That burning pain and tingling numbness that radiates down your butt and sometimes into your leg? That’s a condition we call SCIATICA. No, it’s not an “old person’s disease” as one of my patients assumed. It can happen to any person at any age, but does affect people more often after the age of 40. Sciatica simple means that somewhere, the sciatic nerve is being obstructed or impinged, leaving a range of sensations ranging from pain radiating from the back down into your butt to a pain/tingling/numbness that can extend down as far as your foot. The sciatic nerve begins from three different roots in the lower spine and joins into a bundle that extends down your back side with branches that extend around your leg and even down into the foot. So what exactly is irritating the nerve? There are two main reasons; 1) A problem in the spine such as a shift in the vertebrae or a bulging/herniated disc that can actually be pressing against one of the roots of the sciatic nerve as it exits the spine. 2) A tightening or spasming of the piriformis muscle. This muscle goes from your tailbone across to your hip (top of the femur called the greater trochanter) The sciatic nerve travels either around or through this muscle…depending on the person. Any irritation of this muscle can cause tightening or spasming leading to irritation of the sciatic nerve. While stretching can help, acupuncture has been found to be incredibly effective in decreasing spasms, relaxing the muscle, and decreasing inflammation in the damaged area. A recent study showed that acupuncture was incredible effective in reducing sciatica symptoms. Don’t suffer with this condition any longer than you have to and come in for some acupuncture to get rid of the pain. Of course when we add in cold laser therapy into the treatment, the healing is elevated to another level. https://www.healthcmi.com/Acupuncture-Continuing-Education-News/1535-acupuncture-relieves-sciatica-reduces-inflammation
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