Can Physiotherapy Relieve My Sciatica for Good?

Nerve pain can be the sharpest and most debilitating, which can make sciatica a considerable problem. If your sciatica doesn’t resolve after bed rest and home remedies, it might be time to consult a specialist and discuss your treatment options. 

With physiotherapy, you can receive hands-on care tailored to your needs. 

Here at Advantage Spinal Dynamics & Innovative Medicine in Meridian, Idaho, our team of experts can accurately diagnose sciatica and provide physiotherapy services to help you overcome this condition. 

Understanding sciatica 

The sciatic nerve is the largest and thickest in the body, and it runs all the way from the hip to the feet. You have two sciatic nerves, one for each leg, and sciatica typically affects one side at a time. Common symptoms of sciatica include: 

• Nerve pain, which can feel sharp, shooting, electrical, or otherwise intense
• Pins and needles, also known as paresthesia 
• Numbness and muscle weakness 

In severe cases, the sciatic nerve can become pinched enough that it stops sending signals to the brain. That leads to considerable loss of sensation and muscle control, sometimes even incontinence.

If your sciatica is severe enough that you lose control of your bladder, seek help right away. 

Most often, sciatica is merely painful and hard to live with. Pain worsens with actions like sneezing, coughing, and standing up, and symptoms can come and go in a frustrating cycle. 

Physiotherapy for sciatica

Before moving forward with any form of treatment, the team at Advantage Spinal Dynamics performs a thorough examination to determine what’s agitating your sciatic nerve. Sciatica can be caused by many issues, including: 

• A herniated disc 
• Spinal stenosis 
• Degenerative disc disease 
• Spondylolisthesis, or slipped vertebrae 
• Bone spurs on the spine
• Muscle spasms
• Pregnancy 
• Arthritis 
• Injury 

Once our chiropractors have an idea of what’s causing your sciatica, they can apply the appropriate physiotherapy techniques.

Physiotherapy is an individualized, whole-body approach to relieve pain and increase mobility. It’s been shown to be an effective approach for spinal pain, especially when nerve pain is caused by muscle spasms or poor posture.

Using electrical stimulation, hands-on therapy, and postural exercises, we can strengthen the surrounding muscles and take pressure off the nerve, reducing the risk of it becoming pinched again. 

In many cases, regular physiotherapy sessions and proper posture are enough to address mild to moderate sciatica. If conservative treatment doesn’t help, we can perform further diagnostics to figure out what to do next. 

To learn more about physiotherapy, schedule a consultation by calling 208-213-7963, or request an appointment online today.