Get Hands-On Relief For Pregnancy-Induced Sciatica With Chiropractic Care

Sciatica is a common type of lower back pain when the long sciatic nerve is irritated and “pinched.” While sciatica can — and does — affect people of all ages, it’s especially common during pregnancy, making it hard to sit, stand, walk, and even get a good night’s sleep.

At Kerinver Chiropractic, Josue Maysonet, DC, specializes in chiropractic techniques designed for pregnant women, including strategies to relieve the painful symptoms of sciatica. Here’s how pregnancy affects your sciatic nerve and what chiropractic care can do to alleviate your nagging pain.

How pregnancy leads to sciatica

The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in your body. Once it exits your lower spine, it splits into two branches, each traveling through the buttock area and down each leg. When the sciatic nerve is compressed or crowded, irritation leads to pain, numbness, and other symptoms anywhere along the nerve’s path, including the lower back, hips, and legs.

Sciatica becomes more common during pregnancy as you near your due date, thanks to several factors. 

Weight gain and growing girth

Weight gain and a growing belly are both part of a healthy pregnancy. As your baby grows, its weight increases, and so does yours — and your belly expands to accommodate that growth. At the same time, the expanding uterus presses on the nerves surrounding it, including the sciatic nerve, resulting in back, buttock, and leg pain.

Changes in posture

Your growing belly does something else, too: It throws off your center of gravity, leading to changes in posture that can also put pressure on your sciatic nerve. Most women find their lower back takes on the brunt of those postural changes, leading to nerve irritation and compression.

Hormones

During pregnancy, your body produces numerous hormones to help support your pregnancy and prepare your body for delivery. One hormone called relaxin helps loosen the ligaments in your pelvic area, making it easier for the baby to pass into and through the birth canal. As these ligaments loosen, support for your lower back temporarily declines, leading to additional pressure on the sciatic nerve.

Relieve lower back pain

Chiropractic care optimizes spinal alignment to improve posture and relieve stress on nerves and muscles, making it an ideal therapy for sciatica. What’s more, Dr. Maysonet is skilled in special techniques developed for the unique needs of pregnant women.

During a chiropractic session, Dr. Maysonet uses hands-on techniques to improve spinal alignment, including alignment in your lower back where the sciatica nerve exits the spine. These techniques help relieve nerve compression while enhancing circulation in the area, reducing inflammation, and improving the healing of irritated tissues.

Alignment techniques also address changes in your center of gravity by improving pelvic alignment and balance to reduce strain on the sciatic nerve. Similar techniques help prepare your body for the stresses of labor and delivery.

Dr. Maysonet also offers lifestyle guidance and tips on relieving discomfort at home, including heat application, posture improvements, and exercises and stretches you can do to reduce pain and maintain flexibility around your sciatic nerve.

Learn more about chiropractic care during pregnancy

Relieving the nagging symptoms of sciatica is just one way chiropractic care can benefit you during pregnancy and prepare your body for delivery. 

To learn more about chiropractic techniques specifically for moms-to-be, request an appointment online or over the phone today with the Kerinver Chiropractic team in Kissimmee and Lake Nona, Orlando, Florida.