Acupuncture and Sciatica: A Beautiful Relationship
Every year millions of people visit the local doctors in an effort to find some kind of relief from the ever problematic sciatic pain. The sciatic nerve is large and runs nearly the length of the entire body; because of this symptoms of a sciatic flare up can be quite debilitating and wholly consuming. Sciatica pain is so much of a problem that many turn to traditional forms of pain relief like prescription drugs or even surgery as a way to alleviate the pain for good. However, non-traditional solutions for sciatica pain are becoming ever more popular as the need for less medically invasive, long term treatments come to the forefront.
One of the non-traditional methods of treatment for sciatic pain is acupuncture. The Chinese holistic medicine has been around for thousands of years and has been used on a variety of medical issues from injuries, illnesses, disease, chemical imbalances and more. Acupuncture, much like its milder cousin acupressure, relies on finding and using the pressure points throughout the body that are the center points of both nerves and organs. An acupuncturist will use these pressure points to realign the bodies overall health and function with acupuncture needles that are strategically placed into the pressure points. One of the reasons so many are fearful of acupuncture for sciatica pain and other forms of medical issues is that it uses needle, but what many don’t realize is that the needles used in acupuncture are extremely small and are inserted so slightly into the skin that nearly all patients feel nothing at all during acupuncture treatment.
Why Sciatica Benefits from Acupuncture
- It’s Non-Invasive – For many people acupuncture used to relive pain and improve the sciatic nerve is a favorable choice because it is a completely non-invasive treatment that requires no downtime, requires just a short treatment appointment and leaves the patient feeling better and clearer of mind unlike surgery or prescription drugs. A trained acupuncturist can generally reduce pain by as much as 50% in just one visit.
- It Promotes Total Wellness in the Body – Acupuncture is based on the ancient Chinese ideology of that the energies of the body are responsible for illness and pain, in modern day medical science has taken that ideology and transferred the concept of “energies” to the actual pressure points of the body that control how it functions. Acupuncture is used to help relax the muscles on the spinal column, hips, legs and core of the body that contribute to sciatic flare ups and because of this the overall health of the body is improved.
- Acupuncture is an Inexpensive and Long Term Solution – Acupuncture used for sciatica is extremely inexpensive compared to surgery and a viable long term solution to sciatic issues instead of prescription drugs which can become addictive or less beneficial the longer a patient is on them. The cost of acupuncture is low when you consider that a great deal of the time immediate pain relief is found from the treatment and it requires less treatment than other forms of pain relief for sciatica.
