If you’ve ever felt a pain radiating from your lower back and down through the glues into your legs then most likely you were experiencing sciatic nerve pain. With the potential to come on suddenly and be very unpredictable, living with sciatica necessitates learning how to treat sciatica symptoms quickly and efficiently. Does a massage chair help with sciatica?
Today, we're exploring that question and more to determine what sciatica is and how a massage chair may help you get back to being pain-free as quickly as possible.
What Is Sciatica?
Before we get to answering the question, “does a massage chair help with sciatica?” we first need to understand what it is. Sciatica is a term used to refer to pain radiating along the path of the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is the largest in the body, starting in the lower back and extending all the way to the heels of your feet.
Sciatica is most commonly experienced in one side of your body at a time, resulting in sharp, shooting pains from the lower back down into your leg. Sciatic nerve pain affects both men and women, with upwards of 40% of all adults experiencing it at some point in their lifetimes. It is also known to become more frequent as we get older, though it can affect people of any age.
What Causes Sciatica?
Sciatic nerve pain is caused by the irritation, inflammation, pinching, or compression of the sciatic nerve in the lower back. This pinched nerve pain can radiate all the way down into your leg and be extremely painful. Conversely, some people may experience numbness with sciatica symptoms instead.
Most commonly, the catalyst for sciatic nerve pain may be a herniated disc, bone spur, or spinal stenosis putting excess pressure on the sciatic nerve. Fortunately, sciatica treatment can often be managed at home with massage or other non-invasive options. Before beginning any treatment for sciatica, however, consult your doctor for advice on what may work best and is safe for your case.
Does a Massage Chair Help With Sciatica?
Massage can be a powerful treatment to provide both physical and mental health benefits. Does massage help sciatica? It may! One study even showed that 30 minutes of deep tissue massage could be as effective as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications at eliminating lower back pain that could instigate sciatic nerve pain.
Instead of trying to fit regular massage appointments into an already-busy schedule (as well as paying expensive session fees each time), many people have turned to the benefits of owning a massage chair while answering the question, “does massage help sciatica related pain?” Having the benefits of massage therapy at home any time sciatic nerve pain flares up could be more beneficial for timely treatment and relief. For example, instead of scheduling an emergency massage therapy session when pain hits, deep tissue massage benefits could be at your fingertips in the privacy of your own home.
In addition to the immediate ability to choose from different types of massage programming to help alleviate sciatic nerve pain, advancements in today’s luxury massage chair models have eliminated the difference between using a massage chair vs human massage with options available giving you control over speed, intensity, and even stroke depth (in 4D massage chairs).
How else does massage help with sciatic nerve pain, you wonder? Another study showed the potential for massage to increase the range of motion as well as pain relief in persons with back pain and sciatica symptoms. Protecting and potentially improving range of motion with massage may help get you back to pain-free living faster than ever.
Massage Chair Features for Sciatica
Does a massage chair help with sciatica? In short, yes it may. That said, there are more massage chair features available than just different types of massage programming that may enhance your healing and get you back on your feet.
Features like the benefits of heat therapy have been recognized for its potential for pain relief in persons with acute lower back pain and sciatica symptoms. Not only could massage chairs with heat therapy keep muscles relaxed and loose, but they may also help with healing a herniated disc more efficiently (a common source of sciatic nerve pain).
Other full body massage chair features like an L-track frame continue rollers beyond the lower back to the glutes and top of the hamstrings. Whether you’ve selected a 3D vs 4D massage chair, this extension will provide an incredible massage experience that may help alleviate sciatic nerve pain more quickly and effectively than S-track counterparts whose rollers stop at the lower back.
We hope this guide has helped answer your question, “does a massage chair help with sciatica?” and showed you just how much they could positively impact your life. Finding methods for sciatic nerve pain relief is crucial to getting back to your old self and taking on each day without worry. Choose a massage chair that meets your needs and experience for yourself just how much of a difference it makes!
Massage chairs are ideal self-care tools for more than just sciatic nerve pain relief. To learn more about how a massage chair could enhance your lifestyle, check out these resources:
