What is causing your back pain and tingling down to your knees?

Have you ever noticed a tingling feeling shoot down your leg into your knee or farther down? As most people, I’m sure you didn’t really think much of it. This tingling sensation is caused from an injury or pressure on the sciatic nerve. Most people are familiar with this condition, known as Sciatica.

Sciatica commonly affects only one side of the lower body, however in certain cases it has affected both legs. It can be caused by an array of different things. Most common factors include

• Repetitive motions
• A physical injury such as an auto accident
• Emotional stress of everyday living

You may only feel a tingling sensation, or more stronger of symptoms of pain and numbness, which radiates through your lower back into your thigh, calf, ankle, foot and/or toes. This pain is caused when the lumbar nerve roots in the lower lumbar and lumbosacral regions have been irritated, compressed, stretched or pinched.

Sciatica is also present if you have a bulging or herniated disc. The intervertebral discs separate the spinal bones acting as cushions to the sine and spacers for the nerves to exit between the vertebrae. If you have a bulging or herniated disc, it can put pressure on the nerve root(s) as they leave the spinal cord. The symptoms you are going to feel from that is the pain, numbness and/or tingling shooting down one or both of your legs.

What To Expect During Your Visit

In order for proper diagnosis, our Jacksonville, FL chiropractor, Dr. Vesce, will perform a physical examination going through range of motion, neurologic tests and orthopedic tests. A specific orthopedic test called the straight-leg raise test or Lasegue’s test helps to accurately diagnose you. Here, Dr. Vesce will have you lay on your back and proceed raise your leg up to 90 degrees and back down to see if your symptoms increase.

If you feel pain increase between 1-30 degrees of hip flexion, it will test out as positive test indicating you have sciatica. However, in most cases approximately 75% of patients with a positive test do not have sciatica. Imaging testing can help with the proper diagnosis, where Dr. Vesce can see how the bulging or herniated discs are affecting you.

The pain that comes along with sciatica can be pretty severe and most cases can be resolved as quickly as 1-2 weeks or may take up to 4-6 weeks for the more complicated cases. We have a very high success rate with treating sciatica and most can be healed without surgical intervention. Specializing in the underlying problem of our patients, here at Integrative Healthcare Solutions, it is our job to set you up on the perfect treatment plan.

Treatment for Tingling  

 The treatment plan consists of hot/cold therapies, ultrasound, muscle stimulation, decompression and spinal adjustments.

• Hot/cold therapies reduce the inflammation and control the sciatic pain.
• Ultrasound penetrates deep into the tissues working from the inside out, helping to reduce nerve root irritation, muscle spasms, swelling, and pain.
• Muscle Stimulation will help reduce pain and reduce muscle spasms by normalizing muscle tone. This machine sends an electrical current that can be adjusted so it is very comfortable and relaxing.  
• Spinal adjustment: At the end of the treatment Dr. Vesce will complete you visit with your spinal adjustment which helps to restore the misaligned vertebral to their proper position.

These treatments are a safe and effective way to get you back to feeling normal again.

If you are experiencing a numbness or tingling down your leg in Jacksonville, FL, call our office today to schedule an appointment!