The Mayo Clinic website states that ” Sciatica refers to pain that radiates along the path of the sciatic nerve and its branches-from your back down your buttock and leg. The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in your body. It runs from your spinal cord to your buttock and hip area and down the back of each leg. Sciatica is a symptom, not a disorder. The radiating pain of sciatica signals another problem involving the nerve, such as a herniated disc.” The symptoms of sciatica can vary from person to person as well as their intensity.
The most notable symptom is pain. Pain can appear anywhere along the path of the nerve starting in the low back down to the foot and toes. The pain can even “skip” areas. For example, there may be pain in the low back and the calf but nowhere else. Numbness and a feeling of pins-and-needles are also common sensations in the constellation of symptoms associated with sciatica. A more serious symptom is muscle weakness anywhere in the thigh, calf or foot. This is a definitive finding of nerve compression and is an indicator of a more significant pathology. Rarely, there is a loss of bowel or bladder control. This is known as cauda equina syndrome. This is very serious and requires emergency medical intervention.
Chiropractic is well suited to treat most forms of low back pain from the more mild to the more complex such as the kind found with disc herniation and nerve compression. A 2010 study did a comparative randomized clinical study comparing spinal microdiscectomy (surgery) and conservative chiropractic care. The study was limited to those who had lumbar disc herniations with nerve root symptoms (sciatica) that were diagnosed via MRI. Initially all were considered surgical candidates. The study found that conservative chiropractic care prevented 60% of the participants from surgery and no new neurological problems were reported. As this study demonstrates, chiropractic is a viable first line treatment option.