Leg pain can be shooting pain, a vague heavy feeling, or have pins and needles feeling. Pain may go to the front of the thigh, back of the thigh or all the way to the foot. You could have trouble walking on your toes or your heels and have pain in that part of your foot. It is not unusual for someone to come in our office complaining of pain into their big toe or heel.

Sciatica is a serious painful condition. Your sciatic nerve is the longest and largest nerve in the body. It is made up of five roots that leave your low back join in the pelvis and then travel to the muscles and joints of your thigh knee calf ankle, foot and toes. Many people describe this pain as constant throbbing, it aches, or sometimes it is described as knife-like. A person rest at night will be very difficult. Walking bending, turning, sitting or standing up can be difficult or impossible.

Like most other conditions, sciatica has a wide variety of causes, but an unhealthy spine with a protruded or ruptured disc can mimic sciatica. That is why a spinal examination and x-rays are so important. The treatment for sciatica and/or a ruptured or protruding disc are similar but different. At our office we are very thorough so that we can get to the cause of your problem. We have 43 years combined experience in these types of problems and successfully treated thousands of patients. We may refer you for an MRI for further diagnostic testing. We will do what we need to do to get to the cause of your problem.

Oftentimes the medical approach will be treatment with medication and/or bed rest. They may go as far as injecting pain killers directly into the nerve roots. Why do they do this.....that is the way they are taught. Orthopedic surgery may be sorted to if the pain persists.

Chiropractic on the other hand tries to get to the cause and treat the cause of you pain. It may be something that we can adjust (put the vertebrae back in position to take the pressure off the nerve), we may need to use physio-therapy to help the nerve heal, and sometimes nutrition for the involved area can all help.

If the disc is protruded and causing sciatica we can gently adjust the spine to put the protrusion back into place. Please keep in mind that these treatments may take place over a period of days or even weeks depending on your condition and how long you have had the problem.

Call Dr. Mel Derickson D.C. with any questions you may have. 937-426-9225