What Is Sciatica?

Sciatica is any sort of pain that radiates along the pathway of the sciatic nerve. While it has a number of causes, the most common is when a vertebra in your lower back become misaligned and starts to irritate or pinch the nearby sciatic nerve. This leads to inflammation and discomfort, sometimes just a mild ache, but in severe cases excruciating levels of pain. Additionally, you may feel muscle weakness in the legs, feet, and toes, pins and needles sensations and weakness along with reduced reflexes.

These Sciatica symptoms can be intermittent or chronic, often have an undesirable impact on the quality of life, especially when they also lead to Erectile Dysfunction (ED).

What is the Sciatic Nerve?

The Sciatic Nerve is made of sensory (sensation) and motor (movement) fibers and is the largest nerve in the body comprising of five nerve roots and it passes down into your gluteal muscles (commonly known as the buttocks), back of the thigh, and finally through the calf and heel to the sole of the foot.

How Sciatica Can Have an Effect on Your Erection?

Nerves send and receiving messages between different body parts and the brain informing which bodily systems need to be activated to perform a specific function. To achieve a satisfactory erection allowing penetrative sexual intercourse needs a combination of fully functioning nerves, veins, arousal, blood flow and arteries all interacting with the sensation and movement fibers of the penis. With sciatica you will probably find it difficult to get and maintain an erection, even if you feel sexually aroused.

Treatment for Sciatica

While sciatica can be very painful and potentially debilitating, it can often be resolved with the right self-care and medications. But if you think that your sciatica may be related to ED, you should first consider whether any of the following issues are reasons you’re having problems with erections:

Heart, and blood vessel disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, atherosclerosis, high blood pressure or cholesterol, Peyronie’s disease, and previous surgery on the penis, spinal cord, bladder, or pelvis.

How To Prevent Sciatica and ED

You can prevent sciatica by maintaining good posture, not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, being physically active and undertake low impact exercise that won’t hurt your back, e.g., yoga and swimming.

Can Little Blue