Low Back Pain and Sciatica Treatment: Herbs

Many of the herbs prescribed for low back pain and sciatica have strong anti-inflammatory properties (turmeric, boswellia, and to a lesser extent devil's claw and white willow), others aid in the regeneration of cartilage (comfrey and chondroitin), some promote nerve repair (St. John's Wort) and others are used for pain relief (white willow) making them specifically helpful for treating pain that is a result of specific causes.

For more structural causes of back pain and sciatica, bodily treatments seem to be more effective, as they will work to correct these structural imbalances manually.

• Low Back Pain and Sciatica and White Willow
• Low Back Pain and Sciatica and St. John's Wort
• Low Back Pain and Sciatica and Comfrey
• Low Back Pain and Sciatica and Devil's Claw
• Low Back Pain and Sciatica and Cayenne
• Low Back Pain and Sciatica and Chondroitin
• Low Back Pain and Sciatica and Boswellia
• Low Back Pain and Sciatica and Turmeric
• Low Back Pain and Sciatica and Ginger
• Low Back Pain and Sciatica and Proteolytic Enzymes

Extract of the herb white willow appears to be helpful for acute and chronic back pain and sciatica, presumably because of its similarity to aspirin. White willow helps to inhibit pain and, to a...

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St. John's Wort, though most commonly known as a popular treatment for depression, acts as a "tonic" for regenerating nerve tissue, which can help in the treatment of sciatica and/or other forms...

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As a topical cream, comfrey can directly help to stimulate cell growth. When part of the cause of the low back pain or sciatic is cartilage loss, like in osteoarthritis, this stimulation can be...

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Devil's claw has been used for the treatment of osteoarthritis, and has been tried for back pain as well. When the pain is arthritic in nature, is likely the best time to use devil's claw for the...

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Cayenne contains capsaicin, a substance that produces an immediate burning sensation but later reduces pain. When applied directly to the pain point, cayenne can possibly be helpful for treating...

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As stated above, chondroitin has been mostly studied for it's ability to treat osteoarthritis. Therefore, the implications of it as an effective treatment for general low back pain and sciatica...

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The gummy resin of the boswellia tree has a long history of use in Indian herbal medicine as a treatment for arthritis among other conditions. Low back pain and/or sciatica that results from...

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As noted above, turmeric has been used to treat arthritis (sometimes the cause of low back pain and/or sciatica) in Ayurveda for centuries. Also, through research it has been found that turmeric...

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Though no formal research on the effects of ginger on low back pain/sciatica specifically seems to have been done, ginger is still sometimes recommended for the treatment of these conditions.

The...

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Several studies provide preliminary evidence that proteolytic enzymes might be helpful for various forms of chronic pain, including osteoarthritis.

Studies enrolling a total of more than 400 people...

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