Effective Natural Remedies for Sciatica

I haven't been able to sit up for 3 days now due to sciatica and I just tried the tennis shoe technique- works *great*!! Like a slender bicycle seat- takes the pressure off the usual sitting areas. THANKS!! And, have tried a host of other remedies from this site, always so many wonderful suggestions. LOVE earthclinic!

Sciatica Caused By Disc Bulge AKA Slipped Disc

I was diagnosed with a bulging disc and severe dehydration of a few discs including the bulging disc which was impinging the left sciatic nerve. I was in a bad way. Physio never helped. Used a chiropractor twice a w££k to help realign the spine after years of poor posture. A chiropractor can only help align the body to where it should be, the rest is on you to learn how to move, sit and lift correctly. if you don't do this, your spine will end up out of alignment again causing your body to compensate and then more pressure on the disc. While you're doing this you want to focus on strengthening your core muscles to support your spine and posture. This will support the disc healing process and long term back health. (If your car was in a crash you would strengthen the impacted area to ensure its was safe to drive)

The next thing to do is regain disc height, when the discs are dehydrated they lose height and the disc wall will weaken leading to higher risk of the disc bulging. Unlike other parts of the body, the discs cannot draw in nutrients by themselves, they need movement and draw in nutrients like a compressed sponge draws in water. complete safe workouts to get the nutrients into the disc is key to rehydrating the discs. I would also ensure to drink plenty of water along with supplementation of key minerals like Magnesium, sodium and potassium to boost your mineral intake. Minerals are the foundations to health. Avoid alcohol (Dehydrates the body)

You may feel more pain early on, but you're agitating an already sensitive area. It's a long healing journey just stay patient and be consistent.

I had a lot of secondary inflammation around my hips caused by my body's response to the pain. so by the end of the day, I could barely walk. I cut out gluten entirely from my diet and the inflammation was significantly reduced and the sciatic pain had halved. It took two weeks for dietary changes to set in and it was hard to avoid Gluten products but it was definitely worth it.

Obviously this was my experience and not medical advise but I have now being free of sciatica for 5 years without a flare up.

Unbelievable--I slept well after eating the candied ginger last night. It wasn't completely gone but I'll report back after a week's use. Super excited.

I have faithfully consulted EC for years for many different ailments and remedies, but have never posted until now. Thank you ALL for the recommendation on the candied ginger for sciatica.....after approximately 5 pieces I feel like a new person. The shooting and stabbing pain is gone, I still feel some tension in my back but am so grateful not to feel the continual ache and throb in my thigh and calf. I will continue with the ginger and again thank everyone for their posts!

Thanks, sea salt worked after years of trying everything else.

Eat raw ginger or crystalized ginger candy to permanent cure your sciatica pain. I was in constant pain for a year and a half, I could not run or walk on my treadmill, I could not sit for long periods of time and I am in my thirties. I was out walking along the Henry Hudson Parkway one afternoon and after 5 hours on constant walking the pain was unbearable in my leg. I sat down and consulted Earthclinic on my Iphone. I read 14 reviews giving praises to candies ginger, I limped along to the near supermarket and brought a bag of gingered candy. This was mid July it is now November I have been cured of the ailment since the day after consuming ginger candy. I have since started a daily regime of eating a couple slices of raw ginger, which I believe the best remedy, without the sugar from the candied version.

Yes, I heard that too. Right side potassium and left side sodium deficiencies. Mine is on the left side and sometimes left so I been using maginesum salt for sodium and cream of tartar for potassium.

Can you please explain how you sit on the tennis shoe. I understand you place the shoe on the chair with the back of the shoe facing towards the front of the chair. Does the shoe sit between your buttocks or do you just sit the affected buttock on the shoe? Are you actually sitting on the back of the shoe. I don't really understand, please can you help?

I was on a diet so I made lite candied ginger slices to suppress appetite. I was also suffering from severe sciatica and back spasms. After a week both disappeared. It was by accident that I discovered the total relief of lower back problems. I am 64 yrs old. I have discontinued ginger and my back has been pain free.

I had sciatica for about 8 months and nothing helped until I stumbled upon a book called back pain. The book indicated to take 12 drops of slippery elm bark tincture in about an ounce or 2 of room temperature water 3 times a day for about 2 weeks. They said it helps 85% of people and what do u know, it helped me.

To clarify there is a chemical solution to Sciatica care. It is CBD but a strong formula (CTFO Super). Sciatica does originate in the spinal column, from slipped or damaged discs. Mine is AS = Ankylosing Spondylitis and it is technically incurable and the kind that makes curviture of spine. I don't have that. The discs get agitated and the Sciatic nerve runs from butt to feet, usually stopping at the knee, then transponds down to feet at times. It is unbearable jolting electrical pain. If it goes to toes, you get weird cramping of toe bones - very painful. In my attempts to fix all this, Orthopedic doc gave me Hyalgen shots for 2 bad knees but off the cuff, said this pain was probably Bakers Cyst. (wrong! ). Knees are good, but pain was still lingering. So... this is Sciatica, or breakdown of nerves. The cause of mine was Cipro/Levaquin Rx antibiotics years ago -- which rip out the magnesium of the body, esp. legs., causes neuropathy. Most wind up in a wheelchair with this. I am 80. I took the CBD and to my surprise was better by morning and could walk again. I take daily now. I will also do Lysine and Iron pills to help conditions. It is still there, deeply -- I can feel weakness in nerves, but I am able to walk and shop all I want to now. I am extremely happy with CBD which has 0.3% thc in it. Its a life-saver! Ya'll might want to give that a shot.

