Why Is My Sciatica Not Going Away? Chula Vista, CA
If you have had sciatica for a while, you have probably heard some version of, “Give it time.”
And sometimes that is reasonable. An irritated nerve can take time to settle down.
But what if it has been two months? Six months? What if the pain gets better and then comes right back every time you sit, drive, work out or bend over? What if the back pain has improved, but you still have numbness or tingling in your foot?
At that point, it makes sense to ask a different question:
Why is the nerve still irritated?
Dr. Cassidy James Boelk, DC has spent more than 22 years working with patients who have herniated discs, sciatica and other difficult spinal problems. Many of the patients who come to his San Diego office aren't at the beginning of the process. They have already tried physical therapy, chiropractic care, medication, injections, stretching, massage or other treatments.
Some got temporary relief. Others are still looking for an explanation that makes sense.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Abel T. — San Diego, CA
“I had really bad back problems to the point I couldn’t sleep, also had pain radiating along the sciatic nerve which ran down one leg from the lower back—caused by an accident.
I came in and talked to Dr. Cassidy about my back problems. He evaluated me and mentioned I was a good candidate for this treatment. After the first 2 decompression sessions my sciatic pain was gone and we were able to work on the root of the problem. I did a total of 24 sessions, after which I was able to start rehabilitation training to strengthen my core.
The office is super nice and the staff’s customer service is above and beyond.
Back and neck issues are horrible to live with—trust me, I know firsthand. I gained weight, took pain killers, went into depression, and had major anxiety. I’m over it now—feeling better, walking, sleeping well, and starting to have a better social life as well.
The experience for me has been nothing but excellent. Dr. Cassidy Boelk is hands down amazing—super glad I came here.”
— Abel T., San Diego, CA
Still Dealing With Sciatica? Bring Your MRI
If you're in Chula Vista and the sciatica isn't going away, Dr. Boelk offers a No-Charge, No-Obligation Consultation.
If you've already had an MRI, bring the actual images and report. If you have previous X-rays, bring those too.
No MRI yet? That's okay. You can still come in and discuss what's happening.
The Spinal Decompression & Chiropractic Center of San Diego
5095 Murphy Canyon Road, Suite 300
San Diego, CA 92123
Phone: 619-298-0800
www.SanDiegoBackCare.com
Live 24/7 Answering Service • Hablamos Español
Sciatica Is the Symptom. What's Causing It?
This is where patients sometimes get stuck.
They've been told they have sciatica, so they start looking for “sciatica treatments.”
But sciatica describes the pain and neurological symptoms. It doesn't tell you exactly what is happening in the spine.
A lumbar disc herniation can irritate a nerve. So can a bulging disc. Degenerative changes can reduce the space around a nerve. Foraminal or spinal stenosis may be involved.
And there are other possible causes of leg pain as well.
So instead of assuming every case of sciatica should be treated the same way, Dr. Boelk starts by figuring out whether the symptoms and the imaging tell the same story.
If the pain runs from your buttock down the outside of your leg and into your foot, show him.
If your heel is numb, tell him.
If you have tingling in certain toes, mention it.
If your leg feels weaker than the other one, that's especially important.
The details can help narrow down which nerve may be involved.
“My Back Feels Better. Why Does My Leg Still Hurt?”
This happens.
The lower-back pain may settle down while the nerve symptoms continue.
Some patients barely have back pain at all. Their biggest complaint is the leg.
They may feel burning in the calf, tingling in the foot or a deep ache in the buttock. Sitting can be miserable even though standing and walking aren't nearly as bad.
That's still potentially consistent with a problem originating in the lumbar spine.
Where you feel the pain isn't necessarily where the problem starts.
Pay Attention to What Happens When You Sit
If you're driving from Chula Vista to work and the leg starts hurting halfway through the drive, that's worth paying attention to.
How long can you sit before it starts?
Does the pain go away when you stand?
Does walking help?
Is your car much worse than your office chair?
Can you sit in a firm chair but not on your couch?
