Sciatica Pain Treatments at Xcell Medical Group in Elyria
One of the more common conditions treated by chiropractic physicians is pain that runs down the back of the leg. This condition is called sciatica.
Sciatica refers to the large sciatic nerve that starts in the low back and goes all the way to the toes. There are several conditions that can create pain in this nerve.
The most common way the sciatic nerve becomes painful is pressure put on the nerve where it comes out of the spine in the low back. Pressure may be due to swelling in the connective tissue, malposition of the vertebrae causing the opening where the nerve comes out to shrink or even a bulging disc that pinches the nerve.
Sacroiliac or SI joint problems, as well as tight muscles in the gluteal area (piriformis syndrome), can also irritate the sciatic nerve and cause pain to radiate into the leg. There are also some vascular and pathological causes of leg pain that are far less common. It can sometimes be a little tricky to determine what is the source of your leg pain.
The good news is that chiropractors are highly trained to make this diagnosis and determine the proper course of treatment.
When a patient with leg pain comes into Xcell Medical Group, the first thing we do is a thorough consultation to determine what part of the leg is involved, severity and frequency of pain, what aggravates, what relieves, when was the onset, etc. These details tell the story and greatly help find the problem.
After doing this bit of detective work we do an exam.
The exam is also designed to help isolate your particular sources of pain. We perform a detailed physical, neurological and orthopedic exam as well as x-rays. When the exam is complete we determine the cause and essential treatment for your leg pain. We have seen hundreds of new back and leg pain cases a year for fifteen years.
At the consultation, we explain what we intend to do to make your pain go away. Options include medical evaluation, massage, therapies, exercise, chiropractic care, and even dietary/herbal remedies. We like to cover all the bases.