Effective Natural Remedies for Sciatica

I have sciatica for 3 years and a weak right leg with electric shock going down it. It got to the point where I was pain all the time, even at rest. I was crying at the rest pain. So I ran and got the candied ginger and in one day the pain was gone. I'm shocked to say the least. I can't believe it. I still have the horrible back pain which I don't think is better after a week. My leg is weak still. And I have pain, but not that electric sharp sciatica pain and it's not constant. It has much more movement. I could not cross my leg or move without electric shocks. Amazing!!!

A number of weeks ago I met a lady who was suffering with sciatica. I think she is about 80. We were at a reception after one of my children's music recitals and it wasn't super conducive for conversation as it was a bit loud. I know there are many wonderful remedies for sciatica, but tried to think of something do-able for her. I mentioned that candied ginger worked for some people with sciatica. She asked me about it a few times and said she would try it.

Yesterday I heard that she felt that the ginger was really helping her! I was thrilled to hear it. Something so simple for a miserable condition.

On the subject of sciatica, an extended family member mentioned that he was dealing with sciatica. I tried to think of something that he might be willing to do. I mentioned that sitting cross legged on the floor seems to bring relief to mine.

In general, I am making more notice of my posture when I am sitting and I think it is helping my chronic back issues.

When my back is hurting I tend to want to sit back in a squishy chair. I think that may be the worst thing ever for it. When I think about what the spine looks like (from pictures at the chiropractor) I think that leaning back and other postures cause more stress on my back. I am not letting the pelvis support the spine and do its job. When I sit so that the spine is above the pelvis, I let the pelvic bones do their job.

I have a large exercise ball that I sit on some. It helps me to get my pelvis and spine aligned and balanced. (Don't start sitting on an exercise ball for long periods of time at first! ) I think comfrey smoothies are helping my back, too, while I am on the subject.

So much to learn. So many interesting remedies!

Have a super day!

~Mama to Many~

After a several days' bout with painful sciatica, including visits to both an MD and a chiropractor without much relief, I tried the Earth Clinic suggestion of eating crystalized ginger. Frankly, I didn't think it would work for me, but I bought a bag of the candied ginger at a local health food store.

I was pleasantly surprised and grateful. Within an hour or two, there was a major, noticeable improvement. It's the next day now, and I still have some minor pain, but it's much, much less than yesterday. I can walk almost normally this morning.

I'll look for some non-sugary ginger, though, as I'm pre-diabetic and any excess sugar should be avoided. However, I'm really appreciative of the Earth Clinic suggestions for sciatica, as well as for the entire site. Very interesting and helpful!

Incidentally, I cured my bilateral sciatica with l-lysine 1000 mg. complettely in 3 days .I HIGHLY RECOMMEND FOR EVERY INFLAMMATORY SCIATICA PAINS!!!

I have suffered with sciatica on and off for years, and after finding this site and thread, I want to say THANK YOU!! I was in the midst of a three-week bout of unrelenting pain when I read this thread. Shortly after, I ran out out and bought the ginger slices. I used that (ate about six or seven yesterday) along with 15 minutes of icing my back twice yesterday and the pain was gone in hours. I kid you not, and I am both incredulous and extremely grateful. I seriously didn't think that anything was ever going to work for me. While I am sure that I will have another episode of sciatica (or another 50 episodes of it), I feel that I have options now. Eager to try to other methods as well (well, not too eager, if you get my drift).... I have tried meds, chiropractic, exercises (which I am sure are essential for building strength), but nothing has ever helped me this quickly. Thank you!!!!!!!!

I was reading the comments on candied ginger for sciatica as well as the other comments regarding potassium rich foods. I did an internet search on the potassium content of ginger and it turns out that ginger is very high in potassium. The ginger has helped aleviate my sciatica pain and so has the tennis shoe tip. I also saw a video online about stretching the "piriformis muscle" which is the muscle the sciatica nerve runs through. Learning how to stretch this muscle has helped. I saw a video on YouTube video that was simple and it didn't hurt me. Anyway, I'm on the road to recovery thanks to all the Earth Clinic people with the willingness to research what is out there and to separate the good from the not so good.

Epsom Salts Worked for Sciatica!

My mother came down with sciatica last week. Immediately she went to see my brother, who is a chiropractor. That helped her a lot but the pain and discomfort was still there for her. Since then she was resting her leg as often as she could and taking pain killers when needing to walk on it for any extended period of time. When I heard about it, I had a look on this site and noticed the epsom salts testimonials. I suggested that she try having an epsom salt bath and to drink a couple of teaspoons of it with a glass of water also.

Well, I called her this morning and my mother was so excited! She said that she had a bath for about 30 minutes (and read a magazine!) with 2 cups of epsom salts on Wednesday night before going to bed. She also drank a glass of water with 2 teaspoons of epsom salts with some honey to improve the taste. She said that she slept so peacefully that night and woke up in the morning with NO PAIN! She was over the moon!

