Sciatica Treatment - Dr. Abelson

Great Information from Dr. Darrell L. Tanelian, M.D., Ph.D.

As Statin Use Increases, Heart Disease Increases
Posted: 2008-02-11 22:25
The February 11, 2008 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine reports that declines in the grade of coronary disease ended after 1995 and that heart disease may be on the rise since 2000.

Interesting - serum cholesterol levels of 220 were considered normal and healthy in the 1980's. Then we invented statins and today serum cholesterol levels of 180 are minimally acceptable with doctors and pharmaceutical companies headed to reduce everyone’s serum cholesterol to 140. Children are now started on statins as early as age 1.

One of the largest cholesterol studies ever done and published in the American Journal of Epidemiology in 2000 found that serum cholesterol levels of 211-240 were associated with the lowest mortality in 482,472 men. Many studies looking at healthy centenarians find that their serum cholesterol levels are in a similar range.

Now, since 1995, heart disease is on the rise coincident with increased statin use forcing cholesterol levels to go lower. What can we logically conclude? Maybe too low a cholesterol level, or statins are the cause???

Darrell L. Tanelian, M.D., Ph.D.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/DrTanelianBlog

Labels: Back Stretchs

Sciatica is often a poorly understood condition that can in most cases can be treated very effectively.

Labels: Back Pain, Leg Pain. Active Release, Sciatica

A Red Flags is a signs which mean the condition is more severe. Doctors use red flags to highlight the need to act more quickly, because they may suggest a problem which is not as straightforward as simple back pain or sciatica.

If you fit into one of these groups or are concerned, you should see your doctor immediately:

• Lack of control of bowel and bladder function
• The pain is constant and getting worse.
• The pain is in the back of the chest or you are having trouble breathing.
• History of cancer in the past or at present.
• You are on steroids.
• Significant weight loss recently.
• Loss of motor control
• Extreme numbess

Botttom line get into see your Physican.

All the best in health

Dr. Brian Abelsonj

www.drabelson.com

www.activerelease.ca

www.releaseyourbody.com

It is generally believed that Sciatica is commonly caused by the compression of the nerve root at the Lumbar Disc or Foramen. This is certainly what I believed, and what I was treated for prior to my experiencing a L5/S1 prolapse into my own spinal canal. My experiences, since that time have caused me to change and adapt a new perspective.

I treated Sciatica with a variety of standard Chiropractic adjustments and achieved relatively good results. In most cases, our patients (after an extended period of care) got to a point where they experienced little or no pain as long as they received regular maintenance care. Unfortunately the need for ongoing maintenance care often indicates that the root cause has not been resolved.

In my own case, I demonstrated all the classic neurological signs of a prolapsed disc including severe Sciatic pain that felt like a continuous burning knife stabbing from my low back to the bottom of my foot. Nothing could relieve this pain, not Chiropractic adjustments, nor massage therapy, acupuncture, Physio or stretching. I only received relief when I had a partial microdiscectomy of the L5/S1 vertebra. After the operation I was able to return to my practice with minimal discomfort. Four to six weeks later I was essentially back to pre-injury status, but continued to have some low-back pain and ongoing Sciatica. I also continued to experience numbness in my leg and foot.

These symptoms were slightly reduced through regular care and exercise. But it became obvious to me that neither the surgery, nor therapy at the time were effective in identifying or treating the root cause of the problem. About one year after my operation, I started to train in, and to practice the Active Release Technique (ART). Dr. Mike Leahy developed this remarkably effective technique for the treatment of soft tissue injuries. Dr. Leahy is a Doctor of Chiropractic who was also trained as an aeronautical engineer. During one of my ART training courses, Dr. Leahy examined me and found several adhesions in my hip rotators and hamstrings which were impinging on my Sciatic nerve. When he applied ART to these areas, I felt as if I had just blown my disc again. I felt the original pain pattern down my leg, severe leg cramping, and the stabbing knife-like pain down my back and leg.

I found myself wondering “What the hell is he doing to me”. The last thing I wanted was to be back in a hospital. However, when I got up from the table, I was surprised to see how much looser and stronger my leg felt. Two subsequent ART treatments found me completely without low back or Sciatic pain. Additionally, the ongoing numbness in my leg was also gone. Neither the pain nor the numbness has returned over the last number of years. Not even the stresses of marathon and triathlon training has caused any regression. This experience made me ask some important questions:

What was the cause real cause of my Sciatic pain?

