Acupuncture for Sciatica

As acupuncturists, pain from sciatic nerve irritation is one of the most common, and urgent, complaints that we see. Cases can vary from the acute entrapment-- caused by muscle spasms, misalignment, or a bulging disc-- to the very chronic and intractable. We often work with cases of sciatica that have been resistant to multiple steroid injections, medications, even surgical interventions.

How can acupuncture help in these cases? Certainly, acupuncture and related techniques like cupping, moxibustion and gua sha can assist in relaxing tense muscles and fascia and restoring proper structural alignment. Acupuncture also stimulates the release of various neuropeptides and cytokines that can attenuate the body's pain perception. Acupuncture even recruits the top-down mediation of pain (the way the brain images and prioritizes pain signals from the periphery).

In addition, acupuncture has the unique ability to restore blood flow to nerve tissue, and promote the correct signaling of nerves. In these cases, moxibustion (herbal heat therapy) and electro-acupuncture can be an extremely helpful addition to manual acupuncture.

In a 2015 systematic review and meta-analysis of acupuncture treatment of sciatica, researchers found that acupuncture performed better than conventional Western medicine in outcomes effectiveness, pain intensity and pain threshold. If you or someone you know is suffering from sciatic nerve pain, we recommend contacting us right away to start a course of treatment. We would love to be of help!