What to do about back pain or sciatica
By Jena Griffiths | October 27, 2014
Last year I had terrible sciatica. It was an extremely humbling experience as I’m normally very active, sporty and pain-free.
One thing the whole experience taught me was compassion for others. Getting in and out of the car was agony. I remembered how mildly impatient I had been in the past with my poor mother who had really battled climbing our stairs. I felt she simply hadn’t looked after herself. Now I felt and looked like her hanging onto the roof or car door and wincing while trying to get in or out of the driver’s seat. Swimming or lying in bed was agony.
I spent a fortune trying to find a solution, trying every healing art that I thought might help. I got some relief from someone who spent and hour a week stretching the leg tendon, but the result was worse in the end because I became even more out of balance. Eventually one hip was 6cm higher than the other!
Fortunately a friend told me about a traditional oesteopath who was able to diagnose the cause and I did research and read more about it before going there. She used stomach massage to move my organs (Kidneys, liver etc) back into position and within half an hour my hips were 100% level again! I was amazed and delighted. It took a few more treatments to fully recover, and rebalance, but I was healed. I hate to think what may have happened to me had I not found her and the colleague she referred me to for the follow up sessions.
I thought I would post this here in case it helped someone else in future looking for sciatica or back pain solutions online.
If you are searching for an oestepath make sure your practitioner practices traditional Osteopathy from one of the many schools founded by Philippe Druelle D.O
For example in Switzerland SICO Swiss International College of Osteopathy has a list of certified practitioners.
The reason I emphasize this form of oestopathy is because the practitioner I went to before, who was stretching the tendon, also called himself a “oesteopath” but wasn’t the traditional type! So all I can say is beware – it seems the name “oestopath” has been taken over and is now used by people who are practicing something entirely different! (I guess this happens in every field. A bit like palm readers calling themselves hand analysts.)
Other systems that might help heal back or leg pain -are Rolfing or perhaps Chinese stomach massage (Chi Nei Tsang) .
I don’t know much about the latter except that it looks pretty similar.
Also check your diet for possible allergies. I now notice that whenever I eat wheat or pizza I get a slight pain in my leg similar to what I had before but in a mild form. So it could be that some sciatica is allergy related. The distended stomach moves the organs out of position? The kidneys are connected to a nerve in the lower back and this connects to a nerve in the buttock that runs down the outside of the leg… So maybe consider giving up wheat or grains to see if that helps.
Good luck!
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Topics: Health | 8 Comments »
October 30th, 2014 at 10:53 pm
Thank you so much Jena für sharing this! I know exactely what you are talking about! I could not SIT anymore for more than a few minutes without pain, then they diagnosted a Piriformis Syndrom, which is very similar, but hardely anybody is Aware of the symptomes!
October 31st, 2014 at 8:15 am
Hi Barbara,
Thanks for giving this input.
So what did you do? What was the cause and how did you solve it?
November 6th, 2014 at 6:31 am
Dear Jena,
thank you for sharing! From my experience in practising Japanese and Chinese Acupuncture I can say, that these are also very powerful tools for treating Sciatica and for diagnosing the individual causes for it, as there are many different possible causes.
All the best for you and for your health, dear Jena!
Yours Miriam
November 6th, 2014 at 12:04 pm
Agreed Miriam, pulse reading seems to be a good method for diagnosis
November 11th, 2014 at 5:11 pm
I highly recommend Dr. John Sarno’s book Healing Back Pain. Within a day after reading it both I and another person were up and about with no pain.
November 11th, 2014 at 5:25 pm
Thanks Lauren!
November 11th, 2014 at 5:28 pm
Thanks Lauren! What was his remedy?
July 15th, 2015 at 11:43 am
Thanks for sharing! From my experience acupuncture treats sciatica successfully and with good results…