Question
Recently (3-4 days ago) I started having some fairly moderate back pain that went into one of my buttocks and down into my rear thigh.  Through some research I believe I have an sciatica nerve issue.  I have a hamstring/stretching routine that I do daily (sometimes as many as 9 times a day...I teach PE.)  Is this stretcing routine OK to do during times where a sciatica nerve might be acting up?

Answer
Dear Gary Dahn,

First, thank you for your question and I am sorry you did not hear from me sooner.  I assure you, I take all the questions seriously and typically respond immediately.  What was reported to me as a 搒erver error?prevented me from responding until now.

Yours is a question similar to those I have heard from others who are investigating chiropractic.  Unfortunately, though, your question is based on some misconceptions.  In order to answer it properly, I'll first need to give you some background on the chiropractic profession.

There are two branches or schools of thought in chiropractic.  Briefly, they are differentiated by whether they deal with the limited therapeutic approach for aches and pains (commonly termed "mixed" chiropractic because it represents a mixture of a chiropractor with a non-chiropractic matter) or a non-therapeutic approach to optimum body performance (termed "straight" chiropractic because there is no mixing of chiropractic with anything else).  My expertise is in non-therapeutic straight chiropractic.

Therapeutic "mixed" chiropractic is the older approach based on a split from the founding principles of chiropractic about a century ago.

Non-therapeutic "straight" chiropractic is the more modern of the two.  It deals with a particular, common situation called a vertebral subluxation.  This is not at all the same as a report of sciatica, as mentioned in your question, but they may exist together.  The spine is made of many bone segments which house and protect the spinal cord and the smaller spinal nerve branches that come off the spinal cord and exit between the bones.  These nerve pathways carry information or messages between the brain and the cells of the body.  These messages are essential for the life of the cells.  Without brain messages, the cells immediately begin the process of dying; i.e., they can no longer function the way they should to maintain life.

Because the bones are moveable, they can misalign in such a way as to interfere with the messages and, ultimately, the ability of the person to function at their best or express their optimum potential.  People with vertebral subluxations are not able to get all they can out of life.

Vertebral subluxations can be caused by a wide variety of factors, what we'll generally call stresses.  These stresses can be physical (such as accidental trauma, sleeping posture and mattress condition, the birth process, sneezing, falling down, etc., possibly even stretching), mental / emotional (in its many forms, probably the most familiar use of the word stress), or chemical (such as pollution, drugs, etc.), which are, unfortunately, regular parts of daily living for all age groups.  In short, a vertebral subluxation can occur for a multitude of reasons.

Tragically, vertebral subluxations are rarely obvious to the individual they affect.  They usually have no symptoms.  The reason is that most of what goes on inside you happens without your awareness.  For example, try specifically to "feel" your liver.  Try to be aware of exactly what it's doing right now.  You can't, so you can't know if it's functioning at its best or something less.  To complicate things, nerve pathways that carry messages of control (termed "motor" nerves) have no way of transmitting ache or pain messages, so your body function may be far from perfect and you'd not have any alerting signal whatsoever.  The branching of the nerve pathways is complex and extensive, making it exceedingly difficult to predict or determine exactly how the person will be affected.  For this reason alone, it is impossible for anyone to give you reliable answers as to a connection between the spine and specific symptoms of any kind, including the tightness and pain and other sensations you mention.  Certainly, every part of the body must have connections to the nerve system so that vital information may be transmitted between the brain and the cells.  There are some who would attempt to review the possible nerve connections between a nerve root and specific organs or tissues, but this ignores the multitude of variables that determine the expression of function or sensation.  The question of how your individual body carries out the myriad of activities just to maintain life is enormous and would require your Creator's (or creator's, for the agnostic) knowledge, or at least far more than our educated knowledge of the complexities of life.

In order to know if someone has a vertebral subluxation, it is necessary to have that person's spine checked by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor using a method of "analysis."  When a vertebral subluxation is detected this way, it is obviously important to correct it as soon as possible using a procedure known as 揳djustment.?br>
Since vertebral subluxations are caused by so many different things, people choose to go to a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor on a regular basis to enjoy the most time free of the life-robbing effects of vertebral subluxation. There's a saying that straight chiropractic is not about your back, it's not about your pain, it's about your life.  Each person has a unique potential in life.  With vertebral subluxation, it's impossible to realize that potential.

Now, that you have more information about the body and vertebral subluxation, how do you make use of it?  Well, first understand that this is not an explanation of why you have the sciatica problem you mention or whether it is related to vertebral subluxation.  Are there reasons for what you're experiencing?  Even though they may be beyond our ability to identify, yes, there are; but it is not relevant to the matter of whether you will benefit from being free of vertebral subluxations.  Vertebral subluxation is, in and of itself, detrimental to your life.  It is not valid or reliable to try to connect it to any organ or tissue conditions, such as a sciatica.  A key question to ask for your purposes, then, would be, Is someone with sciatica better off with vertebral subluxation / nerve interference or free of subluxation / with the nerve channels open?  It is easy to see that having all the available nerve messages getting through is better than only some of them getting through, regardless of the person's situation otherwise.  It's not that you should see a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor FOR your sciatica ?you should visit one in an effort to be free of vertebral subluxations, even WITH that complaint.  Non-therapeutic straight chiropractic is not about diagnosing and/or treating this or any other medical condition.  It is entirely separate in its goal.  

As I mentioned earlier, not all chiropractors adhere to this and it is important that you be able to distinguish which ones do if you're going to seek this type of service.  You need to understand very clearly that the practice objectives of therapeutic mixed chiropractic and non-therapeutic straight chiropractic are quite different, as described above.  What information I give you must not be interpreted from the mixed viewpoint.  Non-therapeutic straight chiropractic is not about the treatment of sciatica at all.  You ask for advice about a stretching routine as it relates to sciatica.  It would be irresponsible for anyone, even if they were dealing with therapeutic matters, to advise you on specifics without ever having seen you, but it is also not the intent of my field to address such therapeutic measures.  

Certainly, it would be wise to have your spine checked for vertebral subluxations by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor, even if you still elect to have therapeutic attention for sciatica..  Remember, the two objectives are not the same.  I cannot tell you whether this chiropractor is right for you, but hopefully you now have enough information at hand to make that decision with greater confidence.  

If you are interested in finding out how to locate a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor in your area, please contact me at this site again or at [email protected].  You may also visit www.gschiro.com, a site that represents non-therapeutic straight chiropractic organizations on a state level.

Gary, I wish you the best in sorting out the sometimes confusing world of chiropractic.  It has been my pleasure to provide you with some information.

Sincerely,
James W. Healey, D.C.