Sciatica – What is it ?

What is sciatica? At Reco spinal centre we see a lot of clients who come in with pain in the lower back that radiates down the leg. Lower back pain is one of the commonest complaints pre -covid that people used to have time off from work.

So what is sciatica? sciatica is when a bunch of nerves exit out of the intervertebral foramen in the lumbar, or lower back region. (in layman’s terms that’s the space they exit out of the spinal cord between the disc space and the vertebra) is being compressed and causing pain and tingling down into the back through the buttocks and down the legs.

These nerves act as electrical wires to the legs and the abdomen, when someone is experiencing sciatica, the nerve has pressure on it causing it to radiate symptoms into the legs and corresponding regions.

It can feel like a debilitating toothache, and this in turn can drive the patient to exhaustion, not being able to get any relief from the pain. Patients will report that they just can’t get rid of the pain, and this will give them endless sleepless nights not being able to get comfortable in any position, it will affect their day-to-day activities and they will feel like they can’t perform their daily acts of living with ease.

A lot of people will ask What caused this to happen? Was it something they did?

We know posture is a very important factor in the pressure that the spine is put under. If we are leaning one way or another, that will put pressure on joints, muscles and ligaments that can cause tissue like nerves to have additional pressure, causing them to fire continuously.

Here at Reco spinal centre, our team of Bristol chiropractors and spinal therapists can help to alleviate this pain, by looking at what structures are causing this pain, is it a disc that’s compressed and putting pressure on the nerve? , is it a joint that is stiff, or is it a muscle that’s tight? What is the posture doing? These are all precursors to pain. Our Bristol chiropractic and spinal therapy team are constantly helping people with pain that through manipulation and soft tissue work, can be helped, to take pressure off the nerve, and life can feel normal again. So don’t wait for the problem to get worse. We hope you have found our blog interesting. Book a consultation with the best Chiropractor Bristol has to offer. Pain does not have to be something you have to live with.