Sciatica of the Atlas

By Michael Dorausch, D.C.

Sciatica is often referred to as inflammation of a large spinal nerve (known as the sciatic nerve) which is generally accompanied by agonizing pain. Sciatica is one of those terms commonly used by people presenting with low back pain to healthcare professionals. 10 different doctors will provide 10 different diagnoses, and there’s many times sciatica won’t be one of them. If there is inflammation of a spinal nerve other than the sciatic nerve, can it still be termed sciatica?

A major pain in your butt. Ask around your social circle and see who’s suffered from this so-called sciatica. Pain in the buttocks, pain in the hamstrings, pain behind the knee, pain that runs down the calf, pain in one’s heel, pain that runs down the lower part of the back all the way to the big toe, it’s all painful and it’s never fun, but is it the dreaded sciatica?

Painful private parts. Not all lower back nerve pain ends up running down the back of the leg and into the heel and or big toe. It’s not uncommon for chiropractors to hear people complaining about pain beginning in the lower part of the back, that radiates to the front of the upper leg, or quadriceps region. Unlike pain running down the back of the leg, or hamstrings region, this pain is frontal, but it sucks just the same. What I want to know… is it sciatica?

Should you take calcium to ease the pain? How about a better balance of sodium and potassium intake? Getting enough sun or is winter still hammering down the doom and gloom on your nervous system? Maybe your body is lacking in safflower oil, sunflower oil, vitamin D, vitamin F, alfalfa, or even sun exposure. I’m not giving answers, I’m asking questions. I bet there’s somebody somewhere preparing marketing material that the problem with low back pain is a shortage of ibuprofen in the bloodstream, but I don’t know that for sure.

There will be Chiropractors saying sciatica certainly is a chiropractic problem and others saying it is not something that chiropractors treat. Look around long enough and you’re sure to find a chiropractor that doesn’t offer to treat anything, as they are in the business of removing nerve interference, rather than chasing words made up to define irritated and inflamed nerves.

So this inflammation of the nerve, which may or may not be accompanied by swelling and/or pressure from vertebral bones in a far too close for comfort situation, could be the sciatic nerve, and then again it could not. What if the third lumbar vertebrae (with nerve transmission commonly supplying reproductive organs) was experiencing inflammation, or unnecessary pressure from local spinal bones? if the resulting effect was the dampening or shutting down of reproductive processes like being able to get pregnant or the ability to maintain an erection, would that still be sciatica? Perhaps sciatica of the third lumbar vertebrae? Not like anyone’s having any sexual dysfunction or reproduction issues or anything, I just thought that would be a good nerve to pick.

As we work our way up the spine, the realization smacks us in the face, with a reminder that spinal nerve pressure may be occurring at any outlet along the spine, and that’s not limited to the human species. A big fat nerve exiting the lower part of the spine and traveling through the buttocks (that padded thing you’re probably sitting on right now) down through the legs and into the toes can prove to be a pretty nasty situation when occlusion, inflammation, or unwanted pressure should occur. But I’ll ask you again, what if the nerve exhibiting such inflammation exists somewhere else along the spinal column? What on earth would we call that? What’s the diagnosis for nerve impingement, nerve inflammation, or nerve occlusion, that doesn’t involve the ever so famous fatty sciatic nerve?

Imagine if you will, the devastation and discomfort that takes place when spinal distortion, spinal decay, muscle imbalance, and numerous other precursors, occurs in the neighborhood of the nerve I continue to speak of? It’s a rather uncomfortable situation for anyone that’s ever lived through the experience. Let’s move up the spine as high as we can go, to the base of the skull, the million-dollar baby, the one and only body part named after the individual that held up the world, the first word in one of the most awesome books ever written (the second word happens to be shrugged), the great connector of God’s mouth (as it’s been referred to by ancient tribal lore) to the life force that moves through every cell of one’s being. Were talking about the Atlas, the big kahuna, the biggest idea I know vertebrae. Pray tell, what happens if the same kind of spinal distortion, inflammation, or other form of unnecessary misalignment and pressure is taking place in this region of the body? If you think sciatica sucks, sciatica of the Atlas can be so bad, you may be half dead and not even know it yet. At least that’s what I’ve been told.

I’m a biased guy, but in my experience the ultimate healing system, is something a handful of people I know call chiropractic. You may want to check it out.

planetc1.com-news @ 10:36 pm | Article ID: 1235630230