A patient made me laugh today when she came in describing a shooting pain that was shooting from her butt down the back of her leg. I told her it was most likely SCIATICA and that we treat it all the time here at our acupuncture clinic. Her face dropped and she said..”No Way! That only happens to OLD people!”. She was only in her early 40’s and in great shape, by the way. I had to correct her and say that “No, it is not limited to OLD people”.
What is Sciatica? The formal definition is that it simply means that somehow or somewhere the sciatic nerve is being affected. The sciatic nerve begins at three different roots exiting your low spine and joins into a thick bundle that travels down your butt either around or through a muscle called the piriformis. The piriformis muscle goes from your sacrum out to your hip.
There’s lots of reasons that people get sciatica. One reason is that there is a problem in your spine. Possibly a misplaced vertebra (shifted/rotated) or a bulging/herniated disc could be pressing up against one of the nerve roots of the sciatic nerve. The other main reason is that the piriformis muscle was irritated or strained leading to spasming of that muscle. The spasming of that muscle can lead to impingement or constriction of the sciatic nerve. This leads to burning pain running down your butt, the back of your leg, and can extend down the entire length of your leg even down to your foot.
Acupuncture is an awesome tool to help treat sciatica because it can decrease pain, decrease inflammation, and release the spasming of the piriformis muscle. At our clinic we also address any possible issues in the spine if the origin is located in the vertebrae. We will incorporate acupuncture, cupping, AND state of the art cold-laser therapy to help heal any issues in the spine that are contributing to the sciatica. Give us a call and let us help give you some relief and put you on the path to healing.
