back pain

Chiropractor Chapel Hill, NC

Whether your back pain is on the left side or the right side, the condition known as sciatica impairs movement and exercises. Lasting, on average, 4-6 weeks or longer, episodes of sciatica can also impair restorative sleep. Caused by irritating pressure on the lumbar spine nerves from the backbones themselves or compression and inflammation along the sciatic nerve path, sciatica afflicts millions of persons in this country each year. Chiropractic care for sciatica with Dr. Lisa Oskardmay DC, LAc at Acupractic Natural Healing Center relieves many from this disabling condition where medications, surgery, and other treatments haven’t worked.

What is the Sciatic Nerve?

The sciatic nerve consists of portions of the lower lumbar spine levels L345 and travels from the low back to the back of the thigh, knee, calf, and ankle. Irritation of this nerve along any portion of this pathway may cause sciatica symptoms, which range from one-sided pain, tingling, or numbness in the hip, back of the leg, foot or toes. There may be a weakness in the hip, thigh, calf, or foot muscles, which may indicate a progression of the ailment. Using hands-on palpation, detailed health history, and orthopedic testing, Dr. Oskardmay evaluates each patient to determine the cause and best treatment for each person individually. If x-rays are required, we can order those, as well.

Causes of Sciatica

Common causes of sciatica include back injury, vertebral spinal stenosis (aka vertebral canal narrowing), disc problems such as herniated discs, or spondylolisthesis (aka vertebral body slippage). Dr. Oskardmay uses chiropractic adjustment, acupuncture, and massage to help with vertebral issues. She also helps patients understand how their home activities may affect their sciatic symptoms. Contributing factors include sitting a lot, lifting heavy objects, wearing tight clothing, using poor posture, weight gain, not exercising. Dr. Oskardmay provides helpful exercises and stretches to help and other beneficial suggestions that do not include drugs, injections, or surgery.

Chiropractic Care for Sciatica Offers Terrific Benefits

Chiropractic care offers terrific benefits for many patients suffering from sciatica. Nonetheless, we advise patients to seek medical care if symptoms persist longer than 4-6 weeks despite care or appear to be worsening. Many patients find that conservative chiropractic care is effective at helping them relieve their pain without medical interventions. Other therapies Dr. Oskardmay can provide include acupuncture, massage, and other physical modalities such as TENS, heat, cold, and auriculotherapy, treatment for sciatica at Acupractic Natural Healing Center helps many.

Medical sciatica approaches include pain killers and muscle relaxers, steroid injections, physical therapy, and possibly surgery, depending on the cause. Conservative, complementary, and alternative medical practices offered at our office provide patients with natural options and potentially avoid surgery or drug therapies that may have adverse side effects.

Call today to schedule your care appointment at (919) 929-1400, or email schedule@acudocnc.com, or visit us online anytime at acudocnc.com to learn more about natural healing methods for sciatica and other health conditions and request an appointment. Happy New Year!

Chiropractor Chapel Hill, NC

Many people think of chiropractic therapy first for back and neck pain. Dr. Oskardmay is a local Doctor of Chiropractic who provides effective chiropractic care for Chapel Hill and Durham, and surrounding areas since 1995. If you are looking for ‘chiropractic near me’ in the Triangle, you can be confident we can help!

Dr. Oskardmay performs chiropractic back adjustments using hands-on adjustments (aka chiropractic manipulative therapy). This type of treatment helps the vertebral bones of the back move more fluidly, with less pain. Chiropractic services reduce back pain and improve posture, assisting patients to stand taller with improved posture, less bent forward, and reduced shoulder slump. Following an adjustment, Dr. Oskardmay applies massage, acupuncture, or other therapy to help the body acclimate or relax into the adjusted position. This delightful treatment combination benefits all on many levels.

Dr. Oskardmay utilizes hands-on spinal adjustment procedures or a technique called Activator Technique to move individual vertebrae in need of repositioning. She always takes each person’s individual health needs, medical diagnosis, and other unique presentations into account regarding the type of therapy she prescribes and uses to achieve safe and effective results. Many people who have never had an adjustment before think that the procedure will always result in a loud cracking sound, and they may even believe that the treatment will hurt. Dr. Lisa explains the treatment before applying it which helps patients understand that the treatment should not hurt and that no sound is necessary for an effective adjustment. However, sometimes a sound is heard as energy is released.

Dr. Oskardmay understands the connection between the backbone and good health and strives to help each person with effective spinal mobilization and other therapies designed to improve muscle tone.

Notably, the chiropractic adjustment also helps the nerves coming out between each spinal unit also function better. The spinal cord that starts at the brain in the head passes through the middle of each vertebral segment, and nerves depart at each spinal piece. The nerves coming from the neck spinal region go to the shoulders down to the hands; vertebral irritation or subluxations in the neck cause neck pain and worsen shoulder pain, elbow tendonitis, or carpal tunnel pain. Similarly, nerves emanating from the vertebrae attached to the thoracic area’s ribs go to local muscles and other regions. The nerve impingement of the thoracic spine causes pain in those regions well as other conditions. The oversized lumbar or lower back, spinal bones surround spinal nerves going to the legs, knees, and feet. Painful conditions such as lower backache, knee arthritis, and plantar fasciitis correspond with the vertebrae’s irritation in the lower back and nerves arising there. Dr. Oskardmay incorporates careful spinal palpation with a personal health history to determine the best areas to mobilize to impact health in many ways each visit.

Call our office to schedule your appointment today at (919) 929-1400, email schedule@acudocnc.com, or visit our website acudocnc.com 24 hours a day to learn more and send us a request for an appointment. We offer chiropractic and acupuncture services to the Triangle and surrounding areas and look forward to helping you with natural, effective chiropractic care.