Is the cold causing you pain?

Stop sighing about sciatic pain with help from the team at Connect Chiropractic.

Dr. Trevor Clark says sciatic pain or "sciatica" is a fairly common problem. Often, this can be experienced because of something as simple as the cold or large amounts of snow shovelling.

"It's putting more stress on especially our lower backs and that's where those nerves exit the spine that forms the sciatic nerve."

That nerve is the largest nerve in our bodies, says Clark, and it's often some kind of compression of the nerve roots or the nerve itself that causes the commonly-experienced pain.

It's not a disease or a disorder, Clark clarified. Symptoms can start with something as small as back pain that eventually translates into your hip, the middle of your buttock, and finally down the back of your leg.

Other symptoms can include some numbness or tingling down the back of the leg, or even weakness.

The pain can self resolve, but can also turn into a more chronic type of pain.

While snow shovelling is often associated with sciatic pain, Clark says it's important to note that this typically does not cause the problem, but rather aggravates it.

"If you have any misalignments of the vertebrae in your lower back, that may result in sciatica," explained Clark.

Alleviating the pain depends on what the cause is.

A lower-back misalignment or a muscle strain, or even signs of osteoarthritis can all lead to discomfort. Pressure on the sciatic nerve itself tends to the most common cause of the pain.

Engaging in stretches which you can find online is one quick and easy way to tackle your sciatic pain head-on, according to Clark. The most important thing is finding ways to relieve whatever is compressing the sciatic nerve.

"A lot of people don't realize... that sciatic pain can be debilitating."

When self-care methods don't do the trick, Clark recommends booking a chiropractic appointment to deal with your misalignment.

"We want to align those vertebrae, get full range of motion back into those joints, get pressure off of those nerve roots. When that happens, the body has a chance to heal."