Natural Healing for Sciatica

This week I've been asked for help regarding sciatic nerve pain. Sciatica can be both excrutiating and, rather annoyingly, take many forms. These include:

• Pain radiating out from the lower back
• Pain in the buttocks especially when sitting or rising
• Pain or numbness down the legs
• Pain or numbness in the feet and toes

There are of course many pathways you can take to ease the pain, although sciatica is often one of those things that often rights itself albeit after 6-8 weeks. Manipulative complementary and orthodox approaches include:

• Physiotherapy
• Osteopathy
• Chiropractic
• Bowen Technique
• Acupuncture

Mrs Darley however was always an advocate for vinegar and often recommended it for all kinds of ailments (it had to be the right kind though!) and for both sciatica and arthritis she recommended the use of cider vinigar in either of the following ways:

As a preventative:

1 teaspoon cider vinegar and 1 teaspoon honey in 1/2 cup hot water to drink first thing in the morning.

To ease the pain:

2 teaspoon cider vinegar, 2 teaspoons honey in a sitz (very shallow) bath to which a handful of dried nettle leaves are added.

My own remedies would include the use of essential oils, although care must be taken NOT to massage the area only to stroke the oils in gently twice a day in the following dilution:

2 drops lavender, 2 drops German Chamomile (Roman will suffice if you can't get German), 1 drop Basil blended into 2 teaspoon of carrier oil such as sweet almond or grapeseed.

Do NOT use the essential oils if you are pregnant and please do NOT exceed the suggested dose.

For those who prefer less hands on and a more esoteric approach carrying a piece of malachite may help.

Take care and hope this helps.