Naturopathy Treatment of Sciatica

Are you suffering from Sciatica? Don’t lose heart there is naturopathy treatment available with a mindful, targeted yoga practice and diet regimen that can help you overcome the pain. Surgery is not the only option. Naturopathy gives a viable option.

Symptoms of Sciatica

Sciatica pain is caused by pressure on the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is actually a bundle of nerves at the base of the spine from where it branches off through the buttocks muscles to the deep muscles at the back of the thighs down the legs to the foot. The sciatic nerve are the longest nerve in the human body.

When pressure is put on the sciatic nerve, it can cause symptoms ranging from tingling and/or numbness to excruciating pain.  

Sciatica generally flares up while bending over, running, sitting (especially driving) and during many other everyday movements, both active and passive.

Symptoms of Sciatica include:

• Pain anywhere along the sciatic nerve pathway:
• In the lower back, buttock, back of the thigh, and/or calf.
• Fatigue, numbness, or loss of feeling in your legs and/or feet.
• An electric, tingling, burning, pinching, or pins-and-needles feeling known as paresthesia.
• Weakness that can cause your knees to buckle when you stand up from sitting.
• Weak reflexes in the Achilles tendon and knee.
• One is not able to flex the ankles to walk on heels.

A few other symptoms are:

Pain and a needles sensation down the outside of the calf muscle to the web space between the little and fourth toes.

Difficulty walking on your heels or on your toes.

Burning in the back of your thigh and calf down to your heel, with stiffness in your legs. (Note: In some cases this can signal a problem in the spine instead of the piriformis.)

Pain from sitting, accompanied by a tingling sensation at the back of your thigh. The pain may be relieved by standing, but you still experience numbness in all of your toes even when standing.

Buttock and sciatic pain from exercising or sitting for long periods of time, with or without sensations of numbness, weakness, or tingling. While the pain may appear during standing activities, it gets worse when you sit down.

What Causes Sciatica?

• The sciatic pain often caused by:
• Herniated disk in the lumbar spine, which might be pressing and putting pressure on the sciatic nerve and cause excruciating sciatic pain.
• If one is experiencing consistent pain in the mid lower back or tingling or burning sensation or weakness or numbness in the legs or feet, it is an alarm bell to see a doctor,as these could be signs of an acute herniated disk pinching the sciatica nerve.
• Piriformis Syndrome Sciatica is also caused by piriformis syndrome a hip muscle called piriformis which helps in the rotation and flexing hip muscles when we walk. Injury to the piriformis muscle exerts pressure on sciatic nerve.
• Spinal Stenosis: constriction or narrowing in the spinal cord causes muscular imbalances that result in pressure on the sciatic nerve.
• Isthmic Spondylolisthesis: this is the scientific term for a dislocated vertebra that puts pressure on the sciatic nerve.

For the treatment for sciatica pain, it is very important to know the cause of of the pain. A physiotherapy treatment for Piriformis Syndrome, may be the worst treatment for sciatica caused by a herniated disc.

Dietary Treatments for Sciatica

No matter what the original cause of sciatica, muscle spasms and inflammation become part of the problem.

A diet rich in magnesium can help relieve muscle spasms.

• Peanuts, almonds, cashew and other nuts are great sources of magnesium, as are beans, bananas and leafy green vegetables.
• Beverages containing caffeine and calcium deplete magnesium, so coffee, caffeinated soft drinks and calcium supplements should be reduced or eliminated.
• Phytates, which occur in whole grain foods and unleavened breads, also deplete magnesium levels, so they too should be avoided, at least while the condition is acute.
• Vitamin B either through food or vitamin B-complex highly aids the healing process of Sciatica. Some of the Vitamin rich food is nuts, bananas, spinach and other green leafy vegetables. It is important to have vitamin B rich diet.
• Garlic, either raw or as a supplement is said to be an effective treatment. In Germany, raw sauerkraut has been used for centuries for all kinds of pain relief, including sciatica.
• Elderberry tea or juice works as a being a muscle relaxant

Yoga for Sciatica

Yogic asans help strengthen the back muscles and relax the piriformis muscle which reduces stiffness and pressure against the sciatic nerve. It progresses from simple foundational asanas to specific yoga poses which goes a long way to drastically reduces the pain.

Naturopathy Treatment of Sciatica?

Naturopathy has come out with a viable option with yoga, right diet and physiotherapy.  A conservative care and prevention method is adopted to avoid surgery.

Heat/Ice Compress

Heat/ice therapy serves as a first aid therapy, heat packs and ice packs helps reduce pain and inflammation at the source of the problem. Heat pack relaxes the contracted muscles and cold pack helps reduce inflammation and swelling. It helps calm the nerves and muscle pain.

Naturopathy and Physiotherapy

Naturopathy and physiotherapy use a wide range of treatment depending upon the type of sciatica. Physiotherapy and yogic exercise use soft tissue therapy and exercise that helps in joint mobilization which helps relieve pain and promotes proper motion of the joints.

Sciatica stretches prescribed by physiotherapists are very effective in reducing leg pain and bringing the pain to the centralized zone of lower back.

Lumbar Spine Traction and Decompression Therapy

Manual and instrument assisted traction therapy is very effective if other methods to alleviate pain is not effective. This a good alternative therapy as it helps to absorb the lumbar vertebrae and allow disc material to be re-absorbed into the outer disc material.

Register today at JKYNH, Odissa for an alternative medical care.

by Pragya Sinha