Your lower back supports a lot of weight without much bone. This is also an incredibly flexible portion of your spine, putting you at risk of an injury to this region. The aging process and other factors, like being overweight, can play a role as well. You could experience sciatica — a symptom of an injury or condition that causes issues such as pain, numbness, weakness, and tingling that begins in the lower back and can extend down the legs. At Premier Health Center in Hackensack, NJ, Dr. Phillip Kim offers relief from sciatica.
About Sciatica
Having sciatica means you either have compression, degeneration, or damage to the sciatic nerve — the largest one in the body. This nerve runs from your lower back through your buttocks and down your legs. As a result, you may experience numbness, tingling, pain, or other nerve-related symptoms in any of these locations. Sometimes, sciatica will even affect your gait when it causes weakness.
Finding the Right Care Plan for You
When you visit our Hackensack, NJ, office for potential sciatica, we first need to get to know you, the symptoms you're experiencing, your medical history, and other information to give us insight. Our chiropractor will gently place pressure on the area(s) where you're having pain to assess for swelling. Through this part of the exam, our practitioner can tell if you have tightness or other signs that could provide us with information about your issue.
During the "getting to know you" portion of your appointment, we may recommend imaging so our practitioner can glimpse exactly what's going on under the surface.
Getting You a Treatment Plan
Our diagnostic process is extensive so we can supply you with the most beneficial care possible. For instance, we may recommend chiropractic adjustments, which can ease pressure on the nerves in your lower back, ultimately, resolving the source of the problem.
Exercise therapy is also beneficial for some patients, as it brings more nutrients to the area to support healing. Moreover, this treatment improves your flexibility and strengthens the muscles in your lower back — the ones necessary for supporting your spine.
Other possible options include:
- Lifestyle advice
- Acupuncture
- Cold laser therapy
- Electrical stimulation.
- Class IV Cold Laser
Dr. Kim of Premier Health Center in Hackensack, NJ, wants to get to the root of your sciatica and help you find long-lasting relief from your discomfort. Even in cases where complete recovery through chiropractic alone isn't possible, Dr. Kim will work to find ways to lessen the frequency and severity of your symptoms and improve your quality of life.
Call 201-968-0303.