Sciatica Therapy

Sciatica therapy is big business in the back care industry. Sciatica is one of the most common of all spinal complaints and is also known for the longevity of the symptoms. This makes sciatica a profitable condition when it comes to therapy options. Many doctors and chiropractors specialize in the treatment of sciatic nerve pain and related complaints. It is unfortunate that most therapy options are either symptomatic treatments or misguided attempts at a cure.

Sciatica Therapy

Symptomatic Sciatica Therapy

Symptomatic back pain treatments are therapies which only seek to relieve the symptoms of the condition, but do nothing at all to cure the underlying causes. In the case of sciatica, the condition IS the symptom. Sciatica is NOT a condition itself, but merely a symptom of some underlying physical or psychological causation. Most common conservative treatment options use temporary relief modalities to make life with sciatic pain more bearable. These treatments might also make the patient more mobile and functional, but they certainly do nothing at all to end the symptoms. In essence, they may or may not help the pain, but they certainly prolong and perpetuate the condition by keeping the patient in long term care. This dependency is the most sinister part of all symptomatic treatments�

Surgical Sciatica Therapy

Drastic therapies, such as surgery, are often inappropriately prescribed for sciatic pain. Surgery is not normally recommended unless the pain becomes a serious and long term problem. However, the majority of chronic back pain syndromes, including sciatica, are not caused by a physical condition. Most enduring pain complaints are a direct result of a psychosomatic process which has achieved credibility and effectiveness using a physical scapegoat condition. It is for this reason that surgery is rarely a good option for chronic sciatic pain since the underlying causation of the symptoms is psycho-emotional and can not be cured with any physical treatment. This also explains why surgeries have such poor long term statistical results when used to treat a sciatic nerve complaint.

Recommendation on Sciatica Therapy

Chronic sciatica is normally blamed on a herniated disc or some other coincidental spinal irregularity. Most commonly, the real reason for the pain is oxygen deprivation of the sciatic nerve and its peripheral branches. This is the most logical explanation for the diversity and changeability of many sciatica syndromes. This also explains why most medical and complementary treatments just do not adequately relieve many sciatic pain problems. Some relief might be provided through the powerful placebo effect, but it will not be long before the symptoms return for another round of torture. Even in cases where the immediate symptoms are rectified, the patient usually develops a case of back pain substitute symptoms in another area of the back or body. If the cause is truly not anatomical, then any physical treatment is a complete waste of time and resources. It is however, a huge financial boon for the treatment provider� Maybe this might help to explain why sciatica therapy is still a popular specialty despite its generally poor results�

Sciatica Therapy to Back Pain Home page 7/27/07