You’ve had enough and need to get sciatica relief!  That numbness and tingling going down your leg is not only annoying but

is affecting many aspects of your life.  The medications your doctor prescribes is only providing temporary relief because it just masks the symptoms and you are worried about the side effects.

It’s important to find a doctor that not only knows what sciatica is but also what is causing it and then takes steps to correct it.  A thorough history and evaluation needs to be done.  Some factors need to be ruled out first:  Many people don’t realize drugs like cholesterol medications can be a cause of pain and numbness in the legs.  So make sure if you are on these medications, the doctor is aware of this.  It’s also important to make sure you aren’t suffering with diabetes.  Most medical treatments do not find the cause, they just cover up the symptoms.

So the first step in getting the sciatica relief you want is to find a doctor that actually finds the cause!  Doctors of chiropractic do a thorough orthopedic and chiropractic evaluation which isolate the cause.  Once the cause is known it’s easier to correct it.  We need to know is there a subluxation in the spine putting pressure on the branches of the sciatic nerve, is there

compression of the disc irritating the nerve, possibly the piriformis muscle is putting pressure on the nerve or there could possibly be imbalances in the ankle, feet or knees.  There are many ways of examining this and an important part I believe is doing a myovision state of the art computerized scan which identify areas of concern.  The severity of nerve and muscle problems are visual documented and then the examination can then concentrate on those areas.

Now that we know there is pressure in the nerves and muscle imbalances, analysis of range of motions will show which joints are misaligned.  Along with palpation, leg length discrepancies and other evaluation techniques a chiropractor knows where and when to adjust.

But how do we know the severity of the cause of the sciatica?  Basic orthopedic tests can show us if there are disc problems, sprain or strain injuries, and evaluating flexibility of the hamstrings, quads and piriformis muscles can lead to other avenues to provide the sciatica relief.  It’s imperative that the doctor you go to not only do chiropractic adjustments but also therapeutic stretching to address these muscular imbalances.  If the piriformis muscle is hypertonic it can put pressure on the sciatic nerve.  Just adjusting the spinal vertebra will not correct the piriformis syndrome.

Finally, what about the feet, ankles and knees?  Problems in these areas can be leading to low back strain, misalignments of the lumbo-pelvic region, disc problems and tight piriformis muscles.  Some chiropractors evaluate the joints of the extremities and will adjust them.  Some will even check your arches in your feet to make sure they are properly supported.  If the arches are not supported it will cause the feet to pronate or supinate which will then cause all the other problems.  It’s like driving a car with misaligned tires… the tires wear out and if you just put new tires on them without doing a realignment, the new tires will wear out more quickly.

When seeking sciatica relief it is very important to find a chiropractor that takes this full body approach of finding the causes of the problem.  In our Freehold Chiropractic office, Dr. Russell Brokstein takes this approach of a thorough examination, using gentle chiropractic adjusting, extremity work, therapeutic stretching, exercise and orthotics to support the feet.  Dr. Brokstein has been providing sciatica relief to local residents for the last 16 years.