If you are writhing yourself with sciatica pain and fed up taking pain killers, there is another way to treat the sciatica pain; Massage Gun.
Well, Sciatica pain treatment using a massage gun is not a new thing, massage therapy especially myofascial therapy has long been used to treat sciatica pain.
Sciatica pain is one of the worst never pain conditions. Around 40 percent of people once in their lifetime suffer from sciatica pain.
It runs from the lower back and spreads from hips to legs. About using a massage gun in place of hand massage therapy, the gum mimics the human hand massage.
They produce a rippling effect on the soft tissues of the body and increase the blood flow of the area.
With a hand-held massage gun, you can reap the benefits of a massage anytime anywhere you like.
You don’t have to call for a therapist or take painkillers, get myofascial soft tissue massage therapy in the comfort of your home.
Before we go deeper into how the massage guns help relieve sciatica pain, let’s dig into the background of sciatica pain, and its causes.
What is a Sciatica Pain?
Actually, Sciatica is the biggest nerve in a human’s body. This nerve contains the roots of small nerves that branch off the spinal cord.
In simplest words, you can say that whatever you feel in your legs, thigs, hips, and lower legs area, all originate from the sciatica nerve.
It originates from small nerves that control the muscles to the lower back, hips, and legs area.
If this nerve is compressed due to any reason, you may start a sharp pain, shooting pain, or lasting pain, numbness, and fatigue in your lower back.
In different people, sciatica pain can be felt in one area, or more than one area. Like, maybe you just feel pain in your hips area, not in the lower back area.
In the same way, maybe that pain does not pass through the hips area to the legs.
But the reason why this pain causes, there can be more than one reason.
It can be an accident that leads to disc herniation, loss of normal structure in your body due to bad posture sitting, or narrowing of the opening in your spine where nerve roots exit.
But we are concerned with, can a massage gun be effective in relieving sciatica pain?
If yes, then how?
I am not saying there is only one way to relieve or fix the issues, which is the massage gun.
I am saying a massage gun is one way, other than many traditional methods such as Pain Killers, or hand massage therapy.
Are Massage Guns Good for Sciatica?
If you are suffering from Sciatica Pain, you are not alone. As I mentioned above, around 40 percent of people get affected by sciatica a Pain once in a lifetime.
Well, sometimes, you might feel lower back pain a sciatica pain. So, it is always advisable to have a thorough checkup from an expert and upon suggestion by your medical Doctor use a massage gun or take pain killers.
Symptoms of a massage gun can be different in different people. As I mentioned, some may feel pain in the lower back pain, a running pain from the back to legs through the hips area.
In many areas, Sciatica pain is known by different names. Women may feel this pain in their later months of pregnancy, many feel it after getting indulge in a severe accident, in case of accidents this pain might vanish with your injury healed.
But the question here is, how a massage gun helps you relieve sciatica Pain, actually, it helps in two ways.
Deep Tissue Massage
A massage gun provides a deep tissue massage that helps your lower back gets an increased blood flow.
With an increased blood flow muscle, tightness will be relaxed, and losing up muscle layers, and helps you relax from sciatica nerve pain.
De-stress
A massage gun is great for your overall health and wellness. It destresses your body and promotes the release of dopamine and endorphins, which helps you calm the nervous system and reduce sciatica pain.
Remember
The massage gun can reduce and relieve sciatica pain. But it can’t eliminate the cause or root of this pain.
The root cause of the pain can be herniated disc, bulging, lumbar stenosis, accidents, and many others.
So, the root cause or underlying cause can only be fixed by medical treatment.
But, the impact of what you take pain killers or medicines can be brought using a massage gun, and that has already been proven in medical science.
How Does a massage Gun help with Sciatica Nerve Pain?
Let’s revise it once more, what is the cause of sciatica pain? It generates when the sciatica nerve feels pressure from your joint, muscle, disc, or any other source.
So, with a massage gun, you can work on muscles as well as joints, that’s why it is easier to get relief from sciatica pain using massage gun.
Sciatica a Pain due to Swollen Fascia
If it is a swollen Fascia making pressure on your sciatica a nerve and sourcing the pain you are suffering from, by using a massage gun, or percussive therapy you can improve the blood circulation.
This blood circulation can reduce the inflammation, helping you fix the swollen Fascia, the result is relief from sciatica pain.
Sciatica a Pain due to straining Muscles
Another cause of sciatica pain is a strained muscle. You may get the muscle strained due to heavy workouts in the gym, lifting something heavy, or from accidents.
This injured or pulled muscle can put pressure on sciatica nerve to make you feel sciatica pain.
With a massage gun, you can easily fix the strained muscle, easily lose up the area, and fix the issue.
How to Use a Massage Gun for Sciatica?
If you have no medical condition, and your doctor recommends you to use a massage gun for sciatica pain, you are all set to use a massage gun now.
Keep in mind, that it is the right procedure of using any tool that makes it right useable.
Use the right massage head from the mentioned massage heads for sciatica, start from the sides of your body, and treat your back, hips, thighs area, and calves for at least 2 minutes.
