What foods should I avoid when suffering from sciatica? How can I relieve sciatica?

Sciatica is a type of pain that affects normal sitting posture. For example, lumbar disc herniation can cause sciatica. Medication alone is not enough to treat sciatica. It can only relieve pain, and you should also pay attention to some physical therapy methods. So what should you avoid eating for sciatica?

What foods should I avoid for sciatica?

Patients with sciatica should avoid coffee, chili peppers, alcohol, pepper, ice cream, cold drinks, chocolate, etc.

There are also some foods that can prevent or relieve pain symptoms, such as vegetables and mushrooms such as broccoli, sweet potatoes, cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, garlic, celery, and shiitake mushrooms, fruits such as lychees and kiwis, lean meat, animal liver, fish and other meats, cereals such as brown rice, oats, wheat bran, rye, buckwheat, and wheat germ, nuts such as melon seeds, cashews, walnuts, almonds, pistachios, chestnuts, pine nuts, and peanuts, soybeans, red beans, mung beans, as well as eggs and dairy products.

Based on the above ingredients, we recommend a way to eat them together, that is, red bean and brown rice, which can relieve inflammation and calm nerves. Red beans are rich in B vitamins, which can regulate the function of the nervous system and calm nerves. They can relieve the pain of nerve inflammation and relieve the discomfort caused by sciatica. Brown rice contains nutrients such as vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, etc., which work synergistically with the nutrients rich in red beans to effectively fight sciatica.

How to relieve sciatica

1. Stretching

There are many treatment options for sciatica. For patients with sciatica, the best treatment plan can be selected according to the specific condition. For patients with sciatica, stretching treatment can be used to relieve physical pain. Stretching treatment can play a role in assisting the treatment of sciatica. Patients can perform stretching treatments several times to effectively relieve physical pain.

2. Proper sleeping posture

Lumbar patients usually choose to sleep on their backs. When sleeping on their backs, they can put a pillow under their waist. The height of the pillow should be as high as their fist. This will relieve pain. Lying prone is equivalent to exercising the abdominal and back muscles. The patient raises his upper chest and keeps it for 10 to 30 minutes. This can strengthen the waist muscles and relieve pain.

3. Choose the right pillow

Lumbar patients should choose a low pillow for sleeping. The width of the pillow should be wider than the width of your shoulders and the height should be as high as your fist. This is beneficial to blood circulation and helps blood supply to the brain.

4. Punch the Huantiao acupoint with your bare fist

Huantiao acupoint has the effect of benefiting the waist and legs and unblocking the meridians. Pressing this acupoint has a unique therapeutic effect on this disease. Stretching the lower limbs during pressing is conducive to the unblocking of meridian Qi, so as to achieve the purpose of pain relief.

The Huantiao point is close to the hip joint, approximately two-thirds of the way up one side of the buttocks.

5. Proper waist massage

When the patient wakes up in the morning, he should rub his hands together to warm them up, and then massage the lumbar spine. The massage time varies from person to person, and should be continued until the waist becomes warm. This can relieve pain in the painful area.

6. Sleeping in alternating positions

People with sciatica should choose to sleep on their backs. If it feels uncomfortable after a long time, they can change their posture and lie on their side. When lying on your side, the pillow should be raised to shoulder height, at a level where you don't feel pain in your shoulders. Lie on your side with your legs stretched behind your waist.

7. Sleeping on a hard bed

Do not sleep on a mattress that is too soft, as it will aggravate waist pain. A hard bed can relax waist muscles and relieve pain. Note that the quilt should be 5 to 7 cm thick, not too thick.

8. Increase hip and hip training appropriately

Sciatica puts the hips in a tense state, which can also affect blood circulation and metabolism. Increasing training can improve the meridian circulation in your legs.

What to do if lumbar disc herniation causes sciatica

1. Outer side of leg

Palpate the pain point in the lower back and penetrate deeply to see if there is sciatica on the outside of the leg. If so, it can be basically confirmed that it is caused by L4-5 lumbar disc herniation. If not, palpate the gluteus medius to see if there is nerve compression, causing pain on the outside of the leg. This is gluteus medius syndrome.

2. Back of the legs

At the pain point in the lower back, penetrate downward diagonally to see if sciatica occurs in the back of the leg. If so, consider L5-S1 disc herniation. If not, palpate the piriformis muscle. If there is radiating pain in the back of the leg, it is sciatica caused by piriformis syndrome.