How Many Chiropractic Adjustments Are Needed For Sciatica?

Statistics show 10 to 40% of people in the United States alone will get sciatica shooting pain and burning during their lifetime. The older you get, the more frequent it becomes. If you suffer from a work injury or have a car accident, sciatica can exacerbate things substantially. Official data show that sciatica and other causes of low back pain are the leading contributor to missed workdays.

Physical therapy and chiropractic treatment are the two most common treatment modalities that provide effective sciatica pain relief. Depending on the underlying cause and severity of the sciatica pain, here is how many chiropractic sessions you may need to get a long lasting relief.

Sessions Required To Fix Sciatica

How often you need chiropractic adjustments depend largely on the injury type, intensity of the pain, and personal goal. In general, most patients with the condition require more adjustments initially to reduce the pain. Once the pain has subsided, the frequency of the sessions is reduced as the goal becomes maintenance and improved range of motion.

Data shows that most people with acute sciatica pain will need somewhere between 5 to 12 sessions. Some may continue getting more sessions to prevent additional injuries. However, it is a general idea and your number of sessions can be different depending on the condition and the end goal.

A common regimen to get effective relief from sciatica pain may look something like this:

• 3-4 chiropractic adjustments each week in first 2 weeks
• 2 to 3 adjustments each week from weeks 3 through 10
• Once every two weeks is a standard maintenance practice.

Again, this is a general adjustment schedule that works for most people, but yours could be different.

Can One Chiropractic Session Enough Or It Makes a Difference?

A single chiropractic adjustment often brings a small improvement in your condition and isn’t enough to produce effective results. It will only produce temporary results and the likelihood of pain and burning returning is more than ongoing treatments. Sciatica causes intense and shooting pain that usually persists for days and weeks, and for months in some cases. So without follow up sessions, it is difficult to predict how much relief you will get from a single session and how your body responds after that.

As discussed earlier, you will need multiple sessions (scattered through several weeks) to get your pain and burning relieved. Trained chiropractors often advise follow up sessions once or twice a month to keep that thing from coming.

So what to do if you are unable to get multiple sessions? Discuss it with your chiropractor and he/she will offer advice on some specific steps you can take at home to reduce pain and keep it from returning.

Your chiropractor may be able to offer advice on steps you can take at home or workplace to get pain relief and prevent aches from returning. These may include a stretching routine, postural changes, buying ergonomic furniture, and a specific exercise plan.