Sciatic Nerve Pain
Treating Sciatica with Massage Therapy
Sciatic nerve pain is known as sciatica. Sciatica presents as what I would describe as a nervy pain that occurs in the lower back, buttocks and/or down the back of the leg. The pain associated with sciatica is changeable. It can be sharp or dull, constant or intermittent, isolated in just the buttocks or lower back or cause leg pain that stops at the knee or runs all the way down to the feet.
The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in the body. It starts in the low back and runs all the way down the back of the leg to the foot. We have a sciatic nerve on each side of our body, but sciatica commonly occurs in only one side.
Sciatic nerve pain can result from sitting in one position too long, muscle spasms, wearing high heels, obesity, slipped discs, osteoarthritis, or pregnancy. The pain is caused by the nerve being compressed or pinched by tight muscles, slipped discs or bone spurs.
The piriformis is a muscle in the buttocks that lays beneath the gluteal muscles. It is a thin muscle that runs from the sacrum diagonally across the buttock to the top of the outer thigh. The sciatic nerve runs just under this muscle. When it becomes tight it compresses the sciatic nerve and causes pain. Tightness in the piriformis is a common cause of sciatica.
Knowing the cause of your sciatic nerve pain will help determine how to treat it. There are two simple tests that you can do that will help you determine whether your pain is true sciatica or piriformis syndrome.
True Sciatica Test
Sit up straight in a chair with both feet resting flat on the floor. On the side that you experience pain straighten your leg out so that it is parallel with the floor. If doing this makes your pain worse chances are you have true sciatica.
Piriformis Syndrome Test
Sit up straight in a chair. On the side that you experience pain pull your knee up towards your chest. Now use your opposite hand to pull the knee towards your opposite shoulder. If this maneuver increases your sciatic nerve pain you have piriformis syndrome.
Other Muscle Impingement
Besides the piriformis the sciatic nerve can get impinged in other muscles along the path of the leg causing sciatic nerve pain. Your nerve doesn't just have to be radiating pain down the leg. Sometimes you may be experiencing pain radiating up the leg. Because you feel the pain all at once it can be difficult to know where it is coming from. Besides the stretches I will show you in this book I'll also show you some self-massage techniques you can use to loosen the muscles all the way day the leg. This will help get rid of tension in muscles that could be pinching your nerve.
Massage
If your sciatic nerve pain is caused by muscular compression, massage can help it quite a bit. Positional release and trigger point therapy are two methods that work well to loosen the piriformis. I'd suggest seeing a neuromuscular therapist or a deep tissue therapist.
At one point in my life when I was doing a lot of writing, I developed sciatica. It seemed to sneak up on me all at once one day. I think I was just too involved in the the work I was doing to notice the pain that was starting in the back of my leg. It hurt to sit down. It hurt to walk. My leg throbbed all night long.
I used a similar technique to get rid of my sciatic nerve pain that I used when I had carpal tunnel syndrome. I did yoga every morning. I massaged myself everyday. It is easy to work on your piriformis using a tennis ball. I got regular massages every week. I also had to correct my posture when I sat at the computer and took frequent breaks from working to get up and walk around.
Self-Massage Instruction
If your sciatic nerve pain is caused by piriformis syndrome, self massage will help loosen up the muscle so that it no longer impinges on the muscle. Even if you have true sciatica your sciatic nerve can be pinched in your piriformis as well as in your lumbar spine.
This massage requires no lubricant and can be done through your clothes. I don't recommend trying to massage yourself through jeans. The thick rough fabricate can make self-massage more difficult. Instead wear exercise pants or comfortable pants that aren't very thick.
You will need some tools for this massage. You'll need a tennis ball. Tennis balls can make very effective massage tools. You'll also need a pillow.
Lay on your side with a pillow between your knees. You'll be working with the side that you are not laying on. If you lay on your right side you'll be massaging on your left side. Use the heel of your hand to warm up the muscles in your low back and buttocks. You can do this by moving the heel of your hand in a circular motion over the area using moderate pressure. This will get the blood flowing in the area. As you do this notice the area that feel particularly sore. You can do this for about 30 seconds to a minute.
Now use your fingertips to massage a bit deeper in small circular strokes over the whole area. Again I want to you notice the places that feel the most sore.
Once you've done that roll onto your back and place your tennis ball under you in an area where you noticed you were the most sore. You can control the amount of pressure on the area by adjusting your body on the ball. Do no harm. You shouldn't be killing yourself with pain. It should be a hurts so good type of feeling.
You can use the tennis ball to loosen the tightened muscles now that you've warmed them up. Take the pillow out from between your knees and lay on your back. Place the tennis ball under your gluts in an area that you noticed was sore when your were massaging it. When you lay on the tennis ball the pain should be a hurts so good kind of pain. You shouldn't be in agony. If it hurts a lot shift your body weight to relieve some of the pressure. You can simply lay on the ball letting the muscle relax around it. This is called a release and can take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes to occur.
If the muscle isn't really releasing your can try a version of trigger point therapy. Put pressure on the area with the ball for 10 seconds then release the pressure for 2 than reapply the pressure again for 10 seconds. You can repeat this until the pain starts to go away for no longer than 2 minutes.
Repeat one of these release techniques on the sciatic nerve pain on one side. Once that side is thoroughly massaged switch to the other side. Start by warming up the muscles in while lying on your side and then use the tennis ball to get a deeper massage. Even if you only feel pain on one side you should massage both sides to keep both sides of your muscles evenly balanced.
