Low Back Pain and Sciatica Contributions by sshowalter

This section on spiritual treatments for low pack pain and sciatica comprises energetically oriented treatments that have to do with intention, energy healing, prayer, and in some cases god. These terms may be volatile for some, and for others they resonate. Some of these treatments have proven to be profoundly healing for certain individuals with sciatica. Though some people are skeptical, prior notions of these words should be set aside when reading about these spiritual healing treatments, as many of the are truly incredible!

Many of the treatments that live in other sections on FoundHealth could easily live in this “Spirit” section as well. For example, Yoga, though a treatment that mostly involves the body, certainly has spiritual undertones and components to its practice. Meditation lives under the Mind category, but really is a blend of body, mind and a spiritual/energetic component as well. Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda are examples of healing systems that have branches that span all six of foundhealth’s treatment categories, including spiritual components.

So take a look at which spirit treatments have been used for low back pain and sciatica, or add any that are missing!

Since we tend to hold stress in physical tension felt in our bodies, some people may feel their stress directly in their backs. Relieving this stress can oftentimes help relieve back and/or sciatica pain.If you need support or assistance in reducing stress, you may want to try some of the following techniques:

• Counseling (like cognitive behavioral therapy)
• Stress management classes
• Relaxation therapies
• Breathing exercises
• Meditation
• Yoga

While scientific evidence is inconclusive as to how much obesity contributes to back pain in general, extra pounds can increase pressure on the spinal muscles and disks. Follow the dietary and exercise plan recommended by your doctora healthy diet and exercise to help with the treatment of low back pain and sciatica. To lose weight you have to consume fewer calories of high quality food* than you expend. To maintain a healthy weight, eat an equal number of calories of high quality food to those you expend. Even more exercise than minimum recommendations may be required to lose weight.

• Not all calories are created equally; eating 500 calories of candy is not the same as eating 500 calories of vegetables. Make sure you are eating healthy foods that are not processed, and in as close to their natural state as possible.

Maintenance of good weight is important for your overall health.

While scientific evidence is inconclusive as to how much obesity contributes to back pain in general, extra pounds can increase pressure on the spinal muscles and disks. Follow a healthy diet and exercise to help with the treatment of low back pain and sciatica. To lose weight you have to consume fewer calories of high quality food* than you expend. To maintain a healthy weight, eat an equal number of calories of high quality food to those you expend. Even more exercise than minimum recommendations may be required to lose weight.

• Not all calories are created equally; eating 500 calories of candy is not the same as eating 500 calories of vegetables. Make sure you are eating healthy foods that are not processed, and in as close to their natural state as possible.

Stress can increase muscle tension. Take time out to relax and rejuvenate.

Stress can increase muscle tension. Take time out to relax, exercise, and practice relaxation techniques Since we tend to hold stress in physical tension felt in our bodies, some people may feel their stress directly in their backs. Relieving this stress can oftentimes help relieve back and/or sciatica pain.If you need support or assistance in reducing stress, you may want to try some of the following techniques:

• Counseling (like cognitive behavioral therapy)
• Stress management classes
• Relaxation therapies
• Breathing exercises
• Meditation
• Yoga

Since we tend to hold stress in physical tension felt in our bodies, some people may feel their stress directly in their backs. Relieving this stress can oftentimes help relieve back and/or sciatica pain.

Since we tend to hold stress in physical tension felt in our bodies, some people may feel their stress directly in their backs. Relieving this stress can oftentimes help relieve back and/or sciatica pain.If you need support or assistance in reducing stress, you may want to try some of the following techniques:

• Counseling (like cognitive behavioral therapy)
• Stress management classes
• Relaxation therapies
• Breathing exercises
• Meditation
• Yoga

Practicing and maintaining adequate posture, can be extremely helpful in helping to relieve the symptoms, and sometimes cure the underlying cause(s) of low back pain or sciatica. When the body is in proper alignment, the bones, muscles and organs function more smoothly and with less energy.

Certain changes to your workspace, attire, and home can reduce the stress on your back. Tips include:

• Don't wear high-heeled shoes.
• If you sit for long periods of time, use a stool to bring your knees above your hips.
• Use a lumbar support pillow when sitting or driving.
• Sleep on a firm mattress.
• Don't sleep on your stomach.
• Sleep on your side or on your back with a wedge or pillow under the lower part of your legs.

While some people think that using shoe inserts will prevent back pain, so far there's not a lot of evidence to support this.

Also, check out the article on Alexander Techniquewhich talks about posture for low back and sciatica pain.

When muscles are overused, it can be difficult for them to heal. Taking time to rest, especially from the strenuous activities that might cause your pain in the first place, could be extremely helpful.

Prolonged bed rest is usually not advised. However, your doctor may recommend resting in bed for one or two days. Too much bed rest can weaken muscles and slow recovery. Doctors recommend staying active within the limits of your pain and avoiding activities that worsen back pain.

Guidelines for activity include:

• Do not bend or twist your back.
• Do not lift heavy objects. Learn the proper way to lift even light objects, using your knees rather than your back for leverage. If necessary, have a physical therapist or ergonomic specialist teach you proper body mechanics for daily activities.
• When lifting, squat down next to the object, hold the object close to your chest, maintain a straight back, and use your leg muscles to slowly rise.
• Plan ahead and ask for assistance with lifting or moving heavy objects.
• Avoid sitting for long periods. When you do sit, choose seats with good lumbar support. You may be able to use a standing desk at intervals to help avoid prolonged sitting.
• Avoid standing for long periods. as well. If you need to stand, place a low footstool in front of you and alternate placing each foot on it for a period of time. This will take some of the load off your back.
• Consider job retraining if your work requires a lot of heavy lifting or sitting. Ask whether your company has someone who specializes in helping redesign the workplace for the restrictions an individual with back pain requires.