On Thursday, she drank a couple more glasses of water, epsom salts and honey and she plans to have another bath tonight (Friday). There has been no sciatica pain since waking up Thursday morning.

Thank you to Jean and Gwen for posting your results, the good news has now spread to our family too and we are passing it on to others. God Bless.

We have used a tennis ball for severe sciatica pain (from martial arts training), but have a different technique than Russ's tennis shoe remedy.

Lying down on a firm surface (not your bed -- too soft), place a tennis ball under one of your buttocks. Massage your buttock with the ball by using your body weight to shift into a position that will apply pressure to the area. Once you hold an area for about 10-15 seconds, move on to another section. You will be hitting all the acupressure points on the buttock with this technique. Once finished, move the ball to the other buttock and use the same technique to release the tension in that buttock as well. You will be amazed at how many painful pressure points you have in your buttocks - lots!

Be forewarned, this technique is quite painful (perhaps too painful for some people), but it never fails to cure sciatica. When needed, we do it late at night just before going to bed. In the morning the sciatica is gone.

magnets for Sciatica

I have recently had a bad attack of sciatica come on… I tried many of the therapies, suggested by people on this channel…

Sometimes things would dull down a bit but then they would increase in discomfort… I was getting desperate… I have a set of rare earth magnets, and also a book that talks about the placement of the magnets on the body for whatever ailment you have…the book is called conquering pain…well, there is a section in the book about sciatica….It talks about the placement of the Magnets in a horizontal fashion at the base of the spine. I of course Magnets have a positive and a negative side, and it is very important how they are placed and what polarity is against the skin.The placement of the magnets for sciatica is as follows.

Low down on the spine in the middle is a double stack of Magnets where is the positive side against the skin and these can be placed there where with 3M sticky tape…once that is in place then 2 inches either side of that placement is a double stack of magnets with the negative side against the skin. So, you have a row of magnets, three in a row…and also, they are double stacked, so two magnets stuck on top of each other. All of these Magnets are attached to the body with the 3M. Sticky tape. Once they are on the body they are left in place for at least three days…don't remove them.Within half an hour of placing the magnets on my body I could feel something happening. By the one hour, mark all pain had disappeared. I could sit, laydown and finally get some sleep….It is now day two…and still no pain, it is wonderful. I wanted to share this with people because sciatica is a shocking problem to go through. It is debilitating and disabling.If anybody wants more information about the Magnets and the book you can reach out to me through this website and I am happy to give you more information.

Candied Ginger is doing wonders for sciatica nerve pain. Thank you all.

Many thanks to the person that sent a great link in today about distilled water from doctors. This feedback from Dr. Graham Bell should go in the sciatica section for someone to test!

Source: Raymond W. Bernard - 1996 (Google Books)

"Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, recognized the health value of distilled water, and claimed that its daily use prolonged his life. Afflicted and bed-ridden with sciatica, Dr. Bell could find no relief for the pain. The attack came just as he was investigating the deposit of salts in the human system. A well-known scientist had written a book in which he said that old age came from such deposits, and that the ills of advanced years were due to the lack of their elimination. He believed that when such deposits went to the joints, man had rheumatism. When they went to the kidneys, he had kidney trouble and stones in the urinary organs; and when they lodged in the arteries, they produced what is called hardening of the arteries. In the same way when such deposits coated the nerves, they caused sciatica.

Dr. Bell wrote: “I knew that distilled water was pure. I thought that if I drank plenty of it, I could get rid of some of the salts that were covering my sciatic nerves. I tried drinking it and it worked like a charm. I have kept up my drinking of distilled water and I attribute my almost perfect health largely to it.”

—Dr. Alexander Graham Bell

To Brett E.

Such a shame to be so badly afflicted at such a young age! You will need to take good care of yourself from now on, as Sciatica can be very debilitating. Many of us oldies only got into mischief and strife once we hit sixty and we moan a lot but at least we were running on all six cylinders when we were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!

There are good exercises you can copy from chiropractors or osteopaths on u tube. Even as few as three or so, if done regularly, can be beneficial. Your posture should also be assessed professionally, including your driving position- straighten up your bum in your seat before you take off in your Mustang! Seriously! Swing out both legs before exiting the vehicle so the weight is evenly distributed. Use your arms more to lessen the load. Also much information from sufferers on this web site which you should peruse. There are natural pain relievers such as ginger and turmeric of course plus many more. I am impressed with your foot soaking/ACV/Epsom Salts discovery! Try out one of those gismos that vibrate at the same time whilst you are soaking. You could also bone up on Reflexology and massage the parts that relate to the Sciatic nerve.

You can do most of the above yourself.

Hope you have long-lasting improvement.

Cheers, Michael

ACV is a great topical for sciatica and foot and leg cramps. Works almost instantly. Didn't see this suggestion on your app info. Try it it works. Just pour some in the palm of your hand and apply.

