Do you feel pain shooting through your hip and leg when you’ve been climbing up stairs or sitting for a long time? You may think the problem is sciatica, and you may be right. But sciatica can be caused by lots of things, many of which we treat at Natural Care Chiropractic in Lindenhurst. One potential cause of sciatica that chiropractic care can assist with is Piriformis Syndrome.
Each leg has a sciatic nerve, which branches off from the spinal cord in the lumbar region. Below the lumbar region on each side is a piriformis muscle, which is a triangular shaped deep muscle that connects the sacrum to the top of the femur. The sciatic nerve must pass around, through, or on either side of the piriformis muscle, and when the piriformis is inflamed, the sciatic nerve is compressed. This is what causes shooting pains, numbness, or tingling down the leg.
Piriformis Syndrome is usually caused by wear-and-tear and can be difficult to distinguish from other problems in the same area. We would usually examine a patient for a herniated disc, first. Treatments include manual therapy for deep muscles and therapeutic exercise to regain flexibility. Patients may also need to make some changes to their work-outs to temporarily deemphasize activities such as running that subject the lower back to a lot of impacts.
Dr. Mark Freund and Dr. Nicole Gopaul run Natural Care Chiropractic at 2118 East Grand Avenue, Lindenhurst, Illinois, 60046. To schedule an appointment, visit https://www.lindenhurstchiropractic.com/manual-therapy or call 847-265-0600.
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