Since many of us hold tension, emotion and (subsequently) pain in our backs, becoming aware of that pain and relaxing into it can help to relieve this tension that becomes low back pain/sciatica. The particular relaxation therapy that is most useful depends on the individual patient. Different people enjoy the aforementioned therapies in different ways and to varying extents. Therefore, it is difficult to test the efficacy of these treatments, as which treatment is right for each person is an individualized process.

The mind is extremely powerful. Unfortunately, we don't always choose to engage with our minds and let them help us heal! Through certain modalities, we can learn to consciously experience our pain which may itself help us heal, or may at least guide us in the appropriate direction for healing.

A double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial of 54 people with knee or back pain compared a complex static magnet array against a sham magnet array.¹⁸ Participants used either the real or sham device for 24 hours; then, after a 7-day rest period, they used the opposite therapy for another 24 hours. Evaluations showed that use of the real magnet was associated with greater improvements than the sham treatment.

Benefits were also seen in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 43 people with chronic knee pain who used fairly high-power but otherwise ordinary static magnets continuously for 2 weeks.¹⁹

And, in another placebo-controlled trial, the use of a magnetic knee wrap for 12 weeks was associated with a significant increase in quadriceps (thigh muscle) strength in patients with knee osteoarthritis.²⁰

A double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study of 20 people who had chronic low back pain for at least 6 months' duration failed to find any evidence of benefit.²¹ However, the alternating pole magnet used in this study produced a very weak magnetic field.

Another study found hints of benefit that failed to reach statistical significance.²² In a double-blind study of 101 people with chronic neck and shoulder pain, use of a magnetic necklace failed to prove more effective than placebo treatment.²³ Another study failed to find magnetic insoles helpful for heel pain.²⁴

Long popular in Japan, magnet therapy has entered public awareness in the United States, stimulated by golfers and tennis players extolling the virtues of magnets in the treatment of sports-related injuries. Magnetic knee, shoulder, and ankle pads, as well as insoles and mattress pads, are widely available and are touted as providing myriad healing benefits.

A few studies have shown that hatha yoga is specifically useful for treating low back pain. ^62,63,75

Some people begin a yoga practice and find that they do not need for the modality to have been studied or "proven" by science but, rather, know on a personal level that it helps them mitigate their symptoms. Nevertheless, the more these integrative and alternative modalities can be studied, the more likely they will be accepted as treatment for different conditions, just as pharmaceutical drugs are "accepted" as treatments.

Osteopathic Manipulation has shown some promise for the treatment of sciatica and general low back pain. ^15,20,40 Osteopathic manipulation corrects structural misalignment in the back, which should alleviate much if not all of the low back pain and/or sciatica (assuming the cause of the pain was structural in nature.)

Osteopathic manipulation (OM) is a form of treatment related to chiropractic manipulation, but it tends to use gentle, extended movements (low velocity, high amplitude) rather than the quick, short, cracking movements of chiropractic.

Thus far, research has not produced clear evidence of acupuncture’s effectiveness for back pain.⁵² In a review of 23 randomized trials involving over 6,000 patients with chronic low back, researchers concluded that acupuncture is more effective than no treatment for short-term pain relief, but there was no significant difference between the effects of true and sham.⁷⁹

A 6-month, double-blind trial of 1,162 people with back pain compared real acupuncture, fake acupuncture, and conventional therapy.⁷² Both real and fake acupuncture were twice as effective as conventional therapy according to the measures used. However, there was only a minimal difference between real and fake acupuncture. These results do not, in fact, indicate that acupuncture is effective per se; rather, it , which shows the significant power of acupuncture as a the placebo effect.

Similarly, in a single-blind, sham-acupuncture, and no-treatment controlled study of 298 people with chronic back pain, use of real acupuncture failed to prove significantly more effective than sham-acupuncture.⁵⁸ Also, in a fairly large randomized trial involving 638 adults with chronic back pain, there was no difference in pain at one year in patients receiving real compared to fake acupuncture (with neither group improving significantly over standard care). Both real and simulated acupuncture were, however, associated with improved function at one year.⁸⁰ Other studies have failed to find benefit as well; in several controlled studies enrolling a total of over 300 people, real acupuncture again failed to prove more effective than sham-acupuncture or other placebo treatments.^19,29,32,53

One study compared the effects of acupuncture, massage, and education (such as videotapes on back care) for 262 people with chronic back pain over a 10-week period.28 The exact type of acupuncture and massage was left to practitioners, but only 10 visits were permitted. At the 10-week point, evaluations showed benefit with massage but not with acupuncture. One year later, massage and education were nearly equivalent, and both were superior to acupuncture.

Low level laser therapy (LLLT) is a technique similar to electro-acupuncture that uses precision laser energy instead of electricity conducted through a needle. In a detailed review of 7 randomized trials, researchers were unable to draw any conclusions regarding the effectiveness of LLLT for nonspecific low back pain.⁷³

Many other studies have compared acupuncture to such treatments as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), physical therapy, chiropractic care, and massage.^14,33-37,59 In many of these trials, acupuncture provided benefits comparable to the other options tested. However, because TENS, physical therapy, and so forth, have not been proven effective for back pain, studies of this type cannot be taken as evidence that acupuncture is effective. One study did find acupressure massage more effective than standard physical therapy; however, it was performed in a Chinese population that may have had more faith in this traditional approach than in physical therapy.⁶⁰