What is Sciatica and what can you do to treat it?

Sciatica has become a household name, but many people don't really know what it means. Some patient think it's just another word for pain in the low back, or pain going down their legs. What Sciatica means is irritation of the sciatic nerve that produces pain radiating along the sciatic nerve, which run down your leg. Its possible for Sciatic do actually go down both legs, but its less likely. The cause of Sciatica is generally due a disc or bone spur in the spine that puts pressure on the Sciatic nerve. You can see on the picture below that the Sciatic nerve is actually made up of branches from several nerve roots coming from the spine. It's our job as Chiropractors to determine at what level in your spine the irritation is occurring. Once we find out the cause of your Sciatica we can then focus our adjustments and exercises to target your problem area.