How Spinal Decompression Can Help Back Problems & Sciatica

If you have a herniated disc, you likely are experiencing considerable pain. A herniated disc occurs when there’s a bulge, protrusion, or rupture of the central portion of a disc.

You may have seen a doctor and perhaps you had an MRI taken. Typical symptoms of a herniated disc include the following:

• Back pain
• Leg symptoms, either pain in the buttock or down the leg
• Tingling or numbness in the feet
• Difficulty sitting for very long

Perhaps you aggravated your disc or have had a prior injury, and now it’s getting worse. You also may be seeking a method other than drugs or back surgery.

The Surgical vs. Natural Approach

In surgery, part of the disc or the full disc will be removed. Surgery isn’t always successful though; there’s a 50-50 chance of success. Some people do great, and others end up with more problems due to scar tissue that can form. Back surgery also takes a long time to recover from-2 to 3 months.

Orthopedic surgeons typically want people to try other avenues first before surgery and are open to their patients giving a chiropractic a try.

Chiropractic care along with spinal decompression could provide a long-term solution. Follow-up rehabilitative exercises also can help to avoid relapse.

Sciatica

Sciatica is often just a symptom of the herniated disc. Sciatic pain refers to pain down the back of the leg extending from the back, buttock and knee and down to the foot. There’s another type called piriformis sciatica and sometimes it gets missed. The piriformis is a muscle that lies below the buttock muscle. This muscle can get tight due to a hip issue.

With sciatica, we look to see if it’s coming from vertebrae that are compressing the nerve itself or a disc issue that we address through chiropractic and spinal decompression. We grade the sciatica. Grade 1 is pain to the buttock; grade 2 goes to the knee and grade 3 goes to the foot.

There can be an absence of back pain and only leg pain but chiropractors use spinal decompression to help retract that disc away from the nerve. We can break the cycle of inflammation and swelling, then the pain will be gone without surgery.

The sooner you get to it, the easier it is to treat, the sooner you can get back to living your life without pain.

Chiropractic & Spinal Decompression

Pain from herniated discs or sciatica can be addressed by chiropractic care, which people should try before committing to surgery. It’s important to find a chiropractor who focuses on spinal decompression and chiropractic together. At our practice, we use both methods because we know they will get to the underlying root cause.

Spinal decompression separates the vertebrae, reducing unwanted pressure being placed on different spinal discs and spinal nerves.

Another advantage of spinal decompression is it’s a natural alternative to painkillers and opiates, which often come with many side effects or addiction.