Sciatica has a way of taking over your life — that sharp, burning pain shooting from your lower back down through your leg can make sitting at a desk feel impossible and turn a short walk into an ordeal. The good news: it doesn't have to be permanent.
What sciatica actually is
Sciatica isn't a diagnosis on its own — it's a symptom. It describes pain that travels along the sciatic nerve, which runs from your lower back through your hips and down each leg, usually affecting just one side. It can show up as a sharp shooting pain, a dull ache, a burning sensation, or numbness and tingling in the leg.
Most commonly, something is irritating or compressing a nerve root in the low back. A herniated disc is the most common cause; bone spurs and spinal stenosis become more common with age; and less often, muscles around the hip are blamed.[1][2] Figuring out which one is driving your particular case is exactly where treatment starts.
How chiropractic care approaches it
Spinal adjustments are one option. In a randomized trial of people with acute back pain and sciatica from a disc protrusion, real spinal manipulation relieved pain better than a sham (simulated) manipulation, with no adverse events reported.[3] The overall evidence for manipulation in sciatica is still limited, though, so it's treated as one tool among several rather than a guaranteed fix.[2]
Treatment doesn't stop at the spine. It typically also includes soft-tissue work on tight hip and glute muscles and exercises to build strength and stability, since staying active and exercise are core parts of conservative care for sciatica.[2] The goal is figuring out what's driving your pain, not just easing the symptom in front of you.
What an appointment actually looks like
A sciatica visit at Golden Bear looks more like a thorough health conversation than a quick fix. Dr. Corey starts by understanding your history — when the pain started, what makes it better or worse, what your daily activity looks like, and what you actually want to get back to doing. From there, treatment is hands-on: adjustment, soft-tissue work, guided stretching and strengthening, and practical recommendations for between visits.
When it's time to get it looked at
Many cases of sciatica improve over weeks to months with conservative care.[1][2] It's worth booking a visit if you notice:
Pain that radiates from your lower back or buttocks down your leg · numbness or tingling in your leg or foot · discomfort that worsens after prolonged sitting · pain that flares with certain movements and won't fully resolve
Get emergency care right away if leg pain comes with loss of bladder or bowel control, numbness in the groin or inner thighs, or leg weakness that's getting worse. These can be signs of serious nerve compression that needs immediate medical treatment.[2][4]
Getting to the root of it
Sciatica has a tendency to be managed rather than resolved — painkillers ease the discomfort, rest takes the edge off, and then the next flare happens. Chiropractic care aims to break that cycle by identifying and addressing what's actually causing the nerve compression, not just easing the symptom in front of you.
Sources
Retrieved through PubMed, plus Souza's chiropractic differential diagnosis text. Numbers in brackets above refer to this list.
- Ropper AH, Zafonte RD. Sciatica. N Engl J Med. 2015;372(13):1240-1248. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1410151
- Jensen RK, Kongsted A, Kjaer P, Koes B. Diagnosis and treatment of sciatica. BMJ. 2019;367:l6273. doi:10.1136/bmj.l6273
- Santilli V, Beghi E, Finucci S. Chiropractic manipulation in the treatment of acute back pain and sciatica with disc protrusion: a randomized double-blind clinical trial of active and simulated spinal manipulations. Spine J. 2006;6(2):131-137. doi:10.1016/j.spinee.2005.08.001
- Souza TA. Differential Diagnosis and Management for the Chiropractor: Protocols and Algorithms. 3rd ed. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett; 2005:128.