Years ago, my husband got rid of his Sciatica Nerve Pain with hot Castor Oil Compresses on his lower back (laying on his stomach with it on his back together with a hotpack over it and a blanket over that,, for an hour at a time each day for 3 days).

I can't express my gratitude enough for this method of healing ... it has taken two days of sitting on a tennis shoe 😂... but I am feeling so much better and I'm so grateful for those of you who have taken the time to help others ... thank you so much! I'm most grateful!

I just started taking lysine 4 days ago in hopes to help mild Rosacea I developed on my face in March 15' (I take 1,000 mg lysine on empty stomach with 1,000 mg vita c 3x/day). So far, I have not noticed any difference in face BUT I DID notice very bad sciatica I have been experiencing for last 4 months has had 4 "good days" ....not sure yet if it is a coincidence or possibly the lysine? It's a little too soon to tell bc I do get a string of days or even a week or so from time to time where it will "let up" I'll think it's healing and then it ends up back in full debilitating force. I googled to see if others are using lysine for sciatica and that is how I found this post ;)

Get the B-12 sublingual tablets at Whole Foods. 2000 mcg (micrograms). They're cherry-flavored. I was taking just 1 tablet per day, but my nutritionist suggested taking 3 per day because I have some sciatica pain. I take all 3 pills at once, letting them melt under my tongue. Also better to take in the morning, because they may give you a slight burst in energy and you wouldn't want that before bedtime.

Thank you so much. I have been bothered with sciatica for the first time ever - a horrible pain going from my buttocks through my ankle - mostly on the right, but some times also on the left. It has been going on for days. It felt like an electrical shock and I was afraid my legs would go out from under me. I tried sitting on the shoe and after only even 10 mins., it was much better. Now I've been sitting on the shoe for close to an hour. I've gotten up and walked around several times and although I can generate a version of the pain if I bend over, it is almost completely gone. Must have something to do with realignment. I am so relieved to find something that helped.

Hi,

This is only the second time that I have posted, and I wanted to thank you for your kind words regarding my first post.

I promised that I would update everyone IF I was able to finally conquer sciatica. Well, I DID IT! I said that I was going to try Magnesium as suggested on your site. Didn't seem to help me.

What finally did the trick was "flooding" with Vitamin C per Dr. Frederick Klenner's web site, Doctor Yourself. Please check out the testimonal under Back Pain (at the bottom of that page). Unlike the testimonial, I was not completely out of pain on the fourth day; it took me six days.

I took two grams (2,000 milligrams) every hour I was awake. What I finally figured out was that the man that wrote the testimonial was taking a teaspoon every hour (that's four grams).

Just in case you are concerned at the high level of Vitamin C, it is a water soluble vitamin which the body will throw off if it can't use it. There is no known Vitamin C toxicity to humans.

The reason it worked is very simple. I had a Vitamin C deficiency severe enough to cause sciatica. Wish I had known that before!

What I also didn't realize was that the intermittent backaches that I have had in the last five years or so were also a Vitamin C deficiency and a precursor to the more severe sciatica! I have not had even a hint of a backache since I began treating the sciatica.

I am now on a maintenance dosage of Vitamin C of about 10 grams per day (still working out exact amount) which I will remain on for the rest of my life. You know when the body cannot use the level of Vitamin C that you are taking. You get diarreha and just cut back a bit until you have the right level for you.

This is what is so critical that I learned from the web site and my horrifying experience. Humans, monkeys, guinea pigs, and fruit bats don't produce their own Vitamin C, but without it, we will die. The web site is based on the Linus Pauling branch of medicine named Orthomolecular Medicine. It was Linus Pauling's theory that we probably began our journey in the tropics and had a more than adequate supply of fruits and therefore Vitamin C. At some point, a differential in our DNA eliminated our ability to produce Vitamin C and worked to our advantage (our bodies didn't have to do double duty and produce Vitamin C as long as we had an adequate supply) until we moved out of the tropics. That's when we got into trouble, big, big trouble.

I could go on and on, but I would just like to close with this. Other than knowing that Linus Pauling was the primary advocate for Vitamin C and was marginalized, I didn't know anything about him. He is the only human being that won not one but two Nobel Prizes in two separate areas, the first was Chemistry, and the second was Peace. Also, his work was the basis used to work out DNA! He is probably the most gifted scientist this country has ever produced. So, what was wrong with him? Was he dishonest? Was he not sane? What is going on.

