You know the commercial. The one with the person pointing to his or her rear end, indicating that it hurts. The doctor then says that he cannot help with that, as it’s tax pain. Yes, it’s tax season. And no, I can’t help you with that. But I can help you with actual pain in the buttocks.

The most common cause of back side pain is sciatic nerve irritation. This kind of pain can originate in the low back or buttocks and travel down the back of the leg, even travelling as far as the foot. The cause can be a herniated disc, but any irritation of this nerve can create sciatica.

Sciatica is often sourced to an issue called piriformis syndrome, created by inflammation, scar tissue, adhesions, or tightness of the piriformis muscle, a small muscle that is located deep, under the larger gluteus muscles.

Acupuncture is one of the most effective ways of relieving sciatica. As you can see from the image here, there are many acupuncture channel points traditionally found on the buttocks. But, there are also extra points that we call “ashi” points (directly translated as “ah, yes” points—points that hurt when pressed), trigger points (specific points located in a tight ball of muscle found in a tight band of muscle), and motor points (a point where a motor nerve enters a muscle). Distal points—points away from the problem area—are also important, and chosen based on your particular symptoms and constitution.

In addition to relieving your pain by relaxing tight muscles, improving local blood flow, and supporting the healing of damaged tissues, acupuncture can also be very stress-relieving. So, though I can’t crunch numbers for you, I may be able to help you feel better about doing your taxes by reducing at least one pain in the butt.

Come in and try acupuncture—and ask me about biopuncture—to relieve your sciatic pain.