Sciatica Treatment in College Station

Sciatica is not a diagnosis. It is a description. The shooting pain down your leg has a source. Finding and treating that source is what makes the difference between temporary relief and lasting resolution.

The pain in your leg starts in your spine.

Sciatica describes any pain that travels along the path of the sciatic nerve, from the lower back through the buttock and down the leg. The nerve itself is not the problem: it is being compressed or irritated by something else, most commonly a herniated disc, bone spur, or piriformis muscle.

Different causes of sciatica respond to very different treatments. Directional exercises that relieve disc-driven sciatica can worsen piriformis-driven sciatica. This is why accurate assessment matters so much before treatment begins.

The rehab gym at Recalibrate Performance and Rehab in College Station, TX

The character of your leg pain tells us the cause.

Where the pain travels, what makes it better or worse, and whether it is accompanied by numbness or weakness all help identify the source and guide treatment direction.

Leg Pain Below Knee

Sharp, shooting, or burning pain that travels from the buttock past the knee and into the calf or foot.

Numbness and Tingling

Pins-and-needles sensation or numbness in the leg, calf, heel, or specific toes, following the nerve distribution.

Sitting Aggravation

Leg pain that worsens with prolonged sitting and improves with walking, characteristic of disc-driven sciatica.

Buttock Pain

Deep, aching or sharp pain in the buttock that may be the dominant symptom, particularly in piriformis syndrome.

Leg Weakness

Difficulty pushing off with the foot, raising the heel, or climbing stairs, indicating nerve compression with motor involvement.

Worse with Coughing

A sudden increase in leg pain with coughing, sneezing, or straining, strongly suggesting disc herniation as the source.

Find the source. Move the nerve. Resolve the pain.

Sciatica treatment at Recalibrate Performance and Rehab begins with a precise directional assessment to identify the specific cause and the movement direction that relieves versus worsens your symptoms. This determines everything about how we treat you.

Disc-driven sciatica typically responds to extension-based exercise and joint mobilization. Piriformis involvement responds to targeted stretching, dry needling, and hip mobility work. Neural mobilization techniques gently mobilize the nerve itself when adhesion is contributing.

No referral needed. Most insurances accepted. In most cases, you can be seen within the same week.

Centralize, resolve, and prevent.

Centralize the Symptoms

The first goal is to reduce the leg symptoms, moving the pain from the foot upward toward the back. This "centralization" is a reliable sign that recovery is occurring and guides treatment direction.

Restore Normal Movement

Once symptoms have centralized, we restore full lumbar and hip mobility, address any muscular imbalances contributing to nerve irritation, and progress loading.

Prevent Recurrence

You leave with a clear understanding of your condition, the exercises that keep it resolved, and the posture and loading strategies that prevent it from returning.

Why we do it this way.

"If I were the patient, if this were my back, my shoulder, my knee, would I be okay with this care? The answer was always no."
Dr. Tate Hartley, PT, DPT, CSCS, FAAOMPT · Owner & Lead Therapist

Schedule Your Appointment

No referral needed. Most insurances accepted. Same-week appointments available.

Your first visit is a full evaluation, 40 minutes: come in, tell us everything, and leave with a plan.

Prefer to call? (979) 221-6673