Sciatica Resource Report – Including the #1 Secret to Solving Your Chronic Sciatica Pain (with real patient pictures) Copyright 2015 - Dr. Zachary Ward, Upper Cervical Chiropractor Auburn Hills, Michigan New Patient Consultations: (248) 598 – 4002 LIAChiro.com A Word from the Doctor: Thank you for downloading this sciatica resource from the Life In Alignment website. It was written by me, Dr. Zachary Ward, to help explain why sciatica nerve pain can be a frustrating problem to solve. Even if you are receiving the best care from expert providers, a piece of the puzzle may be missing to help you find the relief that you so desperately need. In the image above is a patient who came to Life In Alignment, after receiving regular chiropractic care. His doctor was a competent chiropractor, but he couldn't find lasting relief until I was able to correct his spine – using a different method than most chiropractic patients experience. After putting a little pressure behind his ear, just enough to correct an important area of the neck – much of his sciatica pain disappeared in a few short weeks – offering him the lasting change he wanted. He was so happy with this change that he posted this testimonial to our practice Facebook page. I copied it and pasted it here for you to read. So, how are these changes possible and why haven't you heard about this solution? Copyright 2015 Dr. Zachary Ward – Auburn Hills, Michigan Keep reading... You are going to: • Learn what sciatica is, what the symptoms of sciatica are, and why sciatica is a bit tricky for you to deal with. • Learn about your 10 most common treatment options from both medicine and physical therapy. • Learn the unique spine secret behind sciatic nerve pain relief with pictures that will reveal the whole body cause of your sciatica nerve pain. What is sciatica (sciatic nerve pain)? Sciatica is: • one of the most common health complaints of the lower back and leg, • one of the most common kinds of nerve pain in the body, • and it can be one of the most difficult conditions to resolve without proper chiropractic care. Sciatica is nerve pain that follows the path of your sciatic nerve. Its technical definition is “inflammation of the sciatic.” The sciatic nerve is the nerve that supplies nervous system energy to the muscles and skin of your lower leg. With this kind of nerve pain, you may feel the pain anywhere along the path of the sciatic nerve. You may have pain in the lower back, buttocks, lower leg and/or foot. You do have a sciatic nerve on both the right and left side of the body. But sciatica usually occurs on only one side at one time. Copyright 2015 Dr. Zachary Ward – Auburn Hills, Michigan The hardest thing to understand about sciatica This is perhaps the hardest thing to understand about sciatica symptoms: Sciatica itself is not a medical condition–it describes a set of symptoms that are caused by another health condition. So sciatica is never a cause of anything. It is just the result of something. Any condition that puts extra pressure on the sciatic nerve or the roots of the sciatic nerve can cause the symptoms of sciatica. And this is why it’s so tricky. For example, a bulging disc or a extremely tight piriformis muscle (a muscle of the buttocks) can both cause sciatica. Where is the sciatic nerve? The sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in your body. The sciatic nerve emerges from the spinal cord in the lower back. It travels through the pelvis and then runs through thigh muscles on the back of the leg. Around the back of your knee it splits into two—and one half travels down the back of the leg into the foot. The others travel down the front and side of the leg into the foot. The sciatic nerve supplies sensation (feeling) to the skin of most of the lower leg and the foot. It also controls your leg and foot muscles. If you pick up your leg and look at your toes right now, you are using your sciatic nerve to do that. What are the the most common sciatica symptoms? These symptoms usually occur on one side of your body. Do you have any of these sciatica symptoms? • Buttock pain • Low back pain • Calf pain • Numbness (in skin of leg and/or foot) • Pain in one part of leg, numbness in another Copyright 2015 Dr. Zachary Ward – Auburn Hills, Michigan • Tingling, or pins and needles sensations (also called parasthesias) • Muscle weakness • Loss of muscle control • Loss of bladder or bowel control (rare–requires immediate medical attention) Sciatica nerve pain may feel like: • Mild ache • Dull ache • Sharp, burning sensation • Intense pain • Jolt or electric shock • Shooting pain that travels