Sciatica Pain Shooting Down Your Leg? How Acupuncture Can Help
Supporting nerve pain means working with the whole system, not just the symptom.
Sciatica Pain Shooting Down Your Leg? How Acupuncture Can Help
Sciatica often shows up as sharp, burning, or electric pain that starts in the low back or hip and travels down the leg. Sometimes it’s constant. Sometimes it flares with sitting, standing, or walking. For many people, the pain shifts from day to day and doesn’t respond well to stretching or rest alone.
At True Nature Wellness in Sebastopol, I work with people experiencing sciatic nerve pain who want a grounded approach that supports healing without forcing the body or aggravating already irritated tissue.
From a Western medical perspective, sciatica involves irritation or compression of the sciatic nerve. This can be related to disc bulges or herniation, deep muscle tension in the hips or glutes, inflammation in the low back, or movement and postural patterns that overload one side of the body. Sciatic pain can also be connected to training load, repetitive movement, or recovery issues, which I talk more about in my approach to acupuncture for sports injuries.
From a Chinese medicine perspective, sciatica reflects disrupted flow — when circulation, nerve signaling, and tissue movement aren’t coordinating smoothly through the low back, hips, and legs. Old injuries, stress, overuse, and depletion can all contribute to this pattern.
Acupuncture works by supporting the nervous system and improving circulation in areas affected by nerve irritation. In cases of sciatica, treatment may help reduce pain signaling, release deep muscular holding in the hips and low back, improve circulation along the leg and lumbar pathways, and calm nervous system reactivity that can amplify pain. When pain has been present for some time, improvement often unfolds over a series of treatments rather than all at once.
Sciatica rarely exists as an isolated issue. I look at how the pain fits into the larger picture — including posture, movement habits, stress load, sleep, and overall nervous system tone. Treatment may include acupuncture along the low back, hips, and leg channels, distal points to support nerve regulation, cupping or gua sha to release deep tissue tension (which I explain more about here), and hands-on bodywork to support alignment and ease. Sessions are responsive rather than formulaic, shaped by what’s present rather than a preset protocol.
Between sessions, small adjustments often make a difference. Taking breaks from prolonged sitting, using heat to relax tight tissue when appropriate, walking gently to maintain circulation, and avoiding aggressive stretching that increases nerve pain can all support recovery. Sleep position and hip support also matter more than many people realize.
If sciatic pain is radiating down the leg, changing sensation, interfering with sleep, or lingering despite rest, it’s often a sign that the system needs support rather than more pushing. Acupuncture offers a way to work with the body’s signals and reduce irritation without overriding them.