You can go for more than 2 minutes too only when you are feeling severe pain. Don’t go for more than five minutes massaging one area.
Finish the one side first, then start with the other side, in the same manner as to how you did with the first side.
If it is the first time you are massaging, don’t exert too much pressure on the piriformis muscle. This muscle does not like exerting pressure for more than a few seconds. Give special attention to your lower back area, things, and calves.
Don’t pass the massage gun directly over the Piriformis muscle. Even though sciatica pain is because of the sciatica nerve near the piriformis muscle, you should not exert pressure directly onto it.
Just remember one thing, if you pass the massage gun to an area and it hurts, don’t exert too much pressure over there, and don’t massage it too much.
You should enjoy massaging your lower back to legs. If you feel comfortable do some stretches before, or apply ice to the area
Who can use a Massage Gun for Sciatica?
For using a massage gun, experts say that you can’t use it on an open wound, broken lung, medical conditions, or pregnant woman. Other than that, you can use a massage gun, for sciatica pain too.
Actually, sciatica pain is a different type of medical condition, and for it, there is no harm in using a massage gun, unless you don’t use it directly on the spine, and you don’t have the above-mentioned conditions.
One more thing, if the cause of sciatica pain for you is herniated disc or lumbar stenosis, you still can use a massage gun but with a little care.
Don’t directly use it on the spine, don’t force very hard on the area you are feeling pain.
Again, the massage gun can alleviate the pain for some time, but it can’t fix the issue. You would not get permeant healing unless you fix underlying causes.
Massage Guns Heads for Sciatica Pain
To deal with sciatica pain using a massage gun, it is equally important that you had a good massage gun with the right type of head.
It is the massage head that penetrates the muscle tissue and helps you get relieved from sciatica pain.
Experts recommend the following types of heads for sciatica a Pain:
Wedge Head
If you compare the penetration of the wedge head to any of the other types of massage heads you will see it penetrates deeper into the muscles.
It is a narrow horizontal or vertical type of head that helps you not only with sciatica pain but muscle stiffness and tightness too.
The only drawback of it is, if you place it on the nerve, it brings more damage than good
Lower Back Head
It is a specialized massage gun head for the lower backs. The sciatica nerve is located in the lower back area, and this specialized tool to helps you get relieved from sciatica pain as well as many other lower back issues.
It is a T-shaped head, with a horizontal section of the T curve downward. It helps you have a necessary impact without digging deep into the tissues.
Thumb Head
As the name suggests it is a thumb-like head, with a little curve back with the thumb facing upward.
It is used in hurry, if you want a quick massage, get it used. But, don’t use it if you are a beginner, it requires a little experience.
Four Finger Head
It looks similar to a wedge head, and goes deep into the skin, same as a wedge head.
The only difference between a wedge head and a four-finger head is the dangerous pinch that a wedge head
Massage Gun Tips for Sciatica a Pain
There is always a correct way to do a thing, and if you do it correctly you reap the benefits of whatever you are doing, same goes with the massage gun for sciatica pain.
There are certain ways you can use a massage gun for sciatica and certain features a massage gun should integrate.
The features are mentioned below.
- It should have different head types
- Well-applied force and stall force
- Good stroke length
- Controllable pressure
Stall force is the pressure you apply before the gun stalls, for a Sciatica a nerve pain you want a gun with a high stall force for a reason.
The sciatica nerve is buried deep underneath the layers of the muscle tissue, and to reach that nerve using a massage gun, requires some serious pressure.
You apply enough pressure to the muscles group near the sciatica nerve that they get relaxed.
To get this done, along with the right stall force and pressure, the stroke length also plays a part. For a sciatica nerve, the ideal amplitude lies at 12 mm to 13 mm.
The entire idea of using a massage gun to relieve sciatica pain is to put enough pressure and penetration into the muscles near the sciatica nerve to loosen up the muscles surrounding it.
If you talk about the right stall force, you require around a 35-45lb stall force.
With the right stall force and pressure, the massage gun contributes to a maximum increase in the blood flow and loosing up the muscles around to deal with the sciatica pain.
Don’t forget that human assistance is as important as the gun itself.
Your seller would not provide you with a person or assistance to help you massage the most critical area of the body. You will have to manage human assistance by yourself.
But if you can’t then consider one more aspect along with the above-mentioned features which are; lightweight.
Buy a massage gun that you could lift for minutes without any issue, and handle its weight.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, a massage gun can help in sciatica nerve pain. With the right massage head and the right procedure, we mentioned, you can get your sciatica pain relieved.
But keep in mind, sciatica pain can not be healed completely using a massage gun.
A massage gun can relieve the pain for some time, but unless you erase the root underlying causes, you can’t heal it completely.
Yes, if sciatica pain is because of the swollen muscle, or a temporary injury, and you use a massage gun to loosen up your swollen muscle, in that way, sciatica pain can be healed permanently.
But if it is because of some other reasons, you can’t fix it completely.
So, yes, it is completely safe to use a massage gun for sciatica pain, and there are amazing benefits of using one.
But, if you have a medical condition like hypertension or cardiovascular disease, consult your doctor before using a massage gun.
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