If you or someone you know is suffering with the low back dis-ease “sciatica?” then you know how agonizing and even debilitating that issue can be. Apart from the uneasiness and pain that is felt in the low back, which is bad enough on its own, you’re also experiencing some kind of symptoms in either or both of your lower extremities (any area between the gluteus muscles down to the toes). These symptoms range all the way from pins and needles, numbness to numerous sensations of pain all experienced in the butt cheeks, back of the thighs, calf area, ankle, sole of the foot or the toes.

You are likely wondering what is causing the pain and what to do about it. The precise cause may change from individual to individual but in a nutshell sciatica comes from some variety of nerve damage. It might be a direct compression of the nerve (trapped nerve) but very often it isn’t compressed, instead it is stretched, twisted or sheared by a defect of the spine.

Most people will search out help from their GP and are often given analgesic treatments and if this does not work wait for a physiotherapy referral. But when you suffer with sciatica your best decision is probably to head straight out for your local chiropractor as an alternative. Unlike a GP who must “generalise” in a selection of disease processes a doctor of chiropractic specialises in sicknesses of the spine and is therefore rather more likely to help you find the swiftest way to deal with your sciatica.

There’s a growing body of evidence that chiropractors are highly effective at resolving both acute and persistent sciatica with some studies pointing to 80-90% success rates. In addition to this there aren’t any side effects with chiropractic care like there are with drug therapy, steroid injections or surgical interventions. For instance recent data has demonstrated that epidural injections frequently given to address the pain of sciatica may raise the probability of spinal fracture through your life.

If you are suffering with sciatica then seek out help as soon as you can, because the earlier you deal with the problem the easier it will be to cure.

Peter Olsson qualified as a doctor of chiropractic in 2005 and has gone on to focus on the resolution of sciatica. He helps with hundreds of folks suffering with sciatica every week. You can find many great articles about sciatica on his website.