Sciatica Chiropractor on Long Island
Pain that starts in your back or buttock and runs down your leg. What it is, what helps, and when it isn't ours to treat.
By Dr. Abby Dante, DC NY License #013032 Last updated
Can a chiropractor help with sciatica?
Often, yes. Most sciatica improves over weeks to a few months without surgery, and the care that helps in the meantime is the kind a rehab-based chiropractor provides: finding the positions and movements that calm your leg symptoms, keeping you active, hands-on treatment for the areas guarding around it, and rebuilding strength as the nerve settles.
It depends on why the nerve is irritated and how it's behaving. A chiropractor can't make a disc herniation disappear, and no honest provider can promise how quickly a nerve will calm down. Some symptoms also mean you should see a medical doctor before anyone else. We list them on this page. Please read that section first if your leg is weak or numb.
What is sciatica?
Sciatica is a description, not a diagnosis. It means pain travelling along the path of the sciatic nerve: from the lower back or buttock, down the back or side of the thigh, often below the knee and into the calf or foot. It's usually one-sided. It can be sharp, burning or electric, and it may come with pins and needles or numbness. For many people the leg hurts more than the back does.
What causes it
- A disc in the lower spine that bulges or herniates and irritates a nerve root. This is the most common cause in younger and middle-aged adults.
- Narrowing of the spaces the nerves pass through (stenosis), more common with age. It tends to hurt with standing and walking and ease with sitting or bending forward.
- Irritation of the nerve as it passes through the deep muscles of the buttock.
What it isn't
Not every pain in the leg is sciatica. Back pain with an ache into the buttock or the back of the thigh, which stays above the knee and has no tingling or numbness, is usually referred pain from the joints and muscles of the back. It behaves differently and is generally simpler to treat. If that sounds more like you, read our page on back pain that stays in the back instead.
What does a chiropractor do for sciatica?
A nerve exam first
Before any treatment we check the strength in your legs and feet, your reflexes and your sensation, along with tests that tension the nerve. This tells us whether the nerve is only irritated or is losing function, and gives us a baseline to re-check at every visit.
Find what calms the leg
With an irritated nerve root there is often a direction of movement, or a position, that pulls the symptoms out of the leg and back toward the spine. Symptoms moving up and out of the leg is a good sign, even if the back is temporarily more sore. Finding that direction is the first goal, and it becomes your first exercise.
Hands-on treatment, used carefully
Hands-on treatment helps with the muscles that tighten up to protect the area and with stiff joints above and below. We don't aggressively stretch an irritated nerve. A hamstring stretch that lights up your calf is not helping. An adjustment is optional, not required.
Keep moving, then get stronger
Bed rest makes sciatica slower, not faster. Short, frequent walks and changing position often usually beat both resting and pushing through. As the leg settles, the plan shifts to strength and to getting you back to bending, lifting and your sport with confidence. For an athlete, that last stretch follows the same return-to-sport stages we use for any injury.
When does sciatica need someone other than a chiropractor?
Go to the emergency room now if you have
- New difficulty urinating, loss of bladder or bowel control, or numbness in the groin, genitals or inner thighs (the "saddle" area)
- Sciatica in both legs at once with weakness
- Rapidly worsening weakness, such as a foot that slaps the ground or a leg that gives way
These can signal severe pressure on the nerves at the base of the spine, which is a surgical emergency.
See a medical doctor first if you have
- Leg pain after a significant fall or accident
- Fever, unexplained weight loss or a history of cancer with new back or leg pain
- Pain that is constant, severe at night and unaffected by position or movement
- Weakness that isn't improving, or pain that is severe and not easing after several weeks of care
In those cases imaging, medication, an injection or a surgical opinion may be the right next step, and we'll tell you so. Conservative care and medical care aren't rivals. Plenty of people need a bit of both.
Wondering whether a physical therapist would be a better fit? We compare the two honestly, sciatica included, in chiropractor vs physical therapy for sciatica.
Visits are one-on-one with Dr. Abby Dante or Dr. Dave Atlas (meet the doctors) and last 30-60 minutes. Dr. Abby sees patients at our Islandia and Quogue locations. Dr. Dave sees patients in Islandia. Call or text 631-212-2996 to schedule.
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I’m excited to work with you! Please call us at 631-212-2996 to get started.
