Disc-related sciatica
The most common cause. A bulging or herniated disc in the low back presses on or irritates a nerve root. It's often worse with sitting, bending, coughing or sneezing.
Leg · Physio & chiro at home
Sciatica Treatment at Home in Oakville, Burlington & Milton
Reviewed by Dr. Alex Greyvenstein, DC · October 1, 2026Sciatica has a way of taking over your day. A sharp, burning pain shoots from your low back or buttock down your leg, and suddenly sitting, driving, bending to tie your shoes or even sleeping becomes a challenge.
Sitting in a car is often one of the worst positions for sciatica, which is exactly why home visits help. Dr. Alex comes to you, finds out what's irritating the nerve, and builds a plan to calm it down.
Choose chiropractic care with Dr. Alex Greyvenstein, DC, or physiotherapy with Helena Greyvenstein, Physiotherapist, or both.
The basics
What is sciatica?
Sciatica is pain that travels along the path of the sciatic nerve, from your low back through the buttock and down the back of your leg, sometimes all the way to your foot. It isn't a diagnosis on its own. It's a description of symptoms, and the real question is what's irritating the nerve.
The sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in the body, made up of nerve roots that leave your low back. When one of those roots, or the nerve itself, gets compressed or irritated, you feel it down the leg, even though the problem is higher up.
Spinal stenosis
More common after 50. Narrowing around the nerves in the low back causes leg pain or heaviness when standing or walking, which usually eases when you sit or bend forward.
Deep buttock pain
Sometimes the nerve is irritated deep in the buttock, where it passes near the piriformis and other hip muscles. This is often called piriformis syndrome and tends to be worse with sitting.
Peroneal nerve entrapment
The common peroneal nerve is a branch of the sciatic nerve that wraps around the outside of the knee. Pressure there, from crossing your legs, long periods of squatting or kneeling, or tight boots or braces, can cause numbness, tingling or weakness in the outer shin and top of the foot. It can feel like sciatica, but the problem is at the knee, not the back.
Causes
What causes sciatica?
Sciatica can come on suddenly after lifting or twisting, or build gradually over weeks. Common causes and contributing factors include:
- A bulging or herniated disc
- Lifting, especially while bending and twisting
- Long hours of sitting
- Long drives or commutes
- Narrowing of the spinal canal (stenosis)
- Tight or irritated deep buttock muscles
- Previous episodes of low back pain
- Weak core and hip muscles
- Pregnancy
- Sitting on a wallet in your back pocket
Often it's a combination, like a disc that's already a little irritated plus a week of long days at the desk and a heavy lift on the weekend.
Symptoms
Common symptoms of sciatica
Sciatica usually affects one side. You might notice:
- Pain from the low back or buttock down the leg
- Pain below the knee, into the calf or foot
- Sharp, shooting or burning pain
- Tingling or pins and needles
- Numbness in the leg or foot
- Weakness in the leg or foot
- Pain that's worse with sitting
- Pain when coughing or sneezing
- Trouble standing up straight
- Leg pain that's worse than the back pain
Leg pain that's worse than back pain, especially below the knee, is one of the clearest signs that a nerve is involved.
Treatment
How Dr. Alex treats sciatica at home
Your visit starts with a careful assessment. Along with checking how your back and hips move, Dr. Alex tests the strength, reflexes and sensation in your legs, and how the nerve responds to movement. This shows how irritated the nerve is, roughly where it's coming from, and whether chiropractic care is the right fit. Treatment may include some of the following.
Joint
Chiropractic Adjustments for Sciatica
When stiffness in the low back or pelvis is adding pressure or irritation around the nerve, a chiropractic adjustment may help restore more normal movement. This may involve the lumbar spine, the sacroiliac (SI) joints or the mid-back, depending on your assessment.
With sciatica, how sensitive the nerve is always guides the choice of technique. If an adjustment isn't the right fit for you right now, gentler options are used instead.
