My wife has a touch of sciata as well. She was relieved by a chiropractor. Whenever it comes back, she visits him again.
My back was killing me. Every session included a heating pad and some time on a vibrating bed thing. Then I got adjusted. Then I hit the gym. I wish that Anytime Fitness had its act together better than they do. There's a 24 hour facility about 8 miles up the road from me.
It’s a derned if you do and derned if you don’t kind of a thing when it comes to the gym. Right and left sets of muscles do not grow or even tone at the same speed hence there’s a lot of “push-me, pull-you going on along the spine and hips hence the need for periodic alignments. A couple of months ago a problem started with my left hip. Sometimes I’d stand to walk and the hip just wasn’t there. It didn’t hurt and I didn’t fall but the muscles weren’t reacting as well on the left as they were on the right so my whole hip alignment was off kilter making the right more dominant. One visit to the Chiro and it was fixed temporarily but that also told me that I had to concentrate on building more muscle around the glute area up through the left hip. At the present time we’re both scheduled for maintenance adjustments at 3 week intervals. After things are properly aligned, I can feel which muscles in my back and hips are the most responsive and work on the opposite sides to equalize the muscle strength and response time. Note: Along with a regular “hands on” alignment, our Chiro uses the tool you showed in one of your posts when there’s a problem with a crimped or painful part of the neck or a small area of the vertebrae that is stubborn.
I used to go to a chiropractor who used the computerized version of the little "clicker" device. It measured the temperature of each vertebra and determined blood flow to each. From that, the computer determined where restrictions were and told the doctor how to address them. I don't know if it was real or just hocus-pocus, but he helped me when other chiropractors threw up their hands. When we had the livestock, my back was so heavily muscled that chiropractors couldn't adjust anything. They just charged me for the attempt and said, "Maybe next time." I have found that a monthly massage does more for me than chiropractic adjustment.
I can see where that computer method might be beneficial if Constricted Blood Flow = Constricted Nerve Path.
My home treatment for lower-back pains is the following:: 1. 20 minutes of heat on lower back 2. 20 minutes of cold on lower back 3. 20 minutes of rest 4. Repeat as needed After a couple days, the pain is usually gone. Then, I switch to a maintenance mode to stay pain free. The idea is keep the curvature of my lower back and neck area in the correct position by lying down on special pillows under the lower back and neck areas. I currently use Lumina wellness pillows available from Amazon. I lie on these pillows for 7 minutes every day and that seems to be enough to keep me pain free. But occasionally I may get a new backache so I go back to heat-cold-rest until the pain goes away and I then repeat the maintenance mode to stay pain free.
My wife has found a cervical pillow similar to that shown to be very helpful. She has significant neck issues related to unresolved whiplash in several car accidents as a child.
My $0.02, I think advice from a spinal orthopedic doc first is advisable, or a neurologist. Every one of them I visited said, emphatically, that for my type back injuries, I should not seek chiropractic relief. When nerves are being compressed by bone and cartilage, moving things around can be iffy. Physical therapy was OK, even recommended.
Chiropractors have their place in the medical field, but the thing to know is a big part of their schooling is about marketing and maximizing profits. Time is big money for them so taking time to put a patient on ice or heat to relax the muscles, isn't taken with the same seriousness as a physical therapist does before making the same skeletal adjustments. I have a dislike in general for most chiropractic practices because in many cases they cause harm by prescribing herbs for a disease and the disease gets worse and does irreparable damage. A good example is myself after I had shingles (sores fully healed) and my back went into lateral shift and I went to the chiropractor and was taken off my antiviral since he said it was causing my back pains. I was put on olive leaf and grape seed extract with a high dose of lysine. Long story short, it did nothing to block the virus, let alone KILL it as he said it would, so I suffered serious nerve damage worsening over the years before I was sent to a specialist that said chiropractors need to stick to their temporary feel good money making adjustments and never use herbs or vitamins in lieu of needed medication. He didn't appose anyone taking herbs or natural products, just if it was used in lieu of proven and necessary medication. I will never go to a chiropractor but rather a physical therapist that works in conjunction with my PCP. I take several vitamins, oils, and herbs daily, but only as a immune system building supplement, not as a cure and never in lieu of necessary proven medication.
I sent an older friend to our chiropractor because he said he couldn’t find any relief from back pain. When I next talked to my friend, he said that after the chiro took the x-rays, he said he could help a little but he needed to see a neuro doctor.
"Chiropractors have their place in the medical field, but the thing to know is a big part of their schooling is about marketing and maximizing profits. " You don't think the same applies to main-stream medical ?
If all ads for drugs were eliminated I don’t think we would see very much medical marketing, at least around here. It seems like it's predominantly the drug manufacturers. I can’t stand these ads saying “ask your doctor about…”. Why? Most of the time it isn’t very clear what the drug is even for.
And by my own experience ... Just try to get a doc to take a few minutes to "talk" / discuss an ailment , beyond the standard medical schooling he / she has been taught.
Yeah, sounds like you have some not so ideal folks there. Ours seem just the opposite. My wife’s medical oncologist, when I had all sorts of question, printed out several scientific papers for me, then gave me a link to a website that she sometimes uses. I couldn’t access the entire site, since I wasn’t an MD but still lots of info. She always allowed us to decide when we were finished. My GP is the same. My cardiologist calls time rather than us but I think it’s because he talks like crazy and runs over time too often. We are pretty fortunate I think, from other stories I hear.