With Reflexologist Nuria Weaver
Home Remedies for Sciatica
Sciatica is very painful condition caused due to compression of sciatic nerve or due to many other reasons. It happens if, any of the five nerve roots which form the sciatic nerve are compressed. The symptoms are noticed on either side of the body. The pain persists in lower back, foot, legs and buttocks. In severe cases sciatic disorder can lead to muscular weakness and it becomes miserable to move the legs. Apart from exercises under supervision, and medication, home remedies for sciatica definitely will relieve the pain.
Causes of Sciatica:
- Slipped disc: External pressure generated due to accident or by rigorous pressure on muscle, irritates spinal nerve. It causes back or leg pain.
- Piriformis syndrome: Pressure exerted by piriformis muscle causes this condition. As a result irritation caused in the sciatic nerve causes pain in buttocks.
- Spinal Stenosis: It is caused due to lessening of space in spinal canal. It causes muscle imbalance which causes hip, leg and back pain, which in turn exerts pressure on sciatic nerve.
- Isthmic Spondylolisthesis: Vertebra gets dislocated from its original position and exerts pressure on sciatic nerve, leads to painful condition.
Home Remedies for Sciatica:
- Garlic Milk: Add 4 garlic cloves in crushed form to 110 ml milk. Buffalo milk can be used in both cooked and uncooked forms. You can boil the garlic paste in milk too. It is one of the effective remedies to reduce sciatic pain. If you are suffering from ulcer, do not follow this remedy.
- Raw Garlic: Eat 1-2 garlic cloves with vitamin B1 and B-complex supplements. As garlic is a proven antioxidant, it increases blood circulation and relieves from pain. Vitamin B1 sources are green peas, beef, whole grain cereals, nuts.
- Elderberry juice / tea: Elderberry is a proven muscle relaxant, which helps to treat sciatica. Drink Elderberry tea or juice, any form you like.
- Nutmeg: Take powdered nutmeg and fry it in sesame oil till nutmeg particles turn brown. Apply it gently to the painful areas.
- Sleep on firm mattresses.
- Have dry friction bath daily, i.e. rub or massage your legs, back with a towel or brush.
- Exercise like yogasana under expert guidance help a lot in sciatic pain relief, as well as it strengthens the back bone and muscles. Some of the recommended asanas are pavanmuktasana, shalabhasan, shavasana, bhujangasana.
- Cure by Diet planning: In the early stages, when the sciatic pain is noticed, follow the systematic diet schedule as follows:
- Juice Fast: Drink fresh fruit and vegetable juices and adopt raw food diet. Orange, peach, pear, carrot, beat are recommended. Consume it at the intervals of two hours. Follow this for 5 to 6 days.
- Restricted diet: Incorporate orange, musambi, pineapple in your breakfast. Your lunch should be rich with fresh vegetable salad, such as carrot, cabbage, radish and lime juice. Eat soaked raisins, figs and dates too. Plan your dinner with boiled or steamed vegetables in their own juices such as, spinach, cabbage, cauliflower. Eat nuts and fruits like apple, plums and cherries. Follow this diet plan for a week.
- Balanced diet plan: After the restricted diet plan, you should include whole grains like whole wheat, brown rice, sprouts. Milk, cottage cheese should also be incorporated. Avoid fried food, tea, coffee, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and smoking.
- Lemon: Your diet should contain lemon. You can consume lemon juice; add few drops of fresh lemon juice on salads, soups and rice. Though sour in taste, it boosts the alkalinity in body and controls uric acid deposition on tissues. It is one of the highly effective home remedies for sciatica.
- Potatoes and celery leaves: Prepare juice with potato and celery leaves. Drink at least 300 ml. daily. It relieves from sciatic pain.
- Chamomile: Mix the oil extracted from chamomile to vegetable oil. Massage the affected area gently. You can apply compress of chamomile flowers too. It is one of the followed home remedies on sciatica.
- Indian aloe: Consume pulp from the aloe leaf daily to get relief from sciatic pain.
- Colocynth: It is one of the most effective home remedies on sciatica. It gives relief from severe sciatic pain in the sciatic nerve. If you are badly paining at your knees, heels and barely can move your legs, colocynth gives good results.
- Rhus toxicodendron: It is one of the highly effective homoeopathic home remedy. It caters muscular and ligamental injuries and rheumatic sciatica.
- Water treatment: It is one of the easiest home remedies. Take cold hip-bath in the morning and the hot and cold hip- bath at night. You can use the tub that covers hip and water should reach up to navel. Water temperature recommended for cold hip-bath is 100C to 180C and for hot water hip-bath is 400C to 450C.
- Horseradish poultice: Apply a poultice of fresh chopped horseradish to the affected area and keep it for an hour. It gives remarkable relief from sciatic pain.
- Cow urine and Caster oil: Mix 2 - 4 teaspoon Cow urine extract to 2 teaspoon caster oil. Consume it once in the morning and evening. This mixture cures chronic sciatic pain too.
- Wintergreen: Wintergreen tea is highly effective in sciatic pain, as it contains methyl salicylate which relieves from pain. Ointments that contain wintergreen can be applied to the affected area.
The best part of the home remedies for sciatica is that, those are natural, easy to follow and less expensive too. Though in some cases the surgeries may be required, home remedies for sciatica have fabulous results for acute as well as chronic sciatic pain.
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