Joint
Mobilization for Sciatica
Mobilizations use slow, controlled, repeated movements to ease stiffness in the low back and pelvis without a quick thrust. They're often a good option when the nerve is very irritated, when pain is high, or if you simply prefer a gentler approach.
Muscle
Soft Tissue Therapy for Sciatica
Muscles around the low back, hips and buttock often tighten up to protect an irritated nerve, and that tension can add to the pain. Dr. Alex may use Muscle Release Therapy (MRT) on areas such as the:
- Glutes
- Piriformis
- Deep hip rotators
- Low back muscles
- Hamstrings
- Hip flexors
Mobility
Stretches for Sciatica
Gentle stretches for the hips, glutes and low back can ease tension around the nerve and make sitting, walking and bending more comfortable. They're chosen carefully, because pulling too hard on an irritated nerve can make things worse. You'll be shown which ones to do, how far to go, and which to skip for now. They may include:
- Glute and piriformis stretches
- Hip flexor stretches
- Gentle low back stretches
- Knee-to-chest stretches
Between visits
Exercises for Sciatica
Many people with sciatica find certain movements ease their leg pain. Your assessment helps find those movements, and your program builds from there as you improve. It may include:
- Specific back movements that ease leg pain
- Gentle walking goals
- Core and trunk strength
- Glute and hip strength
- Lifting and bending technique
- Movement breaks for sitting
Nerve
Nerve Flossing for Sciatica
An irritated nerve often becomes sensitive to stretch. Nerve flossing, also called nerve gliding, gently slides the sciatic nerve back and forth along its path without straining it. Done correctly, it can help calm the nerve and make movement easier. Dr. Alex will show you the right version for where you're at, since doing too much too soon can stir symptoms up.
Physiotherapy
Physiotherapy for sciatica with Helena
Helena Greyvenstein · PhysiotherapistPrefer physiotherapy, or want both? Physiotherapy treats sciatica without adjustments, using hands-on treatment, exercise and education. After an assessment, treatment may include:
- Advice on staying active and positions that ease leg symptoms
- Exercises to restore movement and strength in the back, hips and legs
- Gentle nerve mobility exercises where appropriate
- Hands-on treatment for the low back and hips
- A step-by-step plan back to sitting, walking and your usual activities
You'll finish with a short home program you can actually keep up with. Learn more about in-home physiotherapy in Oakville.
Day to day
Everyday habits that help sciatica
Small changes during the day can make a big difference to an irritated nerve:
Break up your sitting
Stand up and move every 20 to 30 minutes. Sitting still for long stretches is one of the most common aggravators.
Keep walking
Short, comfortable walks usually help more than lying in bed. Stay within what your leg tolerates.
Sleep with a pillow
A pillow between your knees on your side, or under your knees on your back, takes pressure off the low back.
Ditch the back-pocket wallet
Sitting on a wallet or phone tilts your pelvis and can press right where the nerve runs through the buttock.
Why mobile
Who home visits help most
With sciatica, the car ride to a clinic can be the most painful part of getting help. With mobile chiropractic care, Dr. Alex comes to you.
Care for your parent, without taking time off work
For seniors living at home, getting to a clinic can mean painful car transfers, a ride from family, and a long wait. Treatment at home removes all of that.
- Leg pain that makes getting around harder
- No driving or car transfers needed
- Treatment in a familiar, comfortable space
- Family members are welcome to be there
Booking for a parent? You can fill out the form on their behalf.
When sitting in a car is the last thing you can do
Back spasm, sciatica or a locked-up neck can make the drive to a clinic the most painful part of getting help. So can recovering from a car accident.
- Sciatica too painful to sit through a drive
- Car accident (MVA) recovery
- Nervous about driving after a collision
- Treated where you're most comfortable
Car accident rehab may be covered through your extended health benefits and your auto insurance accident benefits. Ask and I'll help you sort out what applies.
Treatment that fits around your day
No commute, no parking, no waiting room. Your visit happens at home, so the time you'd spend travelling stays yours.
