Why Does My Sciatica Get Worse at Night? | Scripps Ranch, CA

It can be one of the strangest parts of sciatica.

You may actually have a pretty good day. You work, walk around, drive, maybe even get a workout in.

Then you get into bed and your leg starts hurting.

For some people it's almost immediate. For others, they fall asleep and wake up an hour or two later with burning in the buttock, calf or foot.

Dr. Cassidy James Boelk, DC has had patients tell him they eventually give up on the bed altogether. They move to the couch. They sleep in a recliner. They get up and walk around the house at 2:00 in the morning because standing feels better than lying down.

And almost everybody starts experimenting.

A pillow under the knees.

A pillow between the knees.

A firmer mattress.

A softer mattress.

Stretching before bed.

Sleeping on the opposite side.

Some of those things may help you get comfortable. But if you're doing this night after night, Dr. Boelk is more interested in why the nerve keeps getting irritated than finding the perfect arrangement of pillows.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “I Was Able to Sleep Mostly Pain-Free for the First Time in Months”

“Honestly, I wasn't sure I would ever heal.”

“I have had an outstanding experience with Dr. Boelk and his staff at The Spinal Decompression & Chiropractic Center of San Diego.

They follow a very structured treatment protocol and utilize the best spinal decompression equipment available. I've been treated elsewhere using lower-quality decompression systems and never experienced meaningful improvement.

Dr. Boelk is attentive, professional, and genuinely cares about every patient. You can see it in the way he interacts with everyone who walks through the door.

After about 12 treatments, my sciatica was gone and I was nearly back to normal. Honestly, I wasn't sure I would ever heal. What surprised me most was that after my very first treatment, I experienced significant relief and was able to sleep mostly pain-free for the first time in months.

The improvement has allowed me to get back to hiking, traveling, and enjoying life again.

This treatment was one of the best investments I've ever made.

Thank you, Dr. Boelk and your entire team.”

— Michael Langsdale, San Diego, CA

Michael's comment about sleeping is something Dr. Boelk pays attention to.

When sciatica starts waking you up every night, it isn't just a nighttime problem anymore.

You feel it the next morning when you're exhausted.

You feel it when you don't want to exercise.

You feel it at work when you've slept four hours.

Maybe you stop going out because sitting through dinner sounds miserable. Maybe you're worried about an upcoming flight or vacation because you don't know how your leg will handle it.

That's when a problem that started in your back or leg starts taking pieces out of your normal life.

You Don't Have to Decide About Treatment to Come Talk With Dr. Boelk

If you're in Scripps Ranch and this is happening regularly, Dr. Boelk offers a limited number of No-Charge Consultations at The Spinal Decompression & Chiropractic Center of San Diego.

The consultation comes before any decision about treatment.

Dr. Boelk performs it himself.

He'll want you to explain what happens when you go to bed, where the symptoms travel, what makes them settle down and whether you're also noticing numbness, tingling or weakness.

If you have an MRI, bring the actual images and the report.

He can look at the images with you and see whether the findings actually fit what you're experiencing.

The consultation may include:

• How and when the problem started.

• Where the pain travels.

• What happens when you lie down.

• Which sleeping positions make you better or worse.

• What sitting, standing and walking do to the leg.

• Any numbness, tingling, burning or weakness.

• What you've already tried.

• Review of your actual MRI images and report, if available.

• Whether further examination or imaging may be appropriate.

• Whether Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression may be an option.

If you don't have an MRI, that's okay.

If Dr. Boelk doesn't believe you're an appropriate candidate for his care, he'll tell you.

There is no charge and no obligation to begin treatment.

The office only makes a limited number of these appointments available because Dr. Boelk personally performs them while continuing to treat his existing patients.

When the consultation times in the schedule are taken, new patients are offered the next available openings.

Call 619-298-0800 and ask what No-Charge Consultation appointments are currently available.

Why Can Lying Down Change Sciatica So Much?

You don't need to know the anatomy to give Dr. Boelk useful information.

Tell him what actually happens.

“When I lie flat, my foot starts tingling.”

“If I bend my knees, the pain settles down.”

