Sciatica Treatment in Olympia WA

We treat a lot of people who struggle with leg pain in Olympia WA with a very similar story. Your walking around the house and you begin to feel a shooting pain down your leg. It becomes difficult to finish what you were doing. You just want to sit down and hope the pain stops. A quick trip to your physician and you're told you have sciatica and to rest for an extended period of time and maybe do some physical therapy. You're left pondering, what is sciatica and is that what you really have? Let's talk about sciatica and then we'll discuss alternative reasons for the shooting pain down your leg.

What is sciatica in Olympia WA?

The spine is made up of 33 bones stacked on top of each other called "vertebrae." At every level of the spine there is a nerve that exits from both sides of the spinal cord and extends out to different parts of the body. These nerves are like telephone cables that allow the brain and body to communicate with each other. A few of these nerves in the lower back combine to form a thicker cable which extends down your leg all the way to the foot. This is called the "sciatic nerve." When something irritates this nerve, the brain gets the signal that something is wrong and interprets it as pain all the way down the leg. The most common cause of irritation to the nerve is something intruding into the small opening of the spine where the nerve extends outward from. Examples are inflammation of the soft tissue in the area, misalignment of the joints in the spine, or the cushion-like disc between each of the vertebrae can be pinched into the opening.

Another cause of irritation of the sciatic nerve can be found a little farther from the spine in the buttock region.  There is a muscle called the Piriformis muscle which sits on top of or sometimes below the sciatic nerve.  When this muscle gets tight, it can put strain on the sciatic nerve causing sciatica like symptoms. This is often called Piriformis Syndrome.

Could there be another cause of leg pain?

There are a few other things that could be causing your pain. On of the most common is "sacroilitis." At the base of your spine there is a joint on both sides called the sacroiliac joint (SI joint). This is where your pelvis attaches to your spine. These joints don't move a lot but they are really prone to getting irritated. When this happens, you'll feel a pain around your lower back. The pain will often times radiate down the side or back of your thigh but usually stops at the knee. This is very common and is often confused with sciatica.

At Evergreen Family Chiropractic in Olympia WA we can help you figure out the true source of your pain and help you return to a pain free life.