Sciatica – diagnosis and treatment

To find out what it is and what causes it – watch the detailed video below where Angela explains all.

What can I do about it?

• Do take medication for pain and anti inflammatories
• Do keep active
• Do your physiotherapy exercises and acupuncture to help your pain**
• Do sit on a harder chair such as a dining room chair
• Don’t lift heavy weights
• Don’t repeatedly bend over
• Don’t put your feet up on a stool
• Don’t apply topical treatments to your leg
• Don’t stand or sit for long periods

Signs that you may need an MRI scan!

• Pain going down both legs
• Weakness in muscles of the affected leg
• Severe pain at night when you are in bed and struggling to get to sleep
• Loss of feeling or pins and needles between your inner thighs or genitals
• Numbness in and around your back passage or buttocks
• Altered feeling when using toilet paper to wipe yourself
• Increase difficulty when you try to stop or control your flow of urine
• Loss of sensation when you pass urine
• Leaking urine or recent need to use pads
• Not knowing when your bladder is either full or empty
• Inability to stop a bowel movement or leaking
• Loss of sensation when you pass a bowel motion
• Change in the ability to achieve an erection or ejaculate
• Loss of sensation in genitals during sexual intercourse

**You will need to seek advice from a physiotherapist on the best exercises to help you.
**Acupuncture can be good at helping you manage the pain of sciatica. Lots of studies have shown that acupuncture can be an effective treatment for sciatica, some are listed below.

Acupuncture proven to work

A clinical trial of over 200 patients with chronic sciatica found that acupuncture was more effective than a placebo at reducing pain and improving disability. (JAMA Internal medicine)

A study of post-partum sciatica found that 98% of patients in the acupuncture group recovered, compared to 24% in the control group.
(He et al)

A Systematic review of 28 randomised controlled trials found that acupuncture was more effective than analgesics at reducing pain, increasing pain threshold, and had fewer adverse effects and relapse rates.

Some studies suggest that symptoms can improve within 10 days of starting acupuncture, but others note that patients may see improvement after 3–4 sessions.

Sciatica Explained and Treatments Video