Sciatica Treatment In Portland, ME
The sciatic nerve is a large nerve, beginning in your low back and extending in branches to your feet. Think of it as a highway of motor and sensory information running from your spine and all the way down the back of your leg. Sciatica is when the sciatic nerve becomes irritated, resulting in shooting pain down the back of the leg. Sciatica often occurs due to nerve compression in the low back or gluteal region and is often experienced in people with low back issues and those who spend a lot of time sitting.
Sciatica is a common condition that we often treat at our office. Because most people in our population spend hours sitting, we have a high rate of low back pain, which usually involves the sciatic nerve. A disc injury is a very high risk factor for developing sciatica. While there are many types of treatment for this condition, chiropractic care is specially equipped to help treat sciatica. Rather than relying on medication to mask the pain, we focus on finding the root cause of the problem to help the sciatic nerve relax again.
How We Treat Sciatica in Portland, ME
Comprehensive Consultation and Examination
To properly treat sciatica, we must first determine the cause of the pain. Sciatica is actually a symptom of sciatic nerve compression. To formulate an effective treatment, we have to determine WHY the sciatic nerve is aggravated in the first place. To do this, we begin by attaining a detailed history of your injury and then performing a complete examination to determine your pain's origin. Our examination will involve a combination of ranges of motion, nerve testing, and orthopedic tests to narrow in on the source of your sciatic pain. The examination process is crucial. Without addressing the root cause of your sciatic pain, it will never truly heal, resulting in an endless cycle of chronic pain.
Specific Chiropractic Care in Portland, ME
As chiropractors, a large part of our treatment focuses on the joints by performing chiropractic adjustments. As most sciatic pain originates in the spine of the lower back, adjusting these joints is essential for proper function. After the examination, we will determine which joints of your lower back are injured and focus our treatment on those areas. Not focusing on the injured joints of the lower back could be detrimental to your treatment and result in missing the underlying cause of your sciatic pain. Our treatments will focus on mobilizing the restricted joints and stabilizing the unstable joints. In addressing those functional problems, we will help you heal the source of the sciatica and get you feeling better again.
Custom Therapeutic Exercise
At Chiropractic & Sports Health, we provide more than just adjustments for our sciatica patients. Along with improving your low back mobility with the adjustment, we also want to improve your strength, flexibility, and balance with instructional exercises. Including exercises in your sciatica treatment is critical because the muscles are likely not doing a good job stabilizing your back. The better you can stabilize the injured area, the better your chances of healing and preventing occurrences of sciatica in the future.
Spinal Decompression in Portland, ME
Think of the discs of the spine like a jelly doughnut - with a tough outer ring and a gooey center. These discs are located between each vertebra of the spine to provide flexibility and take on compressive forces that we experience every day of our lives.
Over time, these compressive forces can become too much and damage the disc. The disc begins a degenerative process, resulting in bulging outward, tearing, and possibly herniation (the gooey center squirts out). The disc bulging and herniation process will likely result in direct sciatic nerve irritation. As the nerve passes by the disc, any bulging will result in nerve compression, sending that signal of pain down your leg.
At Chiropractic & Sports Health, our spinal decompression therapy uses a traction table to lightly pull the disc enough to alleviate compression, helping to reduce pressure on the sciatic nerve. This therapy is often beneficial for managing sciatica in combination with adjustments and exercise therapy.
Common Causes of Sciatic Pain in Portland, ME
Herniated Lumbar Discs
As stated before, imagine the spinal discs like a jelly doughnut. There is a tough outer cartilage ring with a jelly center. Over time, the disc can bulge under too much pressure, and the outer ring begins to push outward. The outward stress results in a slow-forming tear, ultimately tearing to the jelly center. A disc herniation is when the jelly-like material inside the disc has squeezed out through the tear in the outer ring. The jelly material squeezes into the spinal canal, near the spinal cord and the nerve roots (the sciatic nerve being one). A disc herniation results in intense back pain, sciatic pain, and potentially numbness and weakness in the legs.
Degenerative Disc Disease
This condition also involves the spinal discs but is a different process. A degenerative disc is similar to osteoarthritis in a joint, as the disc slowly breaks down as a person ages. This condition is seen in later decades of life as the disc compresses, dries out, and shrinks. Unfortunately, the shortening of the discs also decreases the space between each vertebra and reduces the amount of room for the nerves to exit the spine. Pressure on the nerves can increase as that space shrinks, resulting in conditions like sciatica.
