Sciatica Pain Relief: An East Greenwich RI
Chiropractor’s Perspective

Customized Therapeutic Exercise Program
Stability and mobility are two very important factors that create resilience in the spine. At Greenwich Bay Chiropractic, we will customize a program to help target the muscles that may be affecting your sciatica. We conveniently use an online portal with tutorials that walk you through how to do everything and can be accessed from anywhere in the world. We want to ensure that we are strengthening the muscles in the specific area to help protect it from future injury and bolster the work we are doing in the office.
Common Causes of Sciatica in East Greenwich, RI

Herniated Lumbar Discs
One of the most common causes of sciatica is a bulged or herniated disc. The disc is the cartilage cushion made up of rings of fibrocartilage on the outside and soft cartilage on the inside. When the outside rings break, they can cause the disc to bulge or herniate. This, in turn, pushes on the nerves that exit the spine and control the entire lower leg.

Herniated discs can be a serious condition and cause immense pain in the lower back and the leg. This condition can be so debilitating that it affects many aspects of everyday life. It is important to get this condition assessed and treated early, as the longer it persists, the more time it will take to heal and, in more serious cases, can even cause long-term damage.

Degenerative Disc Disease
Our discs naturally get smaller, lose height, and weaken as we age. However, this process can be accelerated by lifestyle factors such as heavy physical labor, smoking, and obesity. When the disc degenerates, bone spurs can form, and this additional bone and loss of space can crowd the hole or foramen where the nerve exits. If we think of the disc as a spacer for the nerve, the less disc space, the more easily the nerve can become compressed.

Degenerative disc disease cannot be reversed. However, slowing the process and introducing better spine function can dramatically increase your quality of life. Even with this physical, structural change, it is still possible to achieve a good result naturally.

Muscle Strain or Spasm
The most important muscle that relates to sciatica is the piriformis muscle. The piriformis muscle is located in your buttock region and is the most important because the sciatica nerve runs underneath it. When the muscle is strained or in spasm, it can directly place pressure on the sciatic nerve and cause pain all the way down the leg. This is why it is so important to determine the cause of sciatica because, in this case, we must also focus on stretches and exercise to lengthen the muscle and relieve tension.

In many cases, muscle strain can affect spinal alignment and may be a symptom of a much more serious spinal cause. Many low back and pelvis muscles attach directly to the spine and can cause misalignments that place pressure on the nerves. Using specific chiropractic techniques and a customized exercise program, we can get you back to living life to the fullest.

Subluxation
One of the most common causes of sciatica that chiropractors treat is subluxation. Subluxation occurs when a vertebra in your spine shifts or moves out of its normal position. When this happens in your lower back, it can put pressure on the nerves that make up the sciatic nerve and cause intense leg pain, burning, numbness, and weakness. Chiropractors are trained to find these misalignments in the spine, remove them, and allow your body to function and heal normally over time.

At Greenwich Bay Chiropractic, we always take a multifaceted approach that includes chiropractic, exercise, and decompression to help heal sciatica as effectively as possible. We also have great relationships with physical and massage therapists that can aid in optimal results. Our multidimensional approach sets you up for the best chance of success!

Frequently Asked Questions