Sciatic pain is one of the common discomforts that can affect a woman during her pregnancy.
Often women are led to believe that it's just a side effect of pregnancy and there is nothing they can do about it.
In the worst case scenario, moms may not even be able to walk without pain, which sometimes results in prescription drugs to deal with this discomfort.
There is a better way to treat this pain that can get rid of the sciatica without prescription drugs! What is Sciatic Pain? Sciatic pain is often experienced as a tingling or numbness in the low back, back of the pelvis/buttocks, into the glutes and often down the affected leg, sometimes even into the foot.
For some women, it is a mild discomfort, and for others, it can be so excruciating that it becomes difficult to walk, get in and out of the car and function in general.
The pain is caused by compression on the sciatic nerve, a bundle of nerves that run from the low back through the hip-rotator and gluteal muscles.
When those hip rotators become tight during pregnancy, they can clamp down onto the sciatic nerve, causing compression.
How is it treated with therapeutic pregnancy massage? Therapeutic pregnancy massage can treat sciatic pain by addressing the tight muscle that is often the culprit of sciatic nerve compression - the piriformis.
The piriformis is a hip rotator that runs from the sacrum to the greater trochanter (that's the outside of where the thigh bone meets the pelvis).
You want to make sure you see a therapist that is not only trained especially for pregnancy massage, but is also trained in advanced clinical applications of massage, such as neuromuscular therapy, strain counterstrain, myofascial release and trigger point therapy.
The therapist can then isolate the constricted muscle and release the tension and trigger points with these advanced applications of massage.
How long does the treatment last? Will the sciatic pain come back? The answer to these questions depends on the level of severity of the muscle constriction and what the pregnant mom does after the massage to maintain the change.
Many moms report that the sciatic pain is absent for several weeks, but inevitably returns because of the wear and tear she is putting on her body with bad posture, poor sleeping positions and lack of stretching.
Some moms report the pain disappearing for good! A good prenatal massage therapist will offer you helpful information on proper posture during pregnancy, how to position your legs during sleep so that you are not constricting the muscles further, and how to stretch the piriformis muscle.
Bottom line: You don't have to suffer through sciatic pain during pregnancy! You can treat sciatic pain without drugs.
Find a skilled licensed and certified therapeutic prenatal massage therapist near you! You will be thankful that you can walk again without pain and discomfort.