He made the unfortunate choice to advocate for Peace during the McCarthy era and was labeled a socialist. The government went so far as to revoke his passport for a few weeks, but changed their minds so that he could pick up his Peace prize.

The second reason is that the medical establishment including pharmaceuticals have no financial gain in health. There is money in illness; there isn't money in health (sorry, I've forgotten where I read that).

Check Pauling's biography on Wikipedia. Check out Klenner on the front page of Doctor Yourself under the Orthomolecular Medicine link and then History on that site. Klenner worked out that Vitamin C only works in large doses throughout his long, illustrious career.

My primary reason for advocating natural alternatives for myself is safety. It was a blood pressure generic Lisinopril that triggered my sciatica and my descent into an unfathonable Dante's inferno. I will use SAFE alternatives in the future as often as possible.

Good health to everyone this year!

2 Simple Stretches to Relieve Sciatica

I was doing some exercises that were supposed to help increase energy, and I accidentally discovered this simple exercise sequence that cured my sciatica.

I suffered from sciatica for at least 15 years, once or twice a month, for 3 or more days at a time. I tried chiropractors & all sorts of stretching, supplements, etc; nothing helped. I always felt if I could just "pop" that little gumball-sized spot in my pelvis where all the pain started, I would feel great relief.

So all you do is this: a plank position (like a push-up position) with your feet about 12" apart. Hold for several seconds (it may be difficult). Now look up to the ceiling and lower your pelvis until it's just hovering over the floor, and again hold for several seconds. This position is also known as upward-facing dog in yoga.

Just switch between plank & dog several times. ( I believe the article recommended 3 sets of 4). You can rest by doing downward-facing dog.

If you are not strong enough for this, or can't get down on the floor, you could try this bracing yourself against a wall (remember wall push-ups from gym class?).

It may not "work" immediately. I think it took a couple of weeks, then one day as I was getting into my car, my back "popped"! And I have been sciatica-free for years. If I ever feel that tension starting to build, I just do this a couple of times; I truly truly hate push-ups, but it's worth it.

I gave this remedy to a stranger that I was chatting with at a juice bar, and a couple of weeks later we ran into each other again. I didn't recognize her right away, but she almost knocked me over in her eagerness to give me a hug and thank me! I like to pass this along whenever I can...I hope it helps!

I get minor sciatic nerve pinches regularly. A woman at a conference showed me a simple exercise, and a massage friend later said that's the exercise he teaches to everyone.

Sit in a firm chair. Cross your knees. Clasp both hands outside the knee and pull it towards it's opposite shoulder (right knee towards left shoulder.) Won't move more than an inch, but you should feel the pull on the side-near back buttocks area.

Do this for 20 seconds every time you sit down, and the pain should be gone in less than a week.

Keep doing it once daily to prevent recurrence.

Actually, doesn't have to be a real firm chair but starting that way helps you feel where the pull should be.

Also, massage guy said, stop sitting so much! And when you sit be sure to get up and move significantly every 45 minutes or so. Chiropractor said "Get a stand-up desk, sitting is unhealthy."

Build times of standing into your day. I made a habit of standing up when talking in the phone. At conferences and friendly meetings I often get up and stand in the back of the room for a while, especially if I had to drive an hour to get there.

I tried Ted's remedy of hyaluronic acid and sea salt with my husband. He had been to the conventional doctor and chiropractor. Nothing was working. Ted has helped me in the past when he was answering questions on earth clinic. My husband's sciatica was so painful. After 2 1/2 weeks his pain is gone. We are still using the remedy. I wanted to let all who come to earth clinic about Ted's remedy. The man is truly gifted and so compassionate. I hope he is still with us even though he has been ill. Thank you Ted. He has been a blessing to my family.

I am so thankful to all of you for your posts. I had a severe sciata flare-up that began Thursday as a mild one. By Sunday morning(12/30/12) I could not move and it had spread all to my foot. If I even shifted a minute amount excruciating pain went through my left side (buttock to toes). My foot was so numb ans cold. It tingled and sent tingles to my arms when I ran my other foot alomg the heel. I was taking ibuprofen to no avail. My sons called the paramedics after I failed to dress for them to take me to the doctor. I could not move even an inch. The paramedics advised alternating ibuprofen with arthritis strength tylenol and drinking gatorade to balance the electrolytes.

My sons immediately went to purchase the gatorade and tylenol which I added to my regimen. I, still felt no difference so I searched for remedies to help me sleep. I came across this thread at 2:00 this morning (12/31). My son didn't want to go buy the ginger slices but we had some ground ginger. So, I had him bring me a cup of boiling water and I put a tablespoon of the ground ginger and some honey into the water and sipped it. About 30 mon. Later I made my way to soak in an epsom salt bath. When I awakened still in the tub about an hour later the pain had subsided greatly. My foot still felt numb and the calf pain was there when I tried to walk, but, it was much more bearable. I awakened this morning and all but the foot pain and numbness is gone. Thank you all so much. I am sipping another cup of ginger tea as I type.