continue for serveral weeks to months, many people turn to dramatic procedures in the hopes of a “quick fix”.  These include localized injections and/or surgery.

There are several types of localized injections used, all of which simply mask the pain and do not treat the cause.  One type, called chemoneucliosis, can actually cause severe damage to healthy tissue if not administered properly.  Surgery should only be considered as a very last result or if you suffer sudden loss of bladder/bowel control or have severe numbness.  Most people who have back surgery find they have permanent limitations on their physical activity, many continue to suffer chronic pain and, in some, the condition returns or actually worsens.  Therefore surgery should  be considered only after all conservative options have been explored.

Chiropractic is almost universally recognized as an effective conservative treatment of sciatica.  Through a combination of techniques we commonly provide genuine, sustained relief from the pain of sciatica by relieving and eliminating the pressure that causes the pain in the first place.

Dr. Alexander works to relieve the pain by correcting the problem at its source.  By helping to ease the out of place or misaligned vertebra back into it proper position or by working to relieve the pressure from a bulging disk, Dr. Alexander  helps people suffering with leg pain and sciatic return to a normal, active life.

This is the second in a series of articles on CHIROPRACTIC MADE EASY.  Follow this link for other articles Chiropractic Made Easy by Dr. Raymond Alexander, DC. - Lawrenceville, Ga.