Treating Sciatica With Acupuncture
It’s such a funny looking word, sciatica (pronounced SIGH-attic-ah). But the pain associated with this word is no laughing matter.
According to western allopathic medicine, sciatica occurs when the sciatic nerve is pinched or irritated, causing pain to travel from the buttocks and down the back of the thigh and calf, sometimes extending into the foot. Common causes for this problem are bulging or ruptured discs in the spine, bone spurs, narrowing of the spinal canal, or muscular impingement upon the sciatic nerve itself.
Depending upon the severity of the symptoms and the cause of the problem, western medical treatments for this condition vary from taking over-the-counter painkillers, to physical therapy, to injections of anesthetics, and finally, to surgery.
If none of those options sound appealing, sciatica sufferers may find relief in Traditional Chinese Medicine. In the Traditional Chinese Medicine paradigm, pain is generally caused by stagnation in the flow of Qi and Blood. Qi is a Chinese word that describes the body’s internal energy. This internal energy runs in specific pathways throughout the body. These pathways are called meridians.
When the Qi flows steadily and smoothly throughout the body, health is consistent. When the flow of Qi is blocked or stagnated, pain and illness can occur. It is the job of the acupuncturist to assess where disharmonies in the flow of the energy occur, and then facilitate balance of the flow by manipulating specific points on the body.
In the case of sciatica, there generally is a blockage or stagnation in the flow of Qi through the Foot Taiyang Meridian, also called the Urinary Bladder Meridian. (See illustration.) By needling certain acupuncture points to “open up” the meridian, an acupuncturist restores balance and begins to reduce the pain and inflammation in the area associated with that meridian.
Depending up the severity and the duration of the complaint, the number of treatments may vary. However, many patients feel a significant change in their level of pain within the very first treatment.
In 2006, “Lauren,” one of my very first patients, was a 37 year-old mother of two. She worked as a massage therapist and was constantly on her feet. She had been experiencing constant sciatic pain for at least a decade and thought that she just had to live with it. During her treatment we used points to regulate the flow of Qi and Blood along the Foot Taiyang meridian. Although we did not completely rid her of pain with that first treatment, she expressed her amazement at just how much it had been reduced. It took two subsequent treatments to completely arrest the pain. And now “Lauren” comes in only for the occasional maintenance treatment.
Acupuncture is effective in sciatic pain cases because it is not just the pain itself that is being treated. In the paradigm of Traditional Chinese Medicine, instead of the problem, the individual person who manifests the problem is the real focus of the treatment. As their unique pattern of disharmony is assessed, each patient receives their own specialized treatment. I also help my patients to identify the causes of these energetic imbalances and recommend changes in their lifestyle or diet that will promote their health and further reduce the symptoms of their problem.
So yes, sciatica can be a real pain in the butt. However, with adequate treatment from a licensed acupuncturist, it doesn’t have to be that way for long.
