Healing Journeys with Suzie Daggett
Sciaticia – the very word can make people focus on the area that can be a big pain in the you know what! As I have had the discomfort of sciaticia pain wake me in the middle of the night, or bother me during the day, I wondered how different modalities treat the symptoms or even cure it. I asked Dr. Pamela Hall, Chiropractor; John Sievert, Physical Therapist; Meredith Benson, Homeopath; and Jamie De Guzman, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture to educate us on sciaticia.
John Seivert, Physical Therapy
The medical diagnosis of sciatica has become a "catch all" diagnosis for anyone with back and leg pain. Disc herniations are the most common cause of nerve root involvement in back pain, commonly known as sciatica. The type of treatment I use to relieve the pain from sciatica is usually some sort of manual therapy (specific joint mobilizations to relieve nerve root pressure from a disc protrusion, traction, or teaching the patient various forms of self treatment techniques to relieve pain using certain postures, pillows, and exercises while they are at home). Education is the key to helping a patient heal from a disc herniation. They need to fully understand what has occurred to their spine and how it will be treated in physical therapy and how they will treat it themselves with the help of the professional. Patients can keep sciatica from returning by using perfect body mechanics when performing all household chores/duties, gardening, working and playing, stay fit, maintain adequate spinal flexibility and most importantly develop excellent core trunk strength.
John Seivert, MS, PT, GDMT, CSCS, FAAOMPT
Seivert Physical Therapy, PC, 530-272-7306
www.seivertphysicaltherapy.com
Meredith Benson, Homeopath
In homeopathy, we treat the whole person. The sciatica is a symptom that is only part of underlying constitution of the person. The pain of sciatica can be debilitating and there are homeopathic remedies that can help in the acute phases of the problem. Sciatica can be dramatically helped by homeopathic treatment, especially when the condition is mainly inflammatory which typically is the case at the onset of the pain. Everyone manifests sciatica in a different way; for some it might be right sided, others the left, also the character and quality of the pain varies from person to person. As homeopaths we carefully examine the specific way that the sciatica manifests itself and prescribe a homeopathic remedy specific and individual to the person experiencing the pain. We are born with certain susceptibilities to developing pathologies. In homeopathy we can address these susceptibilities by treating the whole person with those susceptibilities. As a homeopath it would be important to not only treat the acute symptoms of sciatica but the underlying state that creates the sciatica. By understanding the person we can address the mechanism, which repeats the pattern of the sciatic pain. Homeopathy can change the internal susceptibility to having sciatic pain.
Meredith Benson, Classical Homeopath, 530-470-9702
www.sierrameditaion.org
Jaime DeGuzman, Traditional Chinese Medicine
From a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) point of view the main cause of sciatica is Qi and Blood stagnation. When Qi (vital energy) does not flow properly, it affects the free flow of Blood, and when Qi and Blood are stagnant, our tissues don’t get the necessary nutrients for their basic functioning and, then, pain arises. One of the best techniques in TCM to move Qi and Blood is “moxibustion” (the burning of rolled, dried mugwort close to the skin). I do a lot of moxibustion in my practice, especially when the symptoms are aggravated by cold. Warm needle (burning mugwort on top of the needle) is another technique to move Qi and Blood, but also to warm the channels. It is important in TCM to look at the root cause of the problem, and not just treat the branch (symptom). In the case of sciatica, the root cause could be Kidney Qi deficiency, which is occasionally due to a prolonged state of fear. Acupuncture and herbs are then used to boost the Kidney Qi.
Jaime M. DeGuzman, L.Ac, Lotus Health Center, 530-274-2811
Dr. Pamela Hall, Chiropractic
I would bring the pain down from a 7 to 0 in about 20 minutes using FSM, a new technique for treating pain and inflammation using frequencies and micro current, called Frequency Specific Micro current. Based in biophysics, FSM is complicated, but it's essentially like defragmenting a computer so it can reboot and work normally. I can treat as often as needed to keep the patient comfortable while the disks have time to repair. To treat the cause - often a bulging, inflamed disk - comfortable, safe Activator adjustments are the preferred method. Adjusting restores movement and function, and reduces pain and muscle spasm. FSM speeds disk healing. No anti-inflammatory drug ever tested in animal research has produced more than a 45% reduction in swelling. FSM reduced swelling by 62% in four minutes without side effects. FSM is FDA approved. In the majority of simple disk bulges this will work. Advanced Activator adjusting and FSM are available locally only in my office. I would suggest specific exercises to strengthen the multifidi and transverse abdominal muscles to help prevent sciatica.
Dr. Pamela Hall, MA, DC, State of The Art Healing, (530) 477-1829
www.bioresonance.org
Healing Journeys is a column written by Suzie Daggett for the Grass Valley Union newspaper. Suzie interviews a variety of health practitioners most Fridays in the Wellness section. Click here to read past articles. Enter "Suzie Daggett" in the search box to get listing of all articles. |
