A sciatica doctor can come from many traditional and complementary medical backgrounds, including orthopedics, neurology and chiropractic. Regardless of their practice specialty, each will represent themselves to be an expert in diagnosing and treating sciatic nerve pain conditions. Doctors are not all equal in their skills, levels of competency or ethics. In fact, there are great discrepancies from provider to provider. Therefore, it is best to always keep in mind that medicine is a business. This idea can work for the patient or against them.
On one hand, the business side of medicine may tempt doctors to place money above the wellbeing of their patients. This might help to explain the huge incidence of unnecessary treatment, the prevalence of symptomatic and especially pharmaceutical therapies and the often urgent and illogical recommendations for premature surgery. Doctors have been known to compromise their ethical guidelines in order to bolster their economic bottom lines. This is fact. On the other hand, if medicine is indeed a business, then patients are consumers. Just like in any other free market, consumers have the choice of products and services they pay for. Therefore, if you are unhappy with your doctor, for any reason at all, you have the freedom to replace them with a more suitable candidate.
This resource section will provide information on a great diversity of sciatica experts.
Types of Sciatica Doctor
Specialists who concentrate on back and leg pain therapy come from a variety of backgrounds. Some sciatica doctors are hands-on care providers, such as chiropractors, massage therapists and physical therapists. Others are diagnostic physicians, mostly coming from either an orthopedic or neurology background.
Being that sciatica is a disorder of the nerves, involving a neurologist in the diagnosis and treatment of the condition is always a good idea. This is true no matter what the causative condition turns out to be. Regardless of their particular specialty of medicine, sciatica caregivers surely know that back pain is a very lucrative aspect of medicine, despite the lack of cures generally available.
Sciatica Doctor Treatments
Statistically speaking, it does not matter what type of doctor you go to see for sciatica pain, since there is little hope that whatever therapy is prescribed will cure you. It is a pessimistic attitude for sure, but unfortunately based on reality.
The vast majority of sciatica treatment options are symptomatic in nature. This means that the very best they can hope to accomplish is to relieve the pain and discomfort of associated symptoms. They do not have the power to cure anything. When it comes to spinally-motivated sciatica, virtually every treatment approach falls into this category, with the exceptions of spinal decompression, sciatica surgery and knowledge therapy.
For some pseudo-sciatica and non-structurally enacted sciatica, there are certainly other cures available within both the traditional and complementary medical systems. However, the efficacy of various treatments can only be ascertained on a case by case basis and still relies on an accurate diagnosis.
Sciatica Doctor Assistance
Make sure you talk openly with your doctor about your prognosis and what you should expect from any recommended treatment. Make them accountable. Do not simply follow a therapy regimen without any hope for a cure, especially if that program involves long lasting sciatica drug use.
Spinal decompression is a good bet for verified anatomically-induced pain from a herniated disc, degenerative disc disease and some forms of osteoarthritis. Decompression therapy is offered by many different types of sciatica doctors, so be sure to investigate all your options, as well as insisting on talking to some successfully treated patients before making your decision on a care provider or system.
Knowledge therapy is the only enlightened choice for mindbody conditions, which account for many cases of chronic sciatica. Some patients find it helpful to be treated formally by a mindbody practitioner, but many discover that they can address the underlying psychological issues themselves simply by reading the best books on the subject.
Be extremely careful when acquiescing to surgery. This option can make your condition far worse and do irreparable damage to your spinal structures. Always save this as an absolutely last resort. Also, never be surprised if you consult with a surgeon and they recommend an operation. This is their job. If they do not do surgery, they can not treat you. This being said, be sure to get a few more professional opinions before making up your mind.
