Sciatica, also known as lumbar radiculopathy, refers to the symptoms of pain, tingling, and numbness caused by nerve root compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve. It typically causes pain in the buttock, back of the leg, and foot on one side.

What are the symptoms of sciatica?

Sciatica symptoms include shooting, burning, or stabbing pain in the buttocks, back of the thigh, leg, or foot. You may also experience tingling (pins and needles), numbness, muscle weakness, and difficulty walking.

Does sciatica always cause back pain?

No, sciatica can occur with or without lower back pain. It is possible to experience pain in just one leg without lower back pain.

What causes sciatica pain?

The most common cause of sciatica is a herniated disc in the lower back, which compresses the sciatic nerve. Other causes include spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, poor posture, and piriformis syndrome.

How is sciatica diagnosed?

Sciatica can be diagnosed by manual therapists such as osteopaths, physiotherapists, or chiropractors through a full case history and physical examination. Imaging such as X-rays or MRIs may be required in some cases.

Can an osteopath help with sciatica?

Yes, an osteopath can provide non-surgical hands-on treatment for sciatica. They will address posture and joint mobility to reduce pressure on the lower back and sciatic nerve, as well as provide rehabilitation exercises to aid recovery.

What is the best painkiller for sciatica?

GPs may prescribe painkillers, anti-inflammatory medications, muscle relaxants, antidepressants, or anticonvulsants depending on the severity of symptoms. Epidural steroid injections may also provide temporary relief.

Osteopath for Sciatic Nerve Pain

Osteopathy

6 Apr

Written By Matthew Glithero

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Osteopath for Sciatica: Symptoms, Causes & Treatment Options

Are you searching for an osteopath for sciatica to help relieve nerve pain in your lower back, leg, or foot? This article explores sciatica symptoms, causes, diagnosis, and treatment options, plus how osteopathy can support your recovery.

Osteopath for Sciatic Nerve Pain

Lumbar radiculopathy, or the more commonly used term of ‘sciatica’, refers to the symptoms of pain, tingling and numbness. These arise from nerve root compression or sciatic nerve irritation (NICE 2020). You will experience pain in the buttock, back of the leg and/or feet of one side. Do you suffer from a sciatica nerve problem?

Sciatica symptoms are:

Shooting, burning or stabbing pains typically occur in the buttocks, the back of the thigh, leg and/or foot, depending on where the sciatic nerve is compressed or irritated. Moreover, depending on the severity, you can always experience pain occasionally. Tingling, such as pins & needles, and numbness are commonly felt in the back of the leg. You may experience a feeling of weakness, and you may experience difficulty walking.

Moderate to severe pain in the lower back, buttocks and down your leg.
Numbness or weakness in your lower back, buttocks, leg or feet.
Pain that worsens with movement; loss of movement.
Pins and needles feel in your legs, toes, or feet.

Sciatica Pain is Typically Worse

Prolonged sitting,
Standing up for two long
Turning over in bed
Coughing
Sneezing (This will increase pressure in your abdominal region, causing pain.)
Sometimes straining on the toilet may be difficult.

In other words, sciatica will affect the majority of your day-to-day activities.

Will Sciatica Always Give Back Pain?

No, you can experience sciatica with or without low back pain. Usually, you will experience pain in the back of one leg (not both legs). You are less likely to have sciatica if you have Osteopathy for lower back pain with no pain referrals into your buttocks or legs.

Is There Anywhere Else I May Experience Pain From Sciatica

Yes, you may experience pain on the front of your thigh, Osteopath for hip pain or leg. Also, sciatica symptoms could be a searing pain on the sole of your foot. There have also been cases on the web of the foot, between the first and second toes.

NHS Sciatica Advice (2020)

You should visit your GP or hospital if you are experiencing any of the following symptoms:

You have sciatica on both sides.
Experience weakness or numbness in both legs that is severe or getting worse.
You have numbness around or under your genitals, or around your anus find it hard to start peeing, cannot pee or cannot control when you pee.
Do not notice when you need to poo or cannot control when you poo.

These could be symptoms of a more serious nature, which may need to be treated in hospital as soon as possible.

Common Causes of Sciatic Nerve Pain

In 90% of cases of sciatica (NICE 2020), disc herniation/s of your intervertebral disc/s in your lower back is the cause. Intervertebral discs are between each vertebra; they act as shock absorbers and prevent the vertebrae from rubbing. The discs contain a gel-filled inner layer (nucleus pulposus) surrounded by a hard fibrous outer layer.

