I often get phone calls from people asking about whether acupuncture can help with sciatica, the pain that radiates from the low back, buttock, or hip down the back or side of the leg. Typically this is an extremely painful condition and really gets in the way of daily activities let alone exercise.
Thankfully, acupuncture can work wonders for sciatica. Here’s how!
Treating sciatica involves reducing the muscle tension and physical pressure on the nerves that are causing the shooting pain. With acupuncture needles, a practitioner can directly contact both shallow and deep muscle layers in the low back, buttocks, hips, and down the legs, to provide relief from the muscle tension and tightness. The acupuncture needles are so thin that they can reach quite deeply into the layers of muscles without causing pain.
I often recommend getting additional healing support from a physical therapist to ensure that appropriate strengthening is happening while we address the muscle tension through acupuncture.
A few weeks ago I treated Mira, a 58-year-old woman struggling with sciatica. Her doctor had told her that she might need surgery to alleviate the pain. Mira was in enough pain that she couldn’t take her dog for a walk around the block, she needed to spend a long time in the hot shower in the morning for her back and legs to loosen up, and she often stood partly bent-over for fear of the shooting pain if she stood all the way up.
Mira was skeptical – she had never been to acupuncture before and didn’t know what to expect! In fact, she had to stand during our initial discussion because it was painful for her to sit in the chair while we talked. Mira laid on her side for the treatment and received acupuncture in her lower back, buttocks, hips, and down her legs. She also received some needles in her ear to help to release stress and pain.
Mira was shocked to discover when she got off the treatment table that she could stand straight up without pain. She began to walk around the clinic and found that her muscles were so much looser than they had been, and the pain was gone for the first time in many weeks.
I checked in with Mira three days after the treatment and she had remained pain-free for those three days. The pain did come back before her next treatment, but we will continue to work together until she has complete reduction of pain.
Are you interested in getting a break from sciatica? Give me a call to discuss whether acupuncture may be the right fit for you!
