Some people have a lot of nerve......and if it’s their sciatic nerve, they may also have a lot of pain.    That’s because when the sciatic nerve, which originates in the lower back, becomes inflamed—it really hurts.  Other symptoms can include low back pain and/or  tingling and numbness going down one or both legs.

     Fortunately these symptoms often respond well to chiropractic care.  A study in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics found spinal manipulation to be  just as effective as microdiscectomy surgery for most people with sciatica secondary to a lumbar disk herniation, with 60 percent of sciatica patients able to avoid low back surgery by treating with  a chiropractor.

    “This study,”  said Dr. Gordon McMorland, who co-authored the paper with medical neurosurgeons Steve Casha, M.D., Stephan J. duPlessis, M.D. and R. John Hubert,M.D., "can provide evidence for a valuable treatment alternative to low back surgery.”                    

     Doctors of Chiropractic are trained in physical examination and diagnosis and routinely treat patients with symptoms of sciatica.