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How to End Your Own Sciatica Pain in 1 - 3 Weeks
by Lawrence Gold | Credentials | Publications | Personal Page
certified Hanna somatic educator
Certified Practitioner, Dr. Ida P. Rolf Method of Structural Integration
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Understand how somatic exercises end sciatica pain
see also:
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Because people sometimes think they have sciatica, when actually, what they have are painful muscle spasms in the buttock, thigh or calves -- a different problem -- I'm going to describe the symptoms of sciatica.
The typical sciatica sufferer has radiating pain that starts at the buttock (usually one side, only) and that may extend down the back of the thigh as far as the foot. Sensations may include numbness, burning, or the feeling of a hot cable (or poker) going down the buttock or back of the leg. Back pain often precedes and accompanies sciatica. If you have pain going down the front of your leg, you probably have muscle spasms of the quadriceps muscles; if down the side, it's probably contracted muscles that attach to the ilio-tibial (IT) band. Less common is entrapment of nerve roots other than those of the sciatic nerve -- but that's not sciatica. In this entry, I briefly explain the origins of sciatic pain, the four causes of sciatic pain, and a reliable remedy for two of the types. The explanation is technical, of course, so whenever you want to get started relieving your own sciatica, just click here. |
Origins/CausesMost sciatica comes from nerve entrapment, caused by muscles, held automatically by muscle/movement memory in a state of contraction (tension).Sciatica is what is known as "referred pain." Referred pain results from pressure on a nerve. The brain registers the pain as coming from a location along the nerve or the place where it ends, even though the pressure may be at the origin of the nerve where it exits the spinal cord or someplace along the nerve's length. The typical cause of nerve pressure is muscular tension maintained as an involuntary, constant action by the brain, the control center for all but the most momentary muscular activity. This brain-level control, in turn, is acquired by a kind of conditioned learning (muscle/movement memory) set in motion by repetitive use, stress, or sudden injury. As a conditioned/learned action pattern, muscle memory can be changed by new learning (movement learning, not learning about and maintaining good posture or good biomechanics, and not intellectual learning), so sciatica can be relieved and ended (fairly quickly, usually, by this method) by developing sufficient control of the involved muscles to be able to relax them and make them more responsive to voluntary control. Of course, that will involve getting past any "too good to be true mentality" or you will never put yourself in a position to get the result I'm describing. |
The Four Causes of SciaticaThere are two most-typical causes of sciatica, both involving simple muscular entrapment, one less-common cause involving disc damage (not herniation or bulge, but rupture or tear), and a still-rarer cause that involves narrowing of the spinal canal or exit holes for nerves (foramena) -- many times not the actual cause, but diagnosed as such.To understand the two most common causes of sciatica, it helps to know the path of the nerve from spinal cord down the leg, as the nerve pressure occurs at different places.
The sciatic nerves have nerve roots that exit the spinal cord at the levels, L3 - L5, the lowest three vertebra of the lumbar spine (low back). The nerves pass in front of the sacrum (central bone of the pelvis) and then behind the pelvis and down the backs of the legs. They divide approximately at the knees and pass down the calves to the feet.
The combination of swayback and side-tilt reduces the space through which the nerve roots pass and squeezes them ("nerve impingement" or "pinched nerve"), which causes referred pain (sciatica). |
SIDE-TILT BEFORE AND AFTER CORRECTION |
Piriformis SyndromePiriformis syndrome is much rarer than common sciatica. A medical writer at mednet.com writes of piriformis syndrome as follows:
Piriformis syndrome comes from contraction of the piriformis muscle of the buttock (usually one side, only), through which the sciatic nerve passes in some people, and around which it passes, in others. Mere passage through the muscle is not enough to cause symptoms, but if the piriformis muscle is too tight for too long, sciatica results.
Although both common sciatica and piriformis syndrome take a long time to develop before symptoms appear, they both resolve very quickly, once the muscular cause ends.
Even more rare is a condition in which the holes (foramena) through which the nerve roots exit the spinal column, and/or the spinal canal, narrow because of bone growth (stenosis). Generally, these last two forms of sciatica are surgical situations, although some therapists are said to to be able to use "MacKenzie Exercises" to cause the re-uptake of extruded disc material and so alleviate symptoms. Even if successful, therapy must also deal with muscular contractions that are virtually always present. Because results typically come rapidly through the method described, here, surgical intervention is properly the last resort; a costly MRI scan may be delayed while the somatic method is applied to see if it is sufficient to bring relief. Remember, I'm saying one-to-three weeks. |
Help for the Common Causes of Sciatica
Where nerve pressure has muscular origins, the remedy is, in principle, simple, and in practice, easily achievable by clinical somatic educators, whose specialty is training normalize muscle/movement memory and muscular activity.
As the basic function of muscles is movement, clinical somatic educators use specific techniques to create new muscle/movement memory for the muscles involved in sciatica, so that movement and tension level normalize.
The muscles of the back are like the string of an archer's bow and the spinal column, like the bow, itself. As tension of the bowstring causes the bow to stay curved, tension of the back muscles causes the low back to bow forward (inward - the swayback). Tension of the muscles along ones side cause side tilt. The combination of swayback and side-tilt traps and puts pressure on nerve roots where they exit the spinal column. Result: sciatica. So the movements you retrain are those that cause you to go into and come out of swayback and side-tilt.
The techniques (1) reduce swayback, and (2) reduce side-tilt, so the spine is longer, there's more space between vertebrae, and you are more easily erect (free from strain) and better balanced. Remember: muscle memory changes, which produces a faster, durable change.
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In piriformis syndrome, the action retrained is that of the piriformis muscles, which tighten the buttock and turn the leg knee-outward. Relief of either of these forms of sciatica occurs within moments of the relaxation and, for all intents and purposes, is permanent, since muscle/movement memory has normalized. |
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First-Aid for Sciatica -- Relax Certain MusclesFor any therapeutic approach to be effective with sciatica, it must normalize muscle/movement memory, which controls muscles and maintains muscular tension/contraction automatically.With the exercise shown at right, your muscle/movement memory gets healthier with each practice session, you develop freedom of movement and live in a progressively more relaxed state, with full strength and flexibility, when needed. A successful outcome leaves you with no movement restrictions or need to maintain a neutral spine position. |
FOR EXCESSIVE SWAYBACK / BACK MUSCLE SORENESS As you do this exercise, your back will relax. When you stand, you'll feel taller. Improvement accumulates with practice. To correct side-tilt requires another muscle/movement memory retraining exercise after this one. |
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Bookmark this page? [CTRL]+[D] (windows) | Bookmark on
"A Functional Look at Back Pain and Treatment Methods", by Lawrence Gold, C.H.S.E. |
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You are invited to free access
to a previews of the relevant somatic self-help program.
Point and click underlined item for access. |
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Disproving the Myth of Aging
Somatic Exercises to Relieve Neuromuscular Stress Lessons 1 - 4 specifically effective for sciatica | 1 - 3 weeks
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The Institute for Somatic Study and Development
Lawrence Gold, certified Hanna somatic educator
This page may be reproduced freely in its entirety.
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