down the path of the sciatic nerve Sciatica can be aggravated by or made worse by the following situations: • Lying in bed at night • Sneezing, coughing or laughing • Bending backward or walking • Standing or sitting for prolonged periods of time What causes sciatica? All sciatica pain is caused by anything that puts extra pressure on the sciatic nerve or the sciatic nerve roots, up in the spine. According to some experts the most common cause of this type of pressure is a ruptured/herniated disc in lower back. (The disc is a pad of cartilage between your spinal bones. When it breaks down it can dry out and start to bulge near your spinal cord. However, disc bulges are relatively common. And not everyone who has a bulging disc gets sciatica pain.) Some experts say that about 90% of cases of sciatica are caused by spinal disc herniation. Copyright 2015 Dr. Zachary Ward – Auburn Hills, Michigan There are other less common, but potential causes of your sciatica including: • Spinal stenosis (a narrowing of the spinal canal that puts pressure on the spinal cord, for example bone spurs are one cause of spinal stenosis) • Piriformis syndrome (in some people the sciatic nerve runs through or under this muscle, so that muscle spasm, trauma or overuse puts pressure on the sciatic nerve) • Pregnancy (additional weight of the fetus can put extra pressure on sciatic nerve) • Pelvic injury or fracture • Tumors In some cases of sciatica symptoms, there is no identifiable underlying cause. When the doctor orders an MRI, the disc isn’t bulging (no spinal disc herniation). There is no obvious piriformis syndrome. There is no spinal stenosis. In these situations, your doctor may have a hard time explaining why you have sciatica. In that case it might be hard to find sciatic nerve pain relief if you don’t respond to typical medications. What are your sciatica treatment options? Once more, sciatic nerve pain can be caused by anything putting pressure on the sciatic nerve. As you just learned, you know that pressure can happen up in the spine….Or down in the leg. There is a good chance your sciatic nerve pain will probably be diagnosed as a disc problem. Sometimes sciatica is only considered true sciatica if a disc is actually swollen. (Again, the disc is pad of cartilage between the spinal bones. The spinal disc between the lower spine bones will be considered ruptured or herniated. You may even get an MRI showing swelling of the disc.) With or without disc swelling, sciatica may go away on its own. In this case your sciatica relief may take a few weeks, or even months, waiting for the swelling to decrease. Because it is known to reduce over time, medical doctors often treat sciatica with conservative care. For many patients, sciatica pain relief means rest and pain killers, and a little bit of home care. Copyright 2015 Dr. Zachary Ward – Auburn Hills, Michigan Your conservative care options for sciatica Pain relief The following are a few things you can do to try get sciatica relief at home. (Only do any of the following after seeking the opinion of your health care provider of choice. This information isn’t for home treatment or diagnosis.) These are the most common medical treatment recommendations you will hear for sciatica pain relief… 1. Apply ice or cold packs – applied to the painful area, several times per day for 10 to 20 minutes of time. 2. Use hot packs or heating pad – applied to the painful area, several times per day, for 10 to 20 minutes of time. Most doctors would recommend waiting a few days after a flare-up before you start with any heat. Keep in mind, with any heat or ice, you are not actually speeding up any healing of the body. You are using heat or ice as a temporary pain control for the sciatica. It is medication free. But your pain will not go away any faster. You still have to wait for the tissue to heal. (Some experts say to limit heat or ice to just 10 minutes at a time.) 3. Try gentle stretching for relaxation during a disc issue. Called the press up position, this places the spine in extension and may help relieve disc pressure. 4. Try gentle stretching for release of piriformis muscle. If the piriformis muscle in the buttock is really what is causing the sciatica pain, then more aggressive stretching may be helpful. There are a number of stretches for this area of the body that you could learn, like the piriformis stretch. 5. Reduce the pain with over the counter medications. Often the following pain relievers are recommended. You can buy them without a prescription: ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) and naproxen (Aleve).