Therefore, you can injure or strain your discs, causing part of the gel-filled nucleus to herniate out of the fibrous outer casing (herniated or prolapsed disc). When you have a disc herniation, this may compress onto the sciatic nerve, which in turn causes symptoms in the buttock, thigh, leg, and/or foot.

Common causes of a disc herniation:

Strenuous physical activity
Heavy lifting
Accident
Trauma

Less Common Causes of Sciatic Nerve Pain are:

Spinal stenosis
- This is a spinal canal narrowing, which is more common in the elderly.
Spondylolisthesis
- This is where a vertebra slips forward or backwards on another vertebra, subsequently compressing part of the sciatic nerve. Degeneration causes abnormal bony growths to develop (osteophytes or bony spurs).
  Sometimes, bony growths can impinge on the sciatic nerve where it exits the vertebrae, irritating the nerve and causing symptoms.
Spinal trauma or infection.
- Moreover, spinal tumours; however, sciatica caused by a spinal tumour is extremely rare.
Piriformis Syndrome
- The sciatic nerve travels down from your lower back through your buttocks into your leg. It passes alongside the piriformis muscle. When this deep muscle of the buttock becomes tight or spasms, it can irritate the sciatic nerve, resulting in sciatic-like symptoms.
Poor Posture
- Sitting incorrectly, with more weight on one hip than the other, can irritate or compress the sciatic nerve, especially if it is a constant, long-term habit.

Sciatic Nerve Pain Diagnosis

It’s not necessary to see your GP to gain a sciatica diagnosis. Manual therapists (Osteopaths, physiotherapists or chiropractors) can diagnose sciatica by taking a full case history.

Common Questions Asked To Diagnose Sciatica

What is the nature of the pain?
How long has your pain lasted?
When did the symptoms and pain start?
What were you doing, and when did you first notice the pain?
Have you previously injured the back or hip area?
Have you noticed any decrease in the strength of the leg or foot?

After that, they will perform a physical examination with testing and then explain the cause of your pain. Sometimes, imaging such as X-rays or MRI is required to gain further information on the exact cause of the nerve irritation.

Sciatica Treatment

Many treatment options are available, and it is up to the individual to choose which avenue they wish to pursue. Treatment length depends on the cause of sciatic pain and the patient’s ability to heal. Herniated lumbar discs account for less than five per cent of all low back problems but are the most common cause of nerve root pain (‘sciatica’). Ninety per cent of acute attacks of sciatica settle with non-surgical management. Surgical options are considered for more rapid relief in the minority of patients whose recovery is unacceptably slow (Cochrane 2007).

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Osteopath for Sciatic Nerve Pain

An Osteopath will provide non-surgical hands-on treatment. Then they will address the whole posture to get other areas moving more freely (typically the upper back and hips). Also, to reduce pressure on the lower back and intervertebral discs, and to optimise the body’s natural healing response. Improve blood flow and circulation to the affected area, which helps optimise the inflammatory processes. If the patient is experiencing a lot of pain, then using a more gentle approach like Cranial Osteopathy is an option we use at Wellthy Clinic.

Osteopath for Sciatica

Our Osteopath will use a combination of muscular stretching, joint articulations and joint manipulations (only when appropriate) techniques to increase movement and function. Also, bespoke progressive exercises (muscular stretching and strengthening). Furthermore, lifestyle, basic nutrition, and hydration advise optimising healing times to support you back into activity.

How Long Does Sciatica Last on Average?

Typically, the prognosis for patients with sciatica depends on the cause of the nerve compression and the patient’s ability to recover. For some, it could be 6-8 weeks, but for others, it could take longer.

How Long Will Sciatica Take to Heal?

What is the Best Pain Killer for Nerve Pain?

If you choose to see your GP, they will prescribe medications to help reduce your pain. These can be painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs. Similarly, muscle relaxants, antidepressants and anticonvulsants, depending on the severity of your symptoms.

Epidural Steroid Injections:

Your GP may refer you for a steroid injection to help you with your pain. A corticosteroid or local anaesthetic will be injected into the epidural space around your spinal cord. Consequently, this may temporarily relieve your sciatic symptoms, giving you a window to perform rehab exercises. This helps by reducing the inflammatory response around the sciatic nerve. Currently, steroid injections are not advised as they weaken the immune system, which would make you susceptible to COVID-19.