These are the kinds of patterns patients sometimes overlook because they seem too ordinary to mention.
They aren't.
If sitting clearly aggravates the problem, try breaking it up when you can. Get up and walk periodically if walking is comfortable. On longer drives, a short break may be better than continuing to sit while the leg pain steadily increases.
Be Careful With Aggressive Stretching
A lot of sciatica patients stretch the back of the leg because it feels incredibly tight.
Sometimes that helps.
Sometimes it doesn't.
An irritated nerve can also create a tight, pulling sensation through the leg.
If you're stretching and you feel burning, electrical pain, numbness or tingling running farther down toward the foot, don't assume the answer is to pull harder.
The same goes for exercises you find online.
If an exercise consistently makes the symptoms travel farther down your leg or leaves you considerably worse afterward, that's something to pay attention to rather than push through.
Your MRI Report Can Sound Worse Than It Is
Lumbar MRI reports can be intimidating.
You might see disc bulges at several levels, degenerative disc disease, facet arthritis, foraminal narrowing, spinal stenosis and a herniation all described on the same page.
That doesn't necessarily mean every one of those findings is causing your symptoms.
This is one reason Dr. Boelk likes to review the actual MRI images when possible.
If you have an L4-L5 disc problem, what does it look like? Where is the disc material? Is a nerve crowded?
What about L5-S1?
Does what is visible on the MRI make sense with where you're feeling pain, numbness or tingling?
The written report is useful, but the patient still has to be evaluated.
And don't get too hung up on the number of millimeters.
A larger herniation isn't automatically more painful than a smaller one. Location and the amount of space available around the nerve can make a substantial difference.
Tell Dr. Boelk What Has Already Helped
Even if the relief didn't last.
Maybe you had an epidural injection and felt dramatically better for six weeks.
Maybe physical therapy helped you walk farther but sitting is still terrible.
Maybe an adjustment helped your back pain but didn't change the numbness.
Maybe medication is the only thing that gets you through the workday.
All of that is useful.
A treatment that helped temporarily isn't necessarily irrelevant just because the pain eventually returned.
It tells part of the story.
A Few Things You Can Do Before You Come In
You don't need to stop everything and lie in bed.
And you don't need to spend the next week trying 15 different sciatica exercises.
Instead, watch what your symptoms are doing.
Notice how far down the leg they travel. Pay attention to what happens when you sit, walk and drive. Notice whether the numbness is changing and whether you feel any difference in strength between your legs.
If walking feels good, take comfortable walks.
If prolonged sitting makes you worse, break it up.
If a stretch repeatedly sends tingling into your foot, stop forcing it.
For sleep, some people are more comfortable on their side with a pillow between the knees. Others prefer lying on their back with support beneath the knees.
Simple changes aren't a substitute for finding out what's wrong, but they may help you stop repeatedly aggravating the same symptoms while you figure it out.
What if You've Already Tried Almost Everything?
That was the situation for Ira Smith, who traveled from Las Vegas after years of lower-back problems and another significant flare of sciatica.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Ira Smith — Las Vegas, Nevada
“My name is Ira Smith. I live in Las Vegas and found out about Dr. Boelk’s program here in San Diego and decided to start treatments with him. I’ve had lower back problems since I was very young. I had aggravated my lower back pretty bad again and usually I could do exercises, chiropractic treatment, rest and this time those things would no longer relieve my pain. I would get the sciatic pain shooting down into my leg and foot and would be pretty bad.
I found out thru my MRI’s that Dr. Boelk went over with me that I had 5 protruding discs. I did not want to get surgery as I have heard and seen that they don’t always work very well at all. I am 2/3 of the way done with Dr. Boelk’s program and I have zero pain. I pretty much go thru my activities with no pain. As I follow the program it has been absolutely fantastic! I have been thru physical therapy, chiropractic programs, I went to the hospital and they told me I have 1 bad disc, but I found out I had 4 more bad discs as well. The treatment has relieved the pain and is not painful at all. This can be the starting point for anyone with back pain to get their life back.