Sea Salt worked for me for sciatica in my left leg. I tried it after reading the Lepore book.

I had been on a low-salt diet because there's a lot of high blood pressure in my family. When I read that I might have a sodium deficiency, I was very doubtful, but I licked my finger, stuck it in a dish of sea salt, and licked the salt off my finger. The pain went away in a few minutes.

At first the pain returned a lot, but I was able to control it every time with salt. Then I started drinking carrot/celery juice and eating a lot more salads, and that seems to have mostly prevented recurrences.

SUCCESS!! I'm pain free.

I pray all siatica sufferers read this. After trying several suggestions on earthclinic for siatica pain the two that healed me are: taking the ginger in both raw root (minced into tiny pieces and eaten throughout the day) and ground (about a teaspoon couple or three times a day) for only three or four days the hot and cold pain that was shooting down the siatic nerve path from back, over hip and to just below my right knee has stopped totally and I believe the numbness is improved. However I believe the recommended exercises that came with the sacral wedge I ordered from Amazon.com has done the most to heal me. I've never even used the sacral wedge as I was healed doing just the exercises. I'll try to describe the exercises, the one I do in chair and, and the two I do about three minutes on bed on waking and before I fall asleep at night.

The three exercises:

1. Sitting in chair, cross ankle at knee, with both hands pull knee toward head while back is straight. Hold 20-30 seconds. Do other leg. I do this a couple times a day. You will feel the tug over your butt muscles and into your hip and down leg. This feels marvelous and I highly recommend for anyone who wants to remain or become more limber. In the deep reading I've been doing to understand siatica, I've learned that done daily this keeps the muscle relaxed over the siatic nerve.

2. Lay flat on back; I do have my head on a pillow. Maybe you could try with then without pillow. Draw knees up with feet flat on bed (the literature recommended floor or table, but my bed is hard). Tilt pelvic area toward your head, rock your pelvis like this intermittently for a minute or so, occasionally hold the tilt for a few seconds.

3. After the above, feet still flat on bed knees together, back remaining flat on bed, roll knees to the left until they lay on bed, then rock them to the right. Rock them back and forth for a minute or two.

I was waking many times during the night with severe pain radiating from back into right hip socket and down my leg to knee; and now I have none of that pain waking me nor none of the pain at any time.

I've had no waking pain the last six or seven nights. I've noticed that doing the exercises and taking the ginger also has my other joints limber now.

I do hope so much this helps other sufferers and that they read this.

Ginger has anti-inflamatory properties. Inflamation is the cause of sciatic or hip pain. However, the 'firey' taste of ginger is something that takes time for an aquired taste to build.

• Fresh ginger will always be the best source for potassium, and pealed, thinly sliced ginger with a little lemon steeped in hot water for tea is good.
• Herbal ginger teas are an easy alternative, and these teas do work; however, they do not deliver the full impact of fresh ginger and must be steeped longer for effectiveness.
• The candied ginger is ideal and the sugar covers the firey taste but can present a problem for diabetics.

Tip: brew a full pot of ginger tea for the day. Use three to four slices, but use trial and error here for the strength that works for you. Place in a thermos and sip the tea throughtout the day. Let the tea cool and drink it like iced tea. Be sure to pitch any unfinished tea at the end of each day - no sense in dealing with a fungus later on.

Also helpful: Finding a massage therapist who knows how to release the sciatica is an ideal way to help the muscle relax and give the client the ability to walk, ride a bike, streach and keep the muscle toned. The key question to ask the therapist - does he or she know how to use strain counter strain in the glutes or hip muscles. This therapy along with the ginger to offset the inflamation will be the beginning of freedom. Blessings...

The tennis shoe technique is working marvelously for me. I've been having pain in my back along the sides that feels like a nerve is 'pinching' whenever I sit down, almost as if I'm sitting on the nerve. Using the tennis shoe technique however, I felt immediate relief. I'm guessing all the pressure of sitting on the center of your body pushes the spine upwards and allows anything trapped to get out of the way. This technique worked where an inversion table failed. Thank you very much for sharing. I have no doubt I'd be having another miserable day if not for this.

Hi! I'm sorry if this is a silly question but what do you mean cross your knees? Cross your legs? Like when kids sit on the floor? Or like cross your legs like women sit?

Hi Olivia

I increased my vitamin D3.

10,000 ius morning and night for 3 days.

Fixed me up and never came back. I read Vitamin D3 works on your nervous system.

take care

Gary

90 percent of sciatica is caused by herniated disc. I discovered how to heal my herniated discs a long time ago. The gel between discs degenerates. It needs to be regenerated. Please see my post under Hyaluronic Acid, Chondroitin, Biocell collagen. This is a supplement that absorbs very well. Most pain eliminated in 1 week. No need to exercise. I had severe sciatica at L5-S1 and was crippled.