“I can sleep on my left side but not my right.”

“I feel okay in bed, but rolling over sends a shock down my leg.”

“If I stand up and walk around, it goes away.”

Those are much more useful descriptions than simply saying your sciatica hurts at night.

Changing the position of your lower back, pelvis and legs can change how an already irritated nerve feels.

But the pattern isn't the same for everybody.

Dr. Boelk also sees patients who feel great lying down and develop severe leg symptoms when they're standing or walking.

Both patients may say they have sciatica. The reason behind it may be different.

Look at What You're Doing During the Day Too

Sometimes the bed gets blamed because that's where the pain finally becomes difficult to ignore.

But maybe you've been sitting for eight hours.

Maybe you've spent a couple of hours in the car.

Maybe you were bending and lifting all afternoon.

Maybe your back felt good enough that you went to the gym and then noticed the leg getting irritated later that evening.

Dr. Boelk wants to hear about that too.

What you feel at midnight may have been building throughout the day.

And once you're lying in a quiet room without work, conversations, driving or other distractions, the symptoms become much harder to ignore.

Should You Put a Pillow Under Your Knees?

Try it if it feels good.

For some people, lying on their back with the knees slightly supported is more comfortable.

For others, side sleeping with a pillow between the knees works better.

There isn't one sleeping position Dr. Boelk can give every person with sciatica.

Pay attention to what your leg does.

If a position settles the symptoms, that's useful.

If it causes pain or tingling to move farther down the leg, don't keep forcing yourself to stay there.

The same goes for stretching.

If your hamstring feels incredibly tight, your first instinct may be to stretch it hard before bed.

But sometimes what feels like tightness is occurring along with an irritated nerve. If repeatedly stretching the leg causes burning or tingling to travel farther down the leg, pushing harder isn't necessarily the answer.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Dr. Boelk Has Been a Lifesaver”

“I suffered from constant low back pain and sciatica for more than eight months.”

“Dr. Boelk has been a lifesaver.

I suffered from constant low back pain and sciatica for more than eight months. Pain medications didn't help, and I was headed toward multiple injections in hopes of finding relief.

After beginning treatment with Dr. Boelk, everything changed.

Today, my pain is completely gone.

As a firefighter who depends on his body every day to help others, being pain-free has made a tremendous difference in both my career and quality of life.

The results I experienced were absolutely worth it, and I highly recommend looking into what Dr. Boelk and his team can do for you.”

— Joshua T., San Diego, CA

Joshua needed his body for his job.

For another patient, the thing they want back may be much simpler.

A full night's sleep.

A morning walk.

A round of golf.

Getting through a workout without wondering whether they'll pay for it that night.

Sitting on an airplane without worrying about the leg.

Those are the things Dr. Boelk wants to know about because they tell him how much the problem is actually affecting you.

You Can Have Sciatica Without Much Back Pain

This is worth mentioning because it causes a lot of confusion.

Some patients with significant leg symptoms tell Dr. Boelk their back barely hurts.

That doesn't automatically rule out the lumbar spine.

An irritated lumbar nerve root can produce symptoms farther down the nerve pathway. Depending on which nerve is involved, a patient may notice symptoms in the buttock, thigh, calf, foot or toes.

That still doesn't mean every case of leg pain is a herniated disc.

There are other things that can cause pain, tingling or numbness in a leg.

Dr. Boelk wants the history, examination and imaging—when appropriate—to fit together.

An MRI finding by itself isn't enough.

There Are Symptoms You Shouldn't Just Sleep On

Pain is one thing.

A leg that's progressively getting weaker gets Dr. Boelk's attention.

If you're suddenly having trouble lifting the front of the foot, pushing off normally when you walk, climbing stairs or doing something the leg could easily do before, get it evaluated.

The same applies if numbness is clearly increasing.

Rapidly progressing weakness, new bowel or bladder dysfunction, difficulty urinating, or numbness around the groin or saddle area requires prompt medical evaluation.

Severe and unrelenting nighttime pain associated with unexplained fever, significant unexplained weight loss, a history of cancer or other concerning medical symptoms should also be medically evaluated rather than automatically assuming it's ordinary sciatica.