One of the best things you can do for this condition is to help support the degenerating discs as much as possible. Motion is one of the most effective ways for discs to get nutrients for general health and repair. We focus our treatments on mobility with adjustments and exercise instruction to improve motion and flexibility. We further support the discs with strengthening, ergonomic instruction, and spinal decompression
Spinal Stenosis
Think of the spine as a long tube made of bone. Running through the middle of this tube is your spinal cord, beginning at your brain and running the length of your lower back. Spinal stenosis is a degenerative condition in which the tube begins to narrow. The narrowing ultimately begins to compress the spinal cord, impacting its ability to send nerve signals to everything below the narrowed area. Symptoms of spinal stenosis are often felt in both legs. Pain, leg weakness, and leg numbness are common symptoms. You may also notice increased symptoms with backbends and walking and alleviation of symptoms when bending forward.
There are many options for spinal stenosis, including surgery, though trying conservative treatments like chiropractic care is often helpful. Our office offers a combination of spinal adjustments for mobility, spinal decompression to provide space in the spine, and exercise therapy with ergonomics instruction to help minimize aggravation and improve stability.
Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction (SI Joint Pain)
The sacroiliac joint is on either side of the sacrum at the base of your lower back. If you feel your lower back, you may find two bony nubs on the left and right sides. This joint is part of the pelvis and allows minimal rocking motion when walking or moving. While issues in the sacroiliac joint don’t cause sciatica, it creates symptoms that mimic it. Sacroiliac dysfunction can trigger pain down the leg, and are often more irritated with sitting.
The best way to address sacroiliac joint dysfunction is to have it adjusted. The joint often locks up, and the restriction causes irritation. Adjusting the joint to restore proper motion is often very effective for alleviating this condition.
Spondylolisthesis
Spondylolisthesis is a more complex kind of injury. In this condition, the vertebra has fractured and has become two pieces. The section that resides in the anterior portion of the spine then slowly slides forward, no longer having the anchor of the posterior half to keep it in place. Of course, the sliding of the vertebra has the potential to irritate the nearby nerves, sometimes leading to sciatic pain. This is a very slow process; it sometimes takes years of chronic pain to finally be diagnosed. The only way to know if you are suffering from this condition is to have an x-ray to confirm its presence.
Our primary focus in treating this injury is restoring proper stability to the area with a specific exercise program and correcting for poor ergonomics that may aggravate the condition. It’s important to know that our treatment cannot reverse the process but can keep the area stronger and help reduce your pain.
Check Out Our Locations Near You
Portland
15 Sewall Street
Portland, ME 04102
Phone:
207-347-2205
South Portland (inside Momentum Gym)
125 John Roberts Rd, Unit #16
South Portland, ME 04106
Phone
207-536-4610
Frequently Asked Questions
What causes sciatica flare-ups?
Flare-ups of sciatica occur when the underlying causes of the condition are aggravated. The most common causes of sciatica are a herniated or slipped disc, spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spinal canal), degenerative disc disease, and piriformis syndrome (irritation of the piriformis muscle in the buttocks that can compress the sciatic nerve).
Several factors can trigger or worsen sciatica flare-ups:
Physical activity
Poor posture
Heavy lifting
Sedentary lifestyle
Weight gain
Inflammation
Trauma or injury
Muscle tension
Stress
Incorrect sleeping position
Should I see a doctor or a chiropractor about sciatica?
Conventional medical treatment focuses on relieving pain with painkillers, injections, and surgery. Chiropractic care is a natural, non-invasive approach that focuses on addressing the root cause of the pain to decrease symptoms and prevent them from returning. At Chiropractic & Sports Health, we have multiple therapies to design a relief plan to eliminate sciatica for good.
How long does sciatica last?
The duration of sciatica can vary widely depending on the underlying cause, how long you’ve been experiencing it, and how it is managed. That’s why seeking help as soon as possible is important rather than giving it time to get worse.
What is the best sleeping position for sciatica?
The best way to sleep to avoid sciatica pain is on your back with a pillow under your knees to help maintain a neutral spine and relieve pressure on the sciatic nerve. If you prefer sleeping on your side, try placing a pillow between your knees to keep your hips and spine properly aligned. This can help reduce strain on your lower back and alleviate pressure on the sciatic nerve.
Sleeping on your stomach is never recommended due to the unnatural position it forces the spine to be in all night.
What is the best treatment for sciatica?
Chiropractic care! Chiropractic is a natural, non-invasive approach to pain relief that addresses the underlying cause of a problem rather than temporarily masking the symptoms. By optimizing the nervous system, chiropractic care helps the body feel, heal, and function better.