Conditions
Acupuncture for sciatica, with Dr. Peter Caron.
If physical therapy or an epidural hasn’t stopped your sciatica, the muscles around the nerve are often still guarding it. I treat the nerve and those muscles together. Most people notice a change within a few visits.
Why it hasn’t gotten better
The pain travels farther than the problem.
A disc or a narrowed space in the spine irritates a nerve root. Pain runs down the back of the leg, and the leg often hurts more than the back. Sitting makes it worse.
The muscles in your lower back and buttock tighten to protect the nerve. That guarding can keep the leg pain going after the disc settles. It’s part of what I treat.
When to see a physician first
Numbness in the groin or inner thighs needs emergency care. So does any change in bladder or bowel control. New weakness in a leg or foot needs a physician promptly. Tell me on the call, and I’ll point you to the right physician.
What it feels like
What people describe when they first call.
- Pain that runs from your buttock down the back of your leg, sometimes past the knee
- Your leg hurts more than your back does
- Sitting makes it worse, so you stand through meetings or on the train
- Burning, tingling, or numbness along the same path down the leg
- A cough or a sneeze sends a jolt down the leg
- You’ve had physical therapy or an injection, and the pain came back
If you recognized yourself in that list, the free 15-minute call is the place to start.
How I treat it
Treatment calms the irritated nerve and the muscles guarding it.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture calms the irritated nerve root and the muscles clamping down around it, which reduces the pain running down your leg.
Needles go beside the spine, at the level of the irritated nerve root. More go into the muscles tightened around it, usually with light electrical stimulation.
- Paraspinal electroacupuncture
- Motor-point stimulation
- Segmental treatment
- Distal points
Herbal medicine
An herbal formula helps bring down the inflammation around the nerve between visits.
Chinese medicine sees several patterns of nerve pain. I match an herbal formula to yours, and it keeps working between visits.
- Herbal formula
- Constitutional support
In the trial below, the difference from sham appeared by week two.
Fifteen minutes on the phone is usually enough to tell whether I can help.
Your first visit
What happens the first time you come in.
- We go through the history Where the pain travels, what makes it worse, and what you’ve already tried, including imaging, physical therapy, and injections. Bring any MRI report you have.
- I find what’s guarding the nerve I watch how you bend and how far you can raise the leg, then press along the lower back and buttock to find the muscles that have tightened around the nerve.
- You’re treated the same day Fine needles beside the spine and in those muscles, usually with light electrical stimulation. Most people rest comfortably through it.
- You leave with a plan Roughly how many visits it should take, and what should have changed by the third one.
What to expect
How it usually goes, visit by visit.
I check how long you can sit at every visit, so you’ll know early if it’s working.
- Visits 1–2 The muscles around the nerve start to let go. Some people can sit a little longer before the leg starts.
- Visits 3–5 Where most people feel the leg pain ease. It comes back later and lighter between visits.
- After that We space visits out to keep it there. If nothing has changed by the fifth visit, I’ll say so and suggest what to try next.
Typical ranges, not promises. Results vary from person to person.
You’ll know at the first visit roughly how many visits it should take.
What the research shows
Acupuncture relieved sciatic leg pain about twice as much as sham acupuncture, and the difference lasted a year.
A 2024 trial in JAMA Internal Medicine studied 216 people with chronic sciatica from a herniated disc. Each had ten sessions of real or sham acupuncture over four weeks. Leg pain fell 31 points on a 100-point scale with acupuncture, and 15 with sham. The difference showed by week two and held at one year.
Questions
What people ask about sciatica.
Something not covered here? Ask on the free discovery call.
Not the way the nerve pain does. You may feel a dull ache or a twitch near the spine or in the buttock. Most people rest comfortably through it.
Most of my patients feel the leg pain ease somewhere in visits three to five. Sciatica you’ve had for years can take longer. I’ll give you a number at the first visit.
Yes. Many people come to me after an injection helped for a while and then wore off. The two can be used together, and your physician can advise on timing.
No, you don’t need a scan to start. If you’ve had an MRI, bring the report. Numbness in the groin or inner thighs, or any change in bladder or bowel control, needs emergency care. New weakness in a leg or foot needs a physician first.
Many people try a course first. In the trial on this page, the benefit held at one year. The decision about surgery stays with your surgeon, and I can keep them updated.
Yes. Once the muscles around the nerve stop clamping down, the exercises get easier.
That’s usually a pinched nerve in the neck. I treat it the same way, where the nerve leaves the spine.
We’re out of network and don’t bill insurance. After each visit we can send a superbill to submit for reimbursement. Check your plan before your first visit.
If your question isn’t here, ask it on the call. It’s free and takes fifteen minutes.
Related conditions
Often treated alongside this one.
Hip arthritis
For a hip that makes putting on socks a project.
Lower back pain
For the ache that’s worst when you first get up.
Peripheral neuropathy
For numbness and burning in the feet or hands.
Start here
Describe where the pain travels.
That helps me find its source. On a short call, I can tell you whether acupuncture is likely to help and what a course involves.
If you already know you want to come in, book an initial visit.