Where Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression May Fit

Dr. Boelk has worked with disc injuries, sciatica and Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression for more than 22 years.

The Spinal Decompression & Chiropractic Center of San Diego uses the DRX9000 exclusively.

Dr. Boelk evaluates patients with disc bulges, disc herniations, degenerative disc disease, disc-related sciatica, foraminal narrowing and selected cases of spinal stenosis.

But being diagnosed with one of those conditions doesn't automatically make someone a candidate.

He looks at the history, examination findings, neurological symptoms, imaging when available, spinal stability, bone health, previous surgery and medical history.

Significant osteoporosis, an unhealed fracture, unstable spondylolisthesis, abdominal aortic aneurysm, pregnancy for lumbar decompression, certain malignancies and other medical or structural conditions may make decompression inappropriate.

Previous spinal surgery also has to be reviewed carefully, especially when fusion or metal hardware is present at the level that would need treatment.

★ Sometimes the Most Useful Thing Dr. Boelk Can Tell You Is That He Shouldn't Treat You

“I'm glad I took the time to meet with him.”

“Very nice Dr. and Honest ! I would definitely recommend anyone who hasn't had metal put in there back in a surgery to go to him and give his program a shot. I believe it would definitely help. Just not in my personal case. As I have a lot of hardware in my back. But I'm glad I took the time to meet with him. It was very informative all around.”

— Toni W., Lake Elsinore, CA

Toni came in.

Dr. Boelk reviewed her situation.

She wasn't a candidate.

That's still a useful consultation.

You shouldn't have to commit to a treatment program just to find out whether the doctor thinks you're an appropriate patient in the first place.

Dr. Cassidy James Boelk, DC

Dr. Boelk has spent more than 22 years working with disc injuries and Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression and has performed more than 100,000 spinal decompression treatments.

• Doctor of Chiropractic

• Certified Spinal Decompression Doctor

• Certified Pain-Free Performance Specialist (PPSC)

• Founder, Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression Training Academy

• Trains other doctors in spinal decompression protocols and techniques

• Founding Member, American Spinal Decompression Society

• Member, International Disc Education Association

• California X-Ray Radiation Supervisor & Operator

Dr. Boelk also knows spinal injuries personally. He suffered an L5 compression fracture at 16 and later dealt with disc injuries and sciatica himself.

If You Wake Up Again Tonight, Is Waiting Helping?

You don't need to make sciatica scarier than it is.

You also don't need to pretend it isn't affecting you.

If you're sleeping normally, functioning normally and steadily improving, that's one thing.

If you're waking up night after night, that's different.

Maybe you've already bought the pillows.

Maybe you've changed the mattress.

Maybe you're taking something before bed.

Maybe you've stopped working out because you don't want to aggravate it.

Maybe you can't remember the last time you slept all the way through the night.

At that point, waiting has a cost too.

It's costing you sleep now.

If it continues, it may start costing you more of the activities you enjoy, your ability to exercise, your patience at work or the freedom to travel without thinking about your leg.

That doesn't mean you need to sign up for treatment.

It means you may want an experienced opinion before giving the problem another month.

The No-Charge Consultation gives you that opportunity.

You sit down directly with Dr. Boelk.

You show him what's happening.

If you have an MRI, he'll review it.

And then you ask the question you actually want answered:

“Do you think you can help me?”

If the answer is no, he'll tell you.

If the answer is yes, he'll explain why and what options he recommends. You can decide what you want to do from there.

There is no charge and no obligation.

The only limitation is availability.

Dr. Boelk personally performs these consultations while continuing to care for his existing patients, so only a limited number can be placed into his schedule. Once those openings are taken, the office moves to the next available consultation dates.

If your sciatica is already taking away your sleep, you don't have to wait for it to take something else before getting an opinion.

Call 619-298-0800

Ask what No-Charge Consultation appointments with Dr. Cassidy James Boelk, DC are currently available.

The Spinal Decompression & Chiropractic Center of San Diego
5095 Murphy Canyon Road, Suite 300
San Diego, CA 92123

619-298-0800
SanDiegoBackCare.com

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