As if back pain isn’t unpleasant enough, sciatica's wrath may extend down your buttocks and legs, as well. Fortunately, you don't have to suffer when treatment is available from Dr. Tony Purdy, Dr. Timothy Wasmund, Dr. Kip Mangan, and Dr. Robert Selvaggi of Purdy Chiropractic, serving Rochester and Washington, MI.

Causes of Sciatica

When you have lower back pain, especially if it's radiating through your legs, you may have sciatica — a condition that stems from pressure or damage affecting the nerves that lead from the lower back down the legs and causes symptoms like pain, numbness, tingling, and burning.

The pressure could stem from a few issues, such as:

• A herniated disc
• A bone spur
• A tumor (in rare instances)

If it's caused by damage or disease, it could occur from any of the following:

• Diabetes
• Degeneration
• Trauma 
• Infection

Seeking Out the Treatment You Need

When you arrive at our Rochester and Washington, MI, offices, you'll be greeted by a staff who are genuinely concerned about your back pain and other sciatica symptoms. 

You'll be asked a series of questions about your symptoms, like their frequency and severity and when you started noticing them. Your practitioner will also place pressure on different areas of your back to locate the problem and assess for pain.

Sometimes, that's all the testing necessary to diagnose, but in some cases, we may need to perform imaging to get a view of the inside of your back.

How We Help 

How we help depends on your specific case and the cause of your symptoms. That's because, when it comes to sciatica, there's not a simple one-size-fits-all approach suitable for every patient. Your treatment may consist of a spinal adjustment, which includes a chiropractor manually manipulating the joints to ease pressure on the neighboring nerves and soft tissue. It's one of the more common treatments we offer.

Traction and decompression are other options and consist of stretching the spine to relieve pressure on the discs and nerves. Spinal decompression uses a mechanized traction table.

We can recommend laser treatments or massage along with treating the joints.

Visiting Purdy Chiropractic in Rochester and Washington, MI, to see Dr. Purdy, Dr. Wasmund, Dr. Mangan, and Dr. Selvaggi can be the difference between suffering another day, week, or month with uncontrollable pain and other symptoms of sciatica or finally finding the relief you long for. 

Call 248-650-6100 for Rochester and 586-752-7205 for Washington.