I was diagnosed by my doctor with sciatica

by Vanessa
(Wellington, NZ)

I have recently being going to a chiropractor who has being doing spinal manipulation starting from the upper cervical area down the base of my spine. Yesterday was my 5th visit and the pain running down the right side of my buttock was quite bad that day.


Today the pain from my right buttock seems to have disappeared but have pain in my lower back, a burning pain radiating down the right side of my hip and inner groin pain. This has happened every time I have been to the chiropractor. The pain does go away but then that new pain is replaced by the sciatica pain. Is this normal for pain to shift in the body and then resume to the original place of pain?

Apologies for the delay in answering your question, Vanessa.

A temporary increase in lower back pain is not unusual; in fact some believe it essential, though I have my doubts about that; certainly it's not uncommon.

I stress the word temporary, and we are not talking about severe, incapacitating pain.

If your chiropractor is using a side-posture technique then it could be that he is putting too much pressure on the knee; is there an immediate stab of pain in the groin.

That pain down the side of the leg is worrying, but again, if it's temporary and overall you are improving, then I would not be concerned.

There a simple home examination called the Slump test for sciatica that you can ask your partner to do that will give you an indication of how you are progressing, and how badly the nerve is pinched. Find it in the navigation bar on your left.

I hope this answers your question; are you also doing gentle back exercises? Very important in my book.

Talk to your chiropractor about these concerns; direct and honest discussion is important.

Dr B

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