Sciatica is pain that stems from the sciatic nerve starting in the lower back and running down the body through the legs. Sciatica is not a disease but rather a group of symptoms, including severe pain, numbness, and difficulty moving, often stemming from a herniated disc.
In TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine, not Turner Classic Movies), we think of sciatica as a stagnation of energy that results in this pain. This backup of energy is usually caused by a physical issue concerning nerve and/or muscle. When we treat your stagnation, it will reduce your pain.
Acupuncture is a proven method for treating sciatica. In this guide, we will discuss how this safe, non-surgical treatment is effective for reducing pain and helping you heal naturally!
Reducing Pain & Keeping It Reduced
Acupuncture utilizes the body’s natural healing ability to help lessen sciatica pain without the need for medication or surgery. By stimulating physiological responses in the nerves, muscles, and tissues, acupuncture releases endorphins and serotonin in the body. With increased endorphin production, your body can heal and relax more easily. Your endorphins and serotonin work as natural painkillers, safely and naturally reducing pain.
The Western Medical explanation often stops here. However, with TCM it is necessary to go further and diagnose why that nerve and/or muscle issue occurred in the first place.
We are trained in tongue and pulse diagnosis and, from this diagnosis, we will choose acupuncture points that will help us treat your particular condition, as it presents in your body.
For example, sometimes a herniated disc occurs due to a qi deficiency in the body. This energetic deficiency can reduce the integrity of the structures surrounding the spine (muscles, ligaments, tendons, etc), causing a disc herniation. This deficiency can be caused by malnutrition, malabsorption, age, or a severe illness. Qi deficiencies can be treated by acupuncture and herbal medicine. Believe me, we do it every day!
Healthy Circulation
Healthy circulation allows the body to heal itself faster. Acupuncture kick starts the healing process by increasing blood flow where it is most needed in the body. Acupuncture focuses your healing at the lower back and down through the legs for sciatica. Think of acupuncture as a way of telling the body where to direct its natural healing resources. But acupuncture doesn’t just help circulate blood, it also stimulates the balance and flow of qi that in Traditional Chinese Medicine is considered essential to health. When the circulation of Qi is interrupted, it may cause negative symptoms such as sciatica. Acupuncture treats both the symptoms and the root causes of the patient’s illness.
Yin Deficiencies
Another cause for sciatica could be what is called a yin deficiency. This is ultimately a subtle fluid deficiency that slowly dries out the sinews, muscles and cartilage. This type of deficiency can be caused by chronic stress, age, or even a severe illness. A yin deficiency can slowly eat away at tissue, eventually causing a break, tear or herniation that seemingly comes out of nowhere. After all, when something can no longer bend, it breaks. This can cause a disc herniation or a muscle to clamp down on a nerve, causing the sciatica. Diagnosing which deficiency is contributing to your sciatica helps us choose which acupuncture points will help us treat it!
Heartfelt Healthcare
No one is the same and thus no one's treatment is the same, even if they come in for the same condition! This is because, at Pulse Community Care, pain is never just pain. It is a pain pattern, superimposed onto the energetic pattern of your body, and we are trained to read and adjust the energy within it.
Traditional Chinese Medicine helps us get to the root of your problem by helping us understand where an excess, deficiency or a stagnation exists that contributes to your issue.
So there you have it! You have completed your first crash course in Traditional Chinese Medicine! Make sure to contact us today to begin your path to healing.
Written by Sam Moore at KARMA jack Digital Marketing