The Sciatic Nerve and Leg Pain
Sciatic nerve running from lower back down the leg. The sciatic nerve starts in the lower back and runs down your legs into your toes. When there is pressure on this nerve, or it is being pinched, you can experience leg pain that runs down your leg, aching legs, numbness in your legs, a burning sensation in your legs, weakness in your leg muscles, and/or tingling in the legs that can run all the way down into your toes. Depending on where the nerve impingement is you may be experiencing pain in one or both legs.
Leg pain due to sciatica most commonly starts in the lower back, even if you are not experiencing pain in your lower back. Since only 10% of your nervous system can feel pain, a problem in your lower back may cause pain in your legs even when you don’t feel pain in your lower back.
Causes of Sciatic Leg Pain
- Poor Posture:
Many of us sit for hours at a computer for our jobs and poor posture can cause pressure on the sciatic nerve. Sitting on a wallet can misalign the hips and lower back, which can also cause leg pain. - Bulging Disc, Herniated Disc:
These disc problems create pressure directly on the nerves as they exit the spine causing pain which can radiate down your legs. - Osteoarthritis in the Lower Back
Osteosrthritis is the deterioration of a joint, often due to lack of proper movement of the joint. - Subluxation or Misalignment of Vertebrae in the Spine in the lower back:
Subluxations are a very common cause of pressure on nerves. Your spine becomes misaligned and pressure is put on the nerves exiting the spine causing pain. - Disc Degeneration in the Lumbar Spine:
Spinal discs are a cushion that separates the vertebrae in the spine. If these discs start to degenerate, the space available for the nerves to exit the spine becomes smaller and can press against the nerves.
Treating Sciatic Nerve Pain in the Legs
At Tuckahoe Family Chiropractic, we will look to find and correct the underlying cause of your pain. Sciatic pain in your legs can make it difficult to walk, sit, or even sleep. When left untreated, sciatic pain will most likely spread to your lower back as well. Additionally, the nerves exiting the lumbar spine (lower back) control the function of major muscles and organs in the body. Untreated you may experience urinary problems, edema (leg swelling), reproductive problems, constipation, incontinence, erectile dysfunction, menstrual problems, and other issues.
To correctly identify the root cause of your leg pain, we will conduct any necessary exams. These exams may include chiropractic, orthopedic, physical exams, neurological, and x-rays if needed. In addition to these exams, we also have non-invasive computer scans that show us exactly how your nervous system is functioning.
Having identified the source of your pain, we will start treatment to correct the underlying source of your pain and restore full function to your nervous system. Once we correct the cause of your pain, the pressure on the nerves will be released and your symptoms will disappear. Chiropractic adjustments are very successful in treating sciatic nerve pain.
Call 804.740.3434 to arrange for a one-on-one consultation or use our convenient appointment form. If you or someone you know is dealing with sciatic leg pain or any of the related problems, please recommend this article to them.