Sciatica is a medical condition characterized by pain going down the leg from the lower back.This pain may go down the back, outside, or front of the leg. Typically, symptoms are only on one side of the body. Certain causes, however, may result in pain on both sides. Lower back pain is sometimes but not always present. Weakness or numbness may occur in various parts of the affected leg and foot
About 90% of the time sciatica is due to a spinal disc herniation pressing on one of the lumbar or sacral nerve roots. Other problems that may result in sciatica include spondylolisthesis, spinal stenosis, piriformis syndrome, pelvic tumors, and compression by a baby’s head during pregnancy. The straight-leg-raising test is often helpful in diagnosis. The test is positive if, when the leg is raised while a person is lying on their back, pain shoots below the knee. In most cases medical imaging is not needed. Exceptions to this are when bowel or bladder function is affected, there is significant loss of feeling or weakness, symptoms are long standing, or there is a concern of a tumor or infection.Conditions that may present similarly are diseases of the hip and early herpes zoster before the rash appear.
Acupuncture has been proven to be very effective in treating sciatica.
- Acupuncture helps reduce the pain of sciatica. Sciatica causes the muscles in your body to tense up and hold, which leads to fatigue, chronic pain, and stress. Acupuncture relaxes the body and releases your muscles from the tension.
- Acupuncture helps foster a positive chemical balance in the brain. By releasing much-needed endorphins, acupuncture can aid in the healing process, both mentally and physically. Relaxing your mind can help take it off of the chronic pain and allow you to focus elsewhere.
- Acupuncture deals with the nervous system, and sciatica travels along damaged nerves. Taking medication is applying a blanket treatment to something specific, whereas acupuncture pinpoints and gets to the heart of the pain and the problem.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sciatica
