Dr. Brown Asks some important questions of interest to Yarmouth residents - Chiropractor Yarmouth Dr. Brown Asks...

Do chiropractors prescribe medications for the pain?
No. Chiropractic is a drug-free approach to better health. Instead, we rely on natural methods. We can show you how to use ice to control pain. When properly applied, ice can have an analgesic effect without the unwanted and sometimes dangerous effects of pain medications.
Which organs are extra?
You don't have any spare parts. Sure, we can survive without our tonsils, appendix, gall bladder and several other tissues, but each serves a purpose. We chiropractors recognize this. So the chiropractic approach I use in Yarmouth is to reduce nerve interferences to the control and regulation of every tissue, organ and system of your body.

Getting On Your Nerves

Backaches and sciatica image.

Someone you know may have complained about a condition known as sciatica, but what is it? To understand the condition, it’s helpful to know a bit about the anatomy of the sciatic nerve.

The sciatic nerve is the largest and longest nerve in the body. It begins at the base of the spinal cord and extends down the length of each leg to the toes on each foot. The sciatic nerve is really made up of five separate nerves that come together, and at one point is the same diameter as your thumb!

The sciatic nerves provide sensation and strength to the leg and connect the spinal cord with muscles in the thigh, lower leg, and feet. Muscle weakness or a tingling sensation in the legs can result when the sciatic nerve has been compromised or compressed in some way.

An inflammation of the sciatic nerve or compression on the nerve can cause profound pain. This is the condition known as sciatica; symptoms of sciatica include a dull ache to moderate or even severe pain, shooting pains, numbness, or a tingling feeling in the legs. Individual symptoms and their severity can usually be traced back to where one of the five nerves originates in the lower back.

While treatment in the past may have included muscle relaxants, pain medicine and even surgery that had only a 60% success rate, chiropractic care has been shown to be quite effective in relieving the nerve interference and irritation that is causing the pain in the first place - the root cause of what's getting on your nerves!

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, and feel that sciatica may be the problem, please call our practice to schedule an appointment. A thorough examination will determine whether or not you have sciatica and we can discuss what can be done to help.