Short answer: yes, we can almost always help. That pain shooting from your low back into your buttock and down your leg is sciatica, and at Foudy Chiropractic in Mission Viejo the first step is one show-and-tell visit, postural scales, a surface EMG, and digital X-rays, so we can see exactly which nerve is getting pinched. The rare exceptions, like a tumor or a fracture, go to the ER, not the chiropractor.
One unhurried visit tells you what is going on and whether Dr. Foudy can help. Thursday is afternoons only, 3:00 to 6:00 pm.
Patient receiving AccuSpina spinal decompression therapy in Mission Viejo
In your own words
Does one of these sound like you?
Most patients arrive describing how they feel, not naming a diagnosis. If one of these is yours, you are in the right place. One visit tells you where you stand.
I'm feeling this pain going down into my butt, down my leg, and it's driving me nutsIt's worse when I sit, and it kills me when I cough or sneezeI get this numbness or tingling going down into my footMy foot feels weak, like it is hard to push off when I walkSome mornings I can barely get my sock on that side
What is actually going on
What is actually going on, in plain terms.
Here is what is usually going on. A nerve in your lower back is getting pinched, most often by a disc that has bulged or herniated and is pressing on the nerve root. Picture the disc like a jelly donut. When the jelly pushes out the side, it leans on the nerve, and that nerve runs all the way down your leg. That is why the trouble starts in your back but you feel it in your leg and foot. It is a hose with a kink in it. Until we take the pressure off and straighten the kink, the signal cannot run clean, and a pinched nerve rarely sorts itself out on its own. The longer it sits, the more the body learns to work around it.
Patient receiving AccuSpina spinal decompression therapy in Mission Viejo
Can you help me, what is it, how long, and how much.
These are the four questions I hear on every first call, so here they are answered in order. The honest version of each, with real numbers, not a sales pitch.
Can you help me?
Yes, here is the honest answer.
Almost always, yes. Sciatica is one of the most common things I see, and most of it responds well to non-surgical care. I will be honest about the rare cases that do not belong here, a true progressive nerve injury, a tumor, a fracture, those go to the right specialist or the ER. One visit tells us which one you are.
What is it?
What is actually going on.
It is a pinched sciatic nerve, usually from a disc in your lower back leaning on the nerve root. The exam shows me where. The surface EMG (I call it an EKG of your nervous system) shows how the nerve is firing, and the X-rays show the structure. The two together tell us exactly which level is the problem.
How long?
How long it usually takes.
It depends on the cause and how long it has been going on, and I will give you a real number after the exam, not before. Milder, muscle-and-joint sciatica often calms down inside a few weeks. When a disc is the driver, the plan usually runs a course of care over several weeks, three times a week to start, then we taper, the way you step down from braces to a retainer.
How much?
What it costs, plainly.
The show-and-tell consultation that finds the cause is $90 and runs about 75 minutes. A standard chiropractic adjustment visit is $90 and includes flexion-distraction, traction, the vibration platform, and electric stim when you need them. If the disc is involved and decompression is the right tool, the standard 20-visit program is $3,000, and a single decompression session is $160. We talk through your exact plan in person, after I have seen your films.
Who this helps, and who it does not
Are you a candidate for care here?
You are a good fit for care here if your sciatica is coming from a disc, a joint, or a muscle, which covers the large majority of cases. When I refer out instead: if you have rapidly worsening weakness in the leg, numbness in the saddle area, or any loss of bladder or bowel control, that is a red flag and you go straight for imaging and a surgical opinion, not a treatment plan. Same if the exam points to a tumor, a fracture, or an infection. I would rather send you down the street than put you on a plan that was never going to help your case.
Dr. Foudy reviewing a patient's own X-rays before recommending a plan.
When the disc is the problem
Where spinal decompression fits.
When the exam and X-rays show a disc is the thing pinching the nerve, spinal decompression with added oscillation on the AccuSpina table is the workhorse. It gently separates the bones to take pressure off the disc, and at the peak of each pull it oscillates, like a gentle pump. Laboratory and imaging studies suggest that easing the bones apart lowers the pressure inside the disc so it can draw in fluid and nutrients. The only honest way to know whether it fits your case is the first-visit exam, where I look at your own scan and your own films before I ever say the word decompression.
The AccuSpina is an FDA-cleared Class II device for non-surgical spinal decompression, and its oscillation is genuinely patented technology (USPTO US 7,717,870). Those are facts about the machine, not a promise about your case. Whether it fits you is exactly what the first visit screens for.
A patient set up for a decompression cycle on the AccuSpina table.
Straight talk
One visit tells you what is going on, and I will tell you straight.
The show-and-tell consultation is the full picture in one visit: the postural scales, the surface EMG (an EKG of your nervous system), the digital X-rays, and the hands-on exam, all in about 75 minutes. You will see your own scan and your own films, and you will leave with a straight answer about your sciatica.
If this is mine to fix, I will tell you the plan. If it is not, I will tell you that too, and point you to what actually helps. I would rather send you down the street than put you on a plan that was never going to help your case. The first visit is $90 and runs about 75 minutes.
Dr. Foudy reviewing a computerized nervous-system scan with a patient, like an EKG of the nervous system.
Good questions, asked often
Questions patients ask about sciatica
No. Sciatica is the symptom, the pain along the sciatic nerve. A herniated disc is one of the most common causes of it. You can have sciatica without a herniation, and you can have a herniation without sciatica. The exam sorts out which one you have.
In most cases, no. Surgery is for a small subset, true progressive nerve loss, saddle numbness with bladder or bowel changes, or care that has genuinely failed. The large majority of sciatica responds to non-surgical care, and when a disc is the cause, decompression is purpose-built for it.
Move, gently. A day or two of taking it easy is fine, but bed rest past that stiffens the joints and weakens the muscles you need to come out of this. Walking is the universal medicine. Heavy lifting and deep bending come off the table for a while.
Most patients notice a change inside the first week or two of care. Real correction takes longer than relief, and I am clear about the difference. If you want temporary relief you get temporary results. If you want correction, you commit to the plan.
Both can mimic each other. The dermatome map, the reflex testing, the Wartenberg pinwheel, and the EMG tell us whether the nerve is being pinched at the spine or irritated lower down, like at the piriformis. We figure it out before we treat it.
The show-and-tell consultation in Mission Viejo includes the exam, the surface EMG, and the X-rays, about $90 and 75 minutes. You will see your own scan and your own films, and you will leave with a straight answer. Patients come to us from Lake Forest, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Niguel, Rancho Santa Margarita, and across Mission Viejo. Call Call (949) 365-0403 and ask for Carmen.
