Sciatica is a common term that is quickly diagnosed and recognized by many healthcare providers. It often characterized as pain, weakness, numbness, or tingling in one of both legs. This is due because there stenosis in the spine which is causing pressure on the sciatic nerve.
The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in the human body, making it the most susceptible to injury.
It is not uncommon for sciatica to spontaneously resolve on its own within the first two months of onset. However, often, it does not. Symptoms persist causing pain, dysfunction, and worry in millions of patients of every year.
My patients often ask why they are experiencing sciatica. Here are some underlying causes of this pesky diagnosis…
1. Injury
Injuries are the most common cause of sciatica. However, most injuries occur over a prolonged period of time. This could be due to poor posture, excessive strain due to work duties, or chronic nagging biomechanical stressors. The tissues in our body can only handle so much stress, strain, and load before they can no longer adapt.
2. Herniated Disc
A herniated disc in the lumbar spine is the most common cause of sciatic radiculopathy. This is due to the disc material causing stenosis in either the central canal or in the neural foramen. This condition is likely to cause compression of the nerve roots that eventually become the sciatic nerve.
3. Bone Spurs
Osteophytes, often referred to as bone spurs, can be a common cause of sciatica. Bone spurs are caused when undue prolonged stressors on the surrounding vertebrae. This cause lead to a myriad of other symptoms such as osteoarthritis.
4. Wear and Tear
As our bodies age, degenerative changes are normal. Much like hair going gray, degenerative changes can contribute to symptoms of sciatica. Spinal stenosis is the likely culprit.
Treatments
There are many treatments available on the market for the treatment of sciatica. Most patients are prescribed addictive opioids, offered risky spinal injections, and given invasive surgical procedures.
Physical therapy has been shown to have mild to moderate improvement in sciatica treatments over the years.
Non-surgical spinal decompression utilizing the FDA-cleared DRX-9000 is the most effective therapy for sciatica. This technique is completely non-invasive and is designed to treat the underlying cause of sciatica rather than just mask the symptoms.
Outcomes
The DRX-9000 achieved FDA-clearance in 2006 and has since been proven to be successful 88-92% of the time. A successful decompression treatment is defined as a 50% (or more) reduction in symptoms.
What now?
If you or someone you know is dealing with sciatica, finding the closest DRX-9000 to you would be a great place to seek non-surgical, non-invasive treatment.