- Sciatica that flares after long days sitting
- Ideal if you work from home
- Workstation advice where it's relevant
- A home exercise plan you'll actually do
Appointments are 30 minutes, including setup, with about 20 to 25 minutes of hands-on assessment and treatment.
Service area
Sciatica chiropractor near you
Dr. Alex brings sciatica assessment and treatment directly to your home.
Burlington
A convenient alternative to travelling to a traditional clinic, with home visits throughout Burlington.
Book in BurlingtonSafety first
When to see a doctor about sciatica
Most sciatica improves with conservative care, but some symptoms mean the nerves are under serious pressure and need urgent attention.
Go to the emergency department if you have:
- New trouble controlling your bladder or bowels
- Numbness in the groin, genitals or inner thighs
- Sciatica in both legs at the same time
- Leg weakness that's quickly getting worse
See your doctor promptly if you have:
- Foot drop or trouble lifting your toes
- Sciatica after a fall or accident
- Fever with back or leg pain
- Unexplained weight loss
- A history of cancer
- Pain that keeps getting worse despite care
Your assessment includes checks for these signs. If anything needs further investigation, Dr. Alex will tell you and refer you to the right place.
More care at home
Other ways we can help
Sciatica care is part of our in-home chiropractic service. Exercise-based rehab with Helena through in-home physiotherapy can also be part of your plan.
Common questions
Sciatica questions
Physio or chiroShould I see a physiotherapist or a chiropractor for sciatica?
Both treat sciatica. Chiropractic care with Dr. Alex can include adjustments, while physiotherapy with Helena focuses on hands-on treatment and exercise without adjustments. Some people do well with one, some with both, and because we're a family-run practice, your care stays coordinated. If you're not sure where to start, ask on the 15-minute phone call.
ChiropracticCan a chiropractor help with sciatica?
For many people, yes. When sciatica comes from an irritated nerve root, tight hip muscles or stiffness in the low back, hands-on treatment, nerve mobility work and the right exercises can help calm things down. Your assessment checks your strength, reflexes and sensation first, so you'll know whether chiropractic care is a good fit or whether you need to see someone else.
RecoveryHow long does sciatica take to go away?
Many people improve noticeably within a few weeks, and most improve within a few months. Some cases take longer, especially if the pain has been around for a while. Staying active within your limits and following your exercises makes a real difference.
Rest or moveShould I rest or stay active with sciatica?
Stay as active as your pain allows. Short walks and regular position changes usually help more than bed rest, which can leave you stiffer. Avoid the things that clearly flare your leg pain, and your plan will guide what's safe to do.
SittingWhy does sciatica hurt more when I sit?
Sitting puts more pressure on the discs in your low back and keeps the nerve in a slightly stretched position, especially in a low or soft seat. That's why long drives and desk days are often the worst. Regular breaks and a better chair setup can help, and because visits are at home, your actual setup can be checked.
PiriformisIs piriformis syndrome the same as sciatica?
Not exactly. Piriformis syndrome is one possible cause of sciatica symptoms, where the nerve is irritated deep in the buttock rather than at the spine. Most sciatica comes from the low back, so a proper assessment is important to work out which one you're dealing with.
ImagingDo I need an MRI for sciatica?
Usually not at first. Most sciatica improves without imaging. An MRI may be needed if you have significant or worsening weakness, symptoms that aren't improving after several weeks of care, or any of the emergency warning signs. Dr. Alex will refer you if your assessment points that way.
Heat or iceShould I use heat or ice for sciatica?
Either can help with pain, so use whichever feels better. Many people find heat on the low back or buttock relaxes tight muscles. Keep sessions to about 15 to 20 minutes and protect your skin.
Home visitsCan I get sciatica treatment at home?
Yes. Dr. Alex provides mobile chiropractic visits for sciatica throughout Oakville, Burlington and Milton, which is especially helpful when sitting in a car is painful.
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Get started
Get sciatica treatment at home
If pain is shooting down your leg and sitting in a car is the last thing you want to do, Dr. Alex will assess you at home and build a plan to calm the nerve and get you moving again.
Home visits inOakvilleBurlingtonMilton