Sciatica can come and go throughout your life, creating anxiety about when the next flare-up will be. There are many different causes of Sciatic nerve compression, including inflammation, muscle tightness, and herniated disks. It's common to experience sciatica during pregnancy as well. Depending on the root cause, your sciatica may get better or worse over time.

When sciatica doesn't go away on its own, it's time to get some help.

How Massage Therapy Helps Sciatica

The good news is that Sciatica is highly treatable and massage therapy is one of the most recommended treatments.

Massage therapy for Sciatica

relaxes tight back, hip, and leg muscles
relieves pressure on Sciatic nerve
decreases inflammation and swelling
improves circulation
increases range of motion and mobility

Just one massage creates immediate relief for sciatica.

A series of 4-8 massages can correct muscle balance, posture, and movement, and lead to lasting relief.

Even within the massage category there are many types of massages, and you may be surprised by what is most effective.

The Best Type of Massage for Sciatica

Pressure point massage for sciatica is a popular treatment method that professionals offer and patients will DIY at home by self-massaging trigger points in their hip.

If you haven't tried this, you basically find the most painful spot in your body and press really hard on it for a minute or two. Ouch!

But let's think about it: you have Sciatic pain because the nerve is being compressed.

And the solution is to push on the area and compress the Sciatic nerve even more?

Does that really make sense?

There's a smarter, gentler approach to massage for hip and low back relief.

Sciatica Massage in Seattle

At Sage Bodywork, we're passionate Licensed Massage Therapists who have helped many Seattle residents recover from sciatica with our "gentle and effective" approach to massage therapy. We'd love to help you too.

We use Myofascial Release massage to slowly lengthen the connective tissue of the hip, leg, and low back and take the strain off these tight muscles. This approach restores structure and balance to the body.

We also use Cupping for Sciatica and Piriformis Syndrome. When we place a small vacuum cup on the hip, we lift everything off the Sciatic nerve to give it space to heal, while simultaneously stretching and relaxing the Piriformis muscle that runs around the nerve. It's a brilliant way to treat nerve compression without compressing the nerve. (Learn more about cupping)

And hey, did your sciatica start after a car accident, injury, or surgery like a C-section? Even seemingly unrelated scar tissue can trigger hip and low back pain. But we're really, really good at breaking up scar tissue and healing old injuries (and it doesn't even hurt!).

Our 60 minute "Stress Buster" combo massage lets you try both of the massage techniques described above for immediate relief. You can use the online scheduler below to book your "Stress Buster" massage.

Who's my massage therapist?

We're Licensed Massage Therapists who are passionate about gentle and effective massage.

For low back pain and and sciatica in particular, we recommend booking with Leo Atregenio, LMT (they/them), license MA61000960.

Clients love Leo's warmth and intuitive, gentle touch. As someone who's personally suffered from hip and low back pain, Leo really cares about helping others heal from it so they can move freely without pain.