This is the place to start. If your skeptical, what’s your health worth? The cost of this has been way less than the cost of all my other therapies that I have gone thru. This is less money than all those things, less pain and gives you a great quality of life. This is new and modern and it fixes the problem. Use Dr. Boelk’s program to change your life and it will change your life! This is the place to start. -Thank You”
— Ira Smith, Age 49, Las Vegas, Nevada
Could Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression Be an Option?
If Dr. Boelk believes the sciatica is related to a disc or degenerative spinal problem that is appropriate for decompression, he may recommend Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression.
His office uses the DRX9000 exclusively and has seven systems—four lumbar and three cervical.
Dr. Boelk has performed more than 100,000 decompression treatments, and he doesn't believe in putting every patient with sciatica on the same generic protocol.
The disc level matters. Positioning matters. Treatment angle matters. Starting force matters. So does the way the patient responds from one treatment to the next.
That experience eventually led Dr. Boelk to establish the Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression Training Academy, where he trains other doctors in decompression protocols and techniques.
But none of that means everyone with sciatica should have decompression.
Some shouldn't.
A patient may have an unhealed fracture, significant osteoporosis, unstable spondylolisthesis, abdominal aortic aneurysm, certain spinal hardware or another condition that changes the recommendation. Pregnancy is also a contraindication for lumbar decompression.
Previous spinal surgery needs to be evaluated carefully.
And if Dr. Boelk doesn't think decompression is appropriate, he tells the patient.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Jeff J. — Tucson, AZ
“I found this terrific practice on social media. I followed up and did my own research so I decided to pay them a visit. The place is clean, well organized and run by a very efficient receptionist. I met with the doctor and after a honest and forthright conversation, we both determined that surgery was my only option to correct my back issues. I will return as a customer when the time is right.”
— Jeff J., Tucson, AZ
One Thing Not to Ignore: Increasing Weakness
Pain gets most of the attention with sciatica, but Dr. Boelk also wants to know about strength.
If you're noticing that the foot is starting to slap when you walk, you're having trouble lifting the front of the foot, the leg is giving way, or there is a noticeable loss of strength, get evaluated.
New bowel or bladder dysfunction, difficulty urinating, numbness around the groin or saddle area, or rapidly progressing weakness require prompt medical attention rather than waiting for a routine decompression consultation.
More Than 22 Years Focused on Difficult Back Problems
Dr. Boelk's interest in spinal injuries started long before he opened his current practice.
He suffered an L5 compression fracture at age 16 and later dealt with disc injuries and sciatica himself. He spent thousands of hours working on his own rehabilitation, and those experiences played a major role in his eventual focus on Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression.
He is a Certified Spinal Decompression Doctor, Certified Pain-Free Performance Specialist, Founder of the Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression Training Academy, a Founding Member of the American Spinal Decompression Society, and a member of the International Disc Education Association. He also holds California X-ray radiography credentials.
More importantly for the patient sitting in front of him, he has spent more than two decades evaluating people who want to know whether there is another reasonable option for their back pain or sciatica.
If You're in Chula Vista and the Sciatica Isn't Going Away
You don't need to guess from your MRI report or keep cycling through random exercises hoping something eventually works.
Bring your MRI images and report if you have them. Bring previous X-rays if they're available. Tell Dr. Boelk what's happening, where the symptoms travel and what you've already tried.
Dr. Boelk offers a No-Charge, No-Obligation Consultation to determine whether Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression may be an appropriate option.
Not every patient is a candidate. If Dr. Boelk doesn't believe decompression is appropriate, he'll tell you.
The Spinal Decompression & Chiropractic Center of San Diego
5095 Murphy Canyon Road, Suite 300
San Diego, CA 92123
Phone: 619-298-0800
www.SanDiegoBackCare.com
Live 24/7 Answering Service • Hablamos Español
Call 619-298-0800 to schedule a No-Charge, No-Obligation Consultation.