The Woodland Hills Chiropractor to see - Chiropractor Woodland Hills

Getting On Your Nerves

Backaches and sciatica image.

Someone you know may have complained about a condition known as sciatica, but what is it? To understand the condition, it’s helpful to know a bit about the anatomy of the sciatic nerve.

The sciatic nerve is the largest and longest nerve in the body. It begins at the base of the spinal cord and extends down the length of each leg to the toes on each foot. The sciatic nerve is really made up of five separate nerves that come together, and at one point is the same diameter as your thumb!

The sciatic nerves provide sensation and strength to the leg and connect the spinal cord with muscles in the thigh, lower leg, and feet. Muscle weakness or a tingling sensation in the legs can result when the sciatic nerve has been compromised or compressed in some way.

An inflammation of the sciatic nerve or compression on the nerve can cause profound pain. This is the condition known as sciatica; symptoms of sciatica include a dull ache to moderate or even severe pain, shooting pains, numbness, or a tingling feeling in the legs. Individual symptoms and their severity can usually be traced back to where one of the five nerves originates in the lower back.

While treatment in the past may have included muscle relaxants, pain medicine and even surgery that had only a 60% success rate, chiropractic care has been shown to be quite effective in relieving the nerve interference and irritation that is causing the pain in the first place - the root cause of what's getting on your nerves!

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, and feel that sciatica may be the problem, please call our practice to schedule an appointment. A thorough examination will determine whether or not you have sciatica and we can discuss what can be done to help.

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Dr. Fred Asks some important questions of interest to Woodland Hills residents - Chiropractor Woodland Hills Dr. Fred Asks...

What is the purpose of pain?
Pain prompts many Woodland Hills folks to begin chiropractic care. But pain isn't the problem! Pain is just how your body alerts you that a limit has been reached (or exceeded), that something isn't working right and that some type of change is needed. As a chiropractor, my job is finding the underlying cause and recommending the changes needed to bring your body back into balance.
Is a muscle spasm a cause or an effect?
With the knee-jerk use of muscle relaxers, you'd think it was a cause. But it's an effect. Chiropractors know that bones don't move unless muscles move them. And muscles don't contract unless commanded by the nervous system. That's why your nervous system is the focus of our Woodland Hills chiropractic practice.