Feeling nervy?
Acupuncture could be your friend to ease nerve pain.
I have been having an interesting week at my clinics so far. I have had not one but 2 clients coming with nerve issues.
It is fairly difficult to rate different kinds of pains, but I think nerve induced pain would be somewhere at the top.
Sometimes it takes years of wear and tear in the skeletal body/spine to develop damage to the nerves. However sometimes a simple “wrong” move can lead to shooting pain down the leg = sciatica.
As a general advice it is best to go and see your GP when you first develop sensations similar to sciatica. Especially if they are combined with sudden change to your bowel and bladder control.
In Chinese medicine we not only work with the allopathic understanding of nerve pathways and pathophysiology (sports medicine) but we are also looking at the affected pathways through a different lens. Which we call sinew pathways or Jing Jin (widely used in Tuina massage).
A combination of medical massage and acupuncture is an excellent way to reduce the inflammation and thus the pain associated with disorders such as sciatica. Although it may take 4-8 sessions to fully control/minimise the pain. It works best if you see a therapist as soon as you can.
In terms of pain management, the best thing you can do yourself is to rest it, do some self-massage and passive movements. But rest is your top priority in order to let the inflammation around the nerves dissipate.
There are two additional treatment modalities which are very effective for treating stubborn nerve induced pain.
They are electro-acupuncture (which is much less scary than it sounds:) and bleeding therapy.
I will talk more about both therapies later on. However in general bleeding for such cases are used at the top of toes to release the sinew pathways, especially in case if the character of the pain is stabbing.
Luckily Chinese Medicine is so rich in options, that you will have the liberty to choose the treatment modailities that you are most comfortable with.
Feel free to get in touch if you are experiencing any back pain that may possibly be radiating down your limbs.