If you’ve been diagnosed with sciatica you might be surprised to learn it’s not really a physical condition at all. Instead, sciatica is a description of a set of pain symptoms typically caused by pressure on the sciatic nerve.
The actual condition causing sciatic pain can be as diverse as a herniated disc pressing upon the sciatic nerve, or it being irritated as it passes down behind the piriformis muscle, which is often overly tight.
Traditional medicine often offers only symptomatic relief for sciatica pain. Options include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen and naproxen, ultrasound, heat treatments and cortisone injections.
Natural treatments for sciatica tend to focus on both pain relief and correcting the underlying causes. Two of the most effective natural treatments for sciatica you should consider are inversion therapy and muscle balance therapy.
Inversion therapy has been used for thousands of years to treat back pain naturally by using gravity itself to apply gentle traction to the spine. This natural treatment is particularly effective for sciatic pain caused by herniated discs by increasing the space between the vertebrae and thereby relieving the pressure on the nerve.
Muscle balance therapy gets to the root cause of most back and sciatic pain: muscle imbalances. When opposing muscles pull unevenly against one another, postural dysfunctions develop leading to uneven and excessive stress on the muscles, ligaments, bones and joints. Since muscle balance therapy focuses on correcting or improving muscle imbalances, this is a great tool for naturally treating sciatica caused by a tight piriformis muscle.
Remember that simply ending pain does not mean you have corrected the problem. Be sure that whatever treatment you choose addresses the underlying causes of your sciatica pain or it will continue to return. For more information on natural treatments for sciatica pain you can request a free sciatica pain relief guide here.
