Sciatic Nerve Pain
Oh, the sciatic nerve. it’s the bane of many of my patient’s existence. Whether they experience mild pain, or pain severe enough that it alters their ability to work and do daily living activities, it’s the real deal. Nerves in general are pretty finicky and need a lot of attention when they act up. Let’s go over the basics of what sciatic nerve pain even is, what it can feel like, and how massage can help relieve symptoms.
What is the Sciatic Nerve?
This beautiful structure in the body is a nerve that comes from the vertebra in your lumbar spine (low back), pops out by your sacrum (you have a right nerve and a left nerve), runs underneath your piriformis (a glute muscle), then ultimately down the back of your leg. It splits off into a few different nerves once it gets to your knee, and then runs down the back of your calf.
Some people will feel the nerve pain as a dull ache in their glutes, and others can feel is in the high hamstring, or mid to low hamstring. Some people will even feel it in their calf. Usually when it’s in the calf, it feels like a low-key, constant burn.
This photo shows the Sciatic Nerve as it splits into more nerves.
What Does Sciatic Nerve Pain Feel Like?
Aside from the burning calf pain, sciatic nerve pain can also feel like a sharp shooty sensation down your leg. This is far less common, but I have seen it! You need to be in just the right position and doing just the right activity, but it can happen. Most of the time this pain will feel like a constant dull ache. Like an ache that is annoying rather than painful.
How Can Massage Help with Nerve Pain?
Massage can do wonders to help relieve both nerve pain and to reduce nerve entrapment. Nerves are delicate and come in a bundle that looks like a long tube. The nerve fits into that tube and sends signal from the body to the brain. When muscles are tight, or structures like bones, ligaments and tendons are out of alignment, they can press on that tube which closes in on the nerve. Nerves don’t like being touched or feeling Closter phobic, so when this happens the elicit a pain response. Massage can help in two ways. It can either work on all the structures around the nerve to take pressure off the tube, or work on the muscles and tube itself to create space for the nerve to move freely.
Nerves don’t usually get fixed after one session of massage. They are slow to change, but you can feel some relief after just one session. As nerves heal, the pain point slowly goes back to the origination of the nerve. So, as you heal, you may start to feel pain in different locations as they travel up the leg. This is a good thing! It means the neural tube is healing and the nerve itself is in turn healing. It can be frustrating to not see immediate pain relief. If you feel discouraged, rest assured that your nerve is in fact getting better, it’s just slow and methodical about it.
