Acupuncture Treatments : Sciatica & Acupuncture

Hi, my name is Bob Lindy. I'm an acupuncture physician and registered herbalist in St. Petersburg, Florida. Today I'm going to talk to you about using acupuncture for sciatica. It's important that we ascertain as to why an individual has sciatica. It oftentimes comes from the sciatic nerve. That can come either from a muscular contraction around the nerve, or you can actually have some problems with the spine in the low back, so you can get compression on the nerve. Although both of these can be effectively treated with acupuncture, it is important that the acupuncture physician ascertain as to the root cause as to what's going on. So if you make an appointment to see your local acupuncture, they're going to go over your whole medical history, as well as look at your ability to move and bend, and exactly the root that that particular nerve pain is traveling across the back, the buttocks, and down the leg. So make sure that you go ahead and give lots of detailed information to your acupuncture physician so they can make the best selection of points to get the most effective treatment for pain relief, as well as prevention in the future. So we've gone ahead and ascertained as to why we've got some sciatic pain. In this particular case, the pain is running down what we refer to as the gallbladder meridian. So we're going to go ahead and swab a point that's very effective for sciatic pain on the body, gallbladder 34. And every acupuncture physician is going to choose a variety of different points as to best select the appropriate treatment. But this is one of my favorites. It can oftentimes cause a lot of relaxation, as well as an effective approach to killing some of the pain associated with it. It would take also things like herbs and massage, cupping techniques, and so forth, in order to best effectively treat the sciatic pain. So once we've gone ahead and left this needle in for approximately 20 minutes, we can go ahead and get a cotton ball and remove this needle. And we would go from here and provide some massage techniques, as well as some stretches and other exercises that can be effective in the treatment of the sciatic pain. So please go ahead and find your local acupuncturist. A great source to find one is NCCOM. And make an appointment today to help with not only sciatic pain, but many other pains and ailments, as well as internal medicine. This is Bob Lindy in St. Petersburg, talking to you about using acupuncture for sciatica.