Surgical options

Some people will have surgery, but this should be discussed with your GP or a consultant. The two main types are discectomy and laminectomy. A discectomy is where part or the entire damaged intervertebral disc that is compressing the sciatic nerve is removed. A laminectomy is where the back part of one or more of your lumbar spine vertebrae (lamina) is removed to create more space for the sciatic nerve. Therefore, it reduces the likelihood of the nerve being compressed.

How do you Treat Sciatica at Home?

At Wellthy Clinic, we are big fans of meaningful movement as it helps increase blood flow to optimise inflammatory processes. Also, it increases waste removal (lymphatic drainage), improves the functionality of joints, strengthens muscles, and empowers you to feel a little better. Rest is the best option for the first 2 weeks, then light stretching for 2-4 weeks. After that, introduce body weight strengthening exercises with stretches at 4-6 weeks. Graded exercises will be prescribed, changed and progressed by your Osteopath as part of a structured rehab plan.

Nutrition for Sciatica

Always stay hydrated by drinking at least eight glasses of water daily (2 litres daily), little and often. Hydration status will directly affect the height of your intervertebral discs. Therefore, dehydration will affect your discs and your ability to recover. Eliminate caffeine, alcohol, squash, fizzy drinks and energy drinks. These will not help with your hydration status, which is essential for your recovery. Moreover, adopting an anti-inflammatory diet by eating more anti-inflammatory foods and reducing foods with anti-inflammatory content is a good start.

Is Heat or Ice better for Sciatica?

We suggest heat. Acute inflammation is a normal process; therefore, we want to encourage further blood flow to the region to aid and promote the inflammatory processes. In other words, we want to work with the body to optimise healing. Ice feels good short-term as it reduces the inflammatory process but doesn’t address the cause of the problem. So, for us, this isn’t the best long-term solution.

Why Choose Wellthy Clinic?

If you're looking for a natural, whole-body approach to sciatica pain, seeing an osteopath for sciatica may be the solution. At Wellthy Clinic, we combine osteopathy, Pilates, and nutritional therapy to help reduce pain, restore function, and support long-term recovery.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can an osteopath do anything for sciatica? Yes. An osteopath can help relieve sciatica by addressing muscle tension, joint mobility, and nerve irritation. They use manual therapy to improve alignment and reduce pressure on the sciatic nerve.

Is a chiropractor or osteopath better for nerve pain? Both can help, but osteopaths often take a more holistic approach, considering lifestyle, posture, and nutrition alongside manual treatment. The best choice depends on your specific needs and the practitioner’s expertise.

Will an osteopath help a trapped nerve? Yes, osteopaths can help relieve symptoms from a trapped nerve by reducing inflammation and restoring movement in affected areas.

What is the one movement for instant sciatic pain relief? A gentle piriformis stretch or lying on your back with knees bent and gently rocking can sometimes provide immediate relief. Please always consult a professional before you try new exercises.

Is it better to rest or exercise when you have sciatic nerve pain? Mild movement is usually better than complete rest, as gentle stretching and mobility help prevent stiffness. Please just avoid painful activities and seek guidance.

How do you release a trapped sciatic nerve? Manual therapy, specific stretches, and reducing inflammation can help release the nerve. An osteopath can guide you through safe techniques tailored to your condition.

What aggravates sciatic nerve pain? Prolonged sitting, poor posture, heavy lifting, and sudden twisting movements often worsen it. Stress and inflammation can also contribute.

What will an osteopath do for a trapped nerve? An osteopath will use gentle manual techniques to reduce pressure on the nerve, improve circulation, and restore functional movement.

Should I push through sciatic pain? No, going through the pain can worsen inflammation and nerve irritation. Osteopaths encourage safe movement within pain-free ranges.

Is it better to sit or lie down with sciatica? Changing positions frequently is ideal; an osteopath may recommend specific supported positions to reduce nerve compression while resting.

What is the miracle stretch for sciatica? There is no single “miracle” stretch, but osteopaths often recommend gentle piriformis or hamstring stretches, tailored to individual assessment.

How do you permanently fix sciatica pain? The best long-term results come from addressing the root cause—postural imbalance, joint restriction, or inflammation—with a combination of osteopathy, movement, and lifestyle changes.

Can you massage a sciatic nerve out? No, you can’t massage the nerve directly, but an osteopath can work on surrounding muscles (like the piriformis and glutes) to relieve nerve pressure.

How do I know if sciatica pain is not going away? If symptoms persist beyond a few weeks despite rest and care, or worsen over time, an osteopath can assess deeper mechanical or systemic causes.