Sciatica causes severe pain from the lower back to the back of each leg and patients tend to experience most pain while sitting. It is more commonly defined as a range of symptoms instead of a medical condition and the most common causes include a herniated disc, spinal stenosis and degenerative disc disease. In 90% of cases, sciatica is caused by a herniated disc.
Patients describe the leg pain caused by sciatica as a tingling or burning sensation due to which they face difficulty in moving their affected leg, foot and even toes. These symptoms are caused when the sciatic nerve, which starts in the lower back, gets pinched and depending on the severity, it could also be debilitating. Here’s what you need to know about sciatica and who could be at risk.
A research paper published in the Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in 2015 studied a total of 12 clinical studies that involved around 1842 participants. It was then concluded that acupuncture was actually more effective than conventional Western medicine in reducing pain intensity among patients suffering from sciatica.
The researchers also concluded that there are no side-effects of opting for acupuncture to reduce pain caused by sciatica. Conservative treatment mainly involves taking pain killers, epidural steroid injections, traction therapy, hot packs, and muscle relaxants other than surgical intervention.
However, in warming acupuncture where the needles are heated, patients reported getting relief after the first few sessions itself and saw improvement after completing more than 12 acupuncture sessions. Here are 10 facts you should know about acupuncture.
A lot of great technologies that are beneficial to mankind have come from trying to make more dangerous weapons and war and it seems acupuncture might’ve been the oldest of them. According to legend, the art was discovered when Chinese warriors found that arrows striking them at certain points in the body healed them of chronic conditions. We can still imagine the first guy hit by the arrow which hastened the era of acupuncture: ‘Gosh, that arrow in the back really helps get rid of the headache. Now if only someone can take the arrow out.’
There are over a thousand acupoints on your body
Since the early days of arrows in random places, the art has acquired a level of finesse and experts claim to have identified over 1000-2000 acupoints throughout the body. Of these, acupuncture therapists therapists have identified 8-18 points for treatment.
A tale of two theories
Science has tried hard to explain exactly how acupuncture works and has zeroed in on two different theories. One believes that that the needle sends impulses that travel faster than the pain impulses, thereby blocking them. Another theory is that it releases endorphins into the bloodstream that alleviates pain.
Not everyone can practice it
Acupuncture requires a complete understanding of the human body and there’s a school of thought that believe that only doctors should be allowed to practice it. This is because in modern society only they possess the in-depth knowledge about the human body which will then help them identify the various acupoints.
Sujok acupuncture –the return of acupuncture
What really made acupuncture popular in our modern times is a practice called Sujok, a branch of acupuncture which believes that the hand and feet represent a mirror image of the body. The thumb and the big toe stand for the head, the two middle fingers for the legs and the two extreme fingers for the arms while the palms and feet stand for the body. Stimulating points in the hands and feet will heal the corresponding body parts. It uses fewer and smaller needles and has proven more popular than Chinese acupuncture.
Acupuncture can cure various ailments
The jury is still out on the efficacy of acupuncture but studies have shown that some ailments like vomiting, nausea, pain, osteoarthritis, headaches, migraines and lower back pain could be cured by acupuncture. According to the WHO, it can also aid the following ailments – acute sinusitis, acute rhinitis, cold, acute tonsillitis, acute bronchitis, myopia, cataract, toothache, acute and chronic gastritis, gastric hyperacidity, colitis, constipation, frozen shoulder, sciatica, facial palsy and paralysis.
It can double up as an anaesthetic
One of acupuncture’s most spectacular by-products is its anaesthetic effect. It’s very effective in managing pain and it does so without any side effects that come with normal painkillers like addiction. In fact, it is widely used as anaesthesia in China and the West too.
It has become quite popular in the West
Acupuncture is quite popular in the West and about a million Americans use acupuncture. In the UK, around 47% GPs refer their patients to acupuncturists but there’s still a lot of mistrust between allopaths and alternative medicine practitioners in India.
It’s not an alternative for conventional medicine
Despite its many health benefits, acupuncture shouldn’t be used as an alternative to medical treatments especially during an emergency. It cannot help during accidents, cardiac problems, epidemics, against infectious diseases, etc.
There are other variations of acupuncture as well
Ear acupuncture belies that the ear is the prototype of the foetus and has all the body parts represented in it, head acupuncture treats all the body parts by inserting needles in the scalp and in laser acupuncture practitioners use a laser beam instead of needles. Another mixed alternative therapy is homoeo-puncture which puts homeopathic medicine on the tip of the needles.
And the most important fact you need to know about acupuncture is that the insertion of needles aren’t painful!
http://www.thehealthsite.com/diseases-conditions/are-you-suffering-from-sciatica-acupuncture-can-provide-some-relief-v0716/
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