Tennis ball technique for sciatica is amazing. You have to put ball under your butt, opposite side of the pain. I suffered prolonged period and after only a few minutes experienced fantastic sensation.
I notice that Tony from Feltham wasn't sure how to sit on the shoe; neither was I, but from others' descriptions I surmised that you sit on the middle of it with the toe part under your tailbone. I tried the tennis ball technique today because I was desperate, and I was able to walk without limping a half hour later.
I travel a lot for work. I am generally very healthy and fit, but this sciatica thing has been getting intolerable. It flares up and disturbs my sleep, messes up my mood and makes sitting through a two-hour plane flight very unpleasant (I know, I need to stand periodically). Stretching helps and I also use a trigger-point ball and vibrating massager, but the tennis ball remedy is kind of amazing. I guess it realigns things.
I like the earthclinic site a lot. There are a lot of good tips. Thanks, everyone :-)
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.