Why is sciatica more prevalent during pregnancy?

The key word here is prevalent- pregnancy is not considered a direct cause of sciatica, and thus we didn’t say, “how is sciatica caused by pregnancy?” However, some explaining needs to be done for why sciatica seems to strike an unusually large amount of pregnant women. The reason is that pregnancy creates a perfect storm of conditions that lends itself to impingement on the sciatic nerve. Let’s take a look at this mosaic in greater detail:

• Activity levels decrease
• Good posture is difficult to maintain
• The added weight of a growing baby
• A shifting center of gravity 
• Ligaments loosening (particularly in the third trimester) in the pelvis in preparation for labor and delivery.
• Your abdominal muscles are stretched out on the front side as your belly grows, while the network of muscles that supports your lower back is strained trying to support this unstable system. 

It’s no wonder that many women in the third trimester begin to feel the symptoms of sciatica- pain in the lower back, usually limited to one side; shooting and burning pains down the leg; weakness or numbness in the lower extremities. So how can chiropractic remedy this situation?

Pregnancy chiropractic eases the symptoms of sciatica 

In order to deal with this impingement syndrome, we focus on:

• Determining if sciatica is actually causing your symptoms or if it is something like Piriformis Syndrome or Pelvic Girdle Pain.
• Balancing the pelvis 
• Aligning the spine and alleviating impingement
• Working on your pregnancy posture
• Use soft tissue therapy to improve blood circulation and facilitate healing
• Show you how to manage symptoms with heat and ice
• Gently strengthen the pelvic floor

Chiropractic is a comprehensive natural treatment for addressing sciatica during pregnancy. If you want to find out more, give our office in Houston a call to schedule an appointment today.