Was the prolapsed disc the primary cause of the problem or a secondary result of peripheral nerve entrapment?

How effectively was I treating patients with similar Sciatic pain in my own practice?
Consider peripheral nerve entrapment to be the primary cause. Active Release Technique has revealed that Sciatica is more often caused by peripheral nerve entrapments rather than by nerve route entrapments at the Foramen and Disc. Significant improvement or resolution in Sciatica cases, within only two or three patient visits, is not uncommon when ART is used to free up the peripheral entrapment sites. In fact, for many of our previous patients that had been diagnosed with disc problems, we have seen complete resolution of all symptoms. Some of the common sites for peripheral entrapment of the Sciatic nerve can be found:
Between the hamstrings.

• Attached to the Adductor Magnus and hamstrings muscles.
• Attached to the Superior Gammelus muscle as the Sciatic nerve passes over this muscle.
• Attached to the Piriformis muscle as the Sciatic Nerve passes under or through the Piriformis muscle.

Applying the Active Release Technique A patient’s symptom and pain pattern can provide clues as to which structures are causing an entrapment syndrome. But these evaluations cannot be confirmed until you use a hands-on technique like ART to feel and identify the adhesion and entrapments. With ART, you use your sense of touch, like a second type of vision, to identify and release entrapments. During the ART procedure you are often formulating your diagnosis and performing your treatment at the same time. You must consider tissue texture, tissue tension, tissue movement, and tissue function.

For example, take the case of a Sciatic nerve that is entrapped between the hamstrings. In such cases, the patient’s symptoms are often exacerbated during hip flexion with extension of the knee and dorsiflexion of the ankle. You can also feel the lack of motion in areas that are entrapped, by the lack of tissue translation. Once you have identified the specific entrapment site, and have the lesion under aspecific contact, you must take the tissue from a shortened to a fully elongated position, while moving longitudinally along the soft tissue fibers.

During the ART treatment, the hamstring is moved by the doctor in a direction that follows the direction of the tissue fibers. At the same time the patient is asked to execute a movement that causes the Sciatic nerve to move. When this happens, you can literally feel the nerve translate in one direction while the muscles move in the other as the nerve restriction is freed up.

For more information go to http://www.drabelson.com/

All the best in health
Dr. Brian Abelson DC.

http://www.drabelson.com/
http://www.activerelease.ca/
http://www.releaseyourbody.com/

Piriformis Syndrome: The Big Mystery or A Pain In The Behindby Stephen M. Pribut, DPM and Amelia Perri-Pribut, B.S., R.N., M.B.A.

Piriformis syndrome is difficult to diagnose and resistant to therapy. The existence of piriformis syndrome has been doubted for years. In many instances it is not even considered as a diagnosis, in others it is ruled out, and in others yet the symptoms are ascribed to "sciatica" or some other cause, even if the piriformis is considered as a possible cause. Often the patient has considered the possibility before the physicians, trainers, therapists and others have.

http://www.drpribut.com/sports/piriformis.html

Some very good information in this article. My recommendation for treatment would be Active Release Technqiues, with a major focus on core stability.

All the best in health
Dr. Brian Abelson

www.drabelson.com
www.activerelease.ca
www.releaseyourbody.com

"The nerve roots that exit the spine to form the sciatic nerve are extremely sensitive, and the inner portion of the disc that may herniate or extrude contains proteins that are inflammatory and can easily irritate the nerve. Therefore, if some of the inner portion of the disc (the nucleus) comes too close to the nerve, the nerve may be irritated and become inflamed, causing sciatic pain - or sciatica.
The sciatica symptoms one feels (sciatic nerve pain, numbness, tingling, weakness) tend to be different depending on where the pressure on the nerve occurs. The patient’s pain and sciatica symptoms can usually be traced to where the injured/irritated nerve originates in the lower back. " http://www.spine-health.com/topics/cd/sciatica/sciatic_nerve02.html

Some excellent information on sciatic symptoms and sciatic nerve anatomy.

All the best in health
Dr. Brian Abelson

www.drabelson.com
www.activerelease.ca
www.releaseyourbody.com