Sciatica Treatment Lake Forest, CA
Sciatica pain can be frustrating, exhausting, and limiting. When pain shoots from your lower back into your leg, even simple movements can feel overwhelming. Many patients come to Greenlight Chiropractic & Wellness Lab feeling unsure why the pain started or why it keeps returning.
Dr. Ron Merriel, DC, and Dr. Jordan Ziegler, DC, take the time to understand what is irritating your sciatic nerve and how it is affecting your daily life. Our approach focuses on gentle care that supports your body’s natural ability to heal, improves movement, and helps you feel more confident getting back to normal activities.
Your first visit is about listening, understanding your symptoms, and creating a clear plan forward. If you have concerns about your sciatica, a careful evaluation can help identify the source and guide the right course of care.
What Is Sciatica?
Sciatica is pain that comes from irritation or compression of the sciatic nerve. It typically starts in the lower back or hip and travels down one leg. The pain can vary depending on your posture, movement, or activity level.
In some cases, the pain travels into the gluteal region. In more involved cases, it can go all the way down the leg and into the foot. Where the pain travels helps us understand how much nerve involvement there is and guides the examination and treatment plan.
How Sciatica Is Diagnosed
When you come in with sciatic pain, we start with an extensive examination. We assess your range of motion and observe how you move around the treatment room. We check whether you are having trouble sitting down, getting up, or getting on and off the table. We look at your gait to see if you are favoring one side over the other. We also check whether your hips are in alignment.
From there, we do a neurological examination. This includes checking the sensory nerves and reflexes in the legs, as well as the strength of specific leg muscles. If we find decreased sensation, diminished reflexes, and weakness in certain muscles, that indicates nerve involvement. This helps us determine whether the pain is coming from a pinched nerve in the spine or from a very tight piriformis muscle, which is also a common cause of sciatic pain.
We take X-rays as part of the examination. We do not typically order an MRI right away. If after four weeks of care the sciatic symptoms into the legs are still present, we will order an MRI at that point.
Our Approach to Treating Sciatica
For patients with sciatica, Dr. Merriel uses the flexion-distraction table to decompress the spine. This helps relieve pressure on the nerve and counteracts the effects of prolonged sitting. We give stretching exercises and progress to strengthening exercises as the condition improves.
If a patient sits a lot, which tends to put more pressure on the disc, decompression becomes a key part of the treatment.
Some sciatic pain results from a disc bulge or herniation. The disc is composed of cartilaginous rings that encase a jelly-like material at the center. As the disc starts to degenerate or is affected by past trauma, that material begins to break through those rings. If it breaks through all of them, it leaks out into the spinal canal. That is called a disc herniation.
Disc bulges are difficult to treat and take a long time to heal. Disc herniations take even longer, sometimes up to a year, to fully heal. We let patients know this up front so they have realistic expectations and remain committed to the process.
Sciatica Patient Case Study
Desk Worker With Sciatica Makes Progress Within 4 Months
Patient Info: A woman who sat at a desk all day and did a significant amount of driving throughout the week came in with nagging sciatic pain.
Symptoms: She had nagging sciatic pain along with low back pain. Being stuck in traffic for more than 25-30 minutes would bring her severe pain.
Diagnosis: Prolonged sitting and driving were putting continuous pressure on the disc and making it harder to heal. She also had a disc herniation.
Treatment: She was placed on a care plan and followed through with everything asked of her. She did all her stretching and strengthening exercises consistently. She switched to a more supportive chair at home.
At her desk, she used a sit-stand desk, so she was not sitting or standing all day. She took breaks to walk around, reducing pressure on the lower back discs. When standing, she rested one foot on a small step or box to take pressure off the lower back. The key to her progress turned out to be placing a lumbar cushion with a sacral cutout in her car. That one change allowed her to sit in the car without triggering the sciatica.
Outcome: After about four months of care, she is doing significantly better. Because she has a disc herniation, the process is slow. She is committed to continuing her care and avoiding surgery. She is aware that people she knows who have had surgery have had very mixed results.
Sciatica Patient Testimonials & Reviews
Andy Santos
After over a year of doctor visits and physical therapy, I hit a plateau and was still in a lot of daily pain. Dr. McDonald’s treatment plan, combined with Natalie’s effective massage therapy...
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Bryn DenHeyer
I originally came here to have my infant daughter treated by Dr. Waters for torticollis. He was a miracle worker! I started having pain and asked if he worked on adults- he did! I saw him a few times...
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Divya Kapoor
Best massage place ever!! Melina's neck and back massages are lifesavers, especially after long hours hunched over a computer. She really knows how to target those tight spots to ease tension...
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Nancy Clinkerbeard
Greenlight Chiropractic is fantastic. From the moment you walk in and they know you by name, Jeremy is an awesome manager, facilitator of your visit and needs. Next get time for Natalie to work on you...
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Sabina Uskenova
I really liked it there!! It’s very calm and nice atmosphere that you can trust. Dr, Waters was very patient and explained everything. He didn’t try to sell me a thousand adjustments as you...
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Sylvia Mireles
Hi!!! I just had my last adjustment with Dr. Waters. He has been a gem, his expertise- his sincerity and super genuineness, has been a bright star as part of my overall healing and amazing experience on this...
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Scheduling your visit with Greenlight Chiropractic & Wellness Lab is simple. You can call our office directly or visit our Contact Us page to connect with the location nearest you and request an appointment.
Our team can help answer questions, guide you through the scheduling process, and help you find a visit time that works best for your schedule.
FAQs About Sciatica Treatment
Can sciatica go away without treatment?
Mild cases may improve, but ongoing or recurring sciatica often requires care to address the cause.
Addressing sciatica early gives your body the best chance to heal. The sooner you start care, the easier it is to correct and the faster you can get back to your normal activities.
How long does sciatica treatment take?
Recovery time varies based on severity, cause, and response to care.
If there is a disc bulge, it takes a little longer to heal. A disc herniation can take up to a year to fully heal. One of our patients with a disc herniation was seeing significant improvement after four months of care and continuing to progress.
Is chiropractic care effective for sciatica?
Yes. We use the flexion distraction table to decompress the spine and take the pressure off the nerve. We also work with patients on their daily habits, like seating and driving setup. Patients who follow through with their care plan and make those changes do very well.
Does sciatica treatment hurt?
We take a gentle approach with all our patients. We address muscle tension before every adjustment, which makes the treatment more comfortable and helps the adjustment hold better.
Will sciatica come back after treatment?
Preventive care and posture guidance help reduce the risk of recurrence.
We encourage patients to come in regularly after completing their care plan to get checked. Catching any issues early makes them much easier to correct and keeps you feeling your best.
What are the common causes of sciatica?
The most common causes we see are a pinched nerve in the spine and a very tight piriformis muscle. Sitting for long periods and driving regularly are two of the biggest contributors to sciatic pain. Identifying the exact cause early allows us to build the right care plan and get you better faster.
What are the long-term effects of ignoring sciatica?
When sciatica is not addressed early, it can affect your daily life in several ways, including persistent leg and back pain, muscle weakness, reduced mobility, changes in your gait, and a decreased quality of life. Getting checked early makes it easier to correct and helps prevent long-term complications.
What is sciatica?
Sciatica is an often-painful condition that causes radiating discomfort down the path of your sciatic nerve, branching from your lower back through your buttocks and down each leg. It may affect just one side of your body and result from a bone spur or a herniated disc. The experts at Greenlight Chiropractic & Wellness Lab relieve sciatica pain using natural methods.
What are the symptoms of sciatica?
Sciatica can cause the following symptoms: radiating lower back pain, buttock or leg pain, muscle spasms, sharp or excruciating discomfort, burning pain, mild ache, electric jolt-like sensations, pain when coughing or sneezing, tingling, numbness, and muscle weakness.
Loss of bladder or bowel function may also develop because of untreated sciatica.
What are the risk factors for sciatica?
While anyone can experience sciatica, things that increase your risk of sciatica discomfort include pinched nerves, herniated discs, bone spurs, tumors, diabetes, older age, obesity, prolonged sitting, physically demanding jobs, and heavy lifting. Any time you lift something heavy or twist or turn your body in an unnatural way, your risk of sciatica increases.
To reduce the chance of developing sciatica pain, exercise regularly, eat nutritious foods, maintain ideal body weight, and use good posture when sitting and standing. Use proper techniques any time you lift something heavy.
How does my provider diagnose sciatica?
Your Greenlight Chiropractic & Wellness Lab specialist reviews your medical history, lifestyle habits, and symptoms to determine if you have sciatica. They check your vital signs, complete a physical exam, and may order nerve tests, X-rays, an MRI, or a CT scan.
How is sciatica treated?
Holistic sciatica treatments include home remedies such as rest, ice or heat packs, stretching, and physical therapy exercises that you can do at home to alleviate sciatica discomfort.
The Greenlight Chiropractic & Wellness Lab team offers chiropractic adjustments to reduce nerve pressure and sciatica pain. They manually manipulate your spine and surrounding tissues to ease ongoing discomfort.
Greenlight Chiropractic & Wellness Lab also offers pain-relieving massage therapy to reduce muscle tension and nerve pain.
To find out if you have sciatica and relieve pain using natural methods, call the Greenlight Chiropractic & Wellness Lab office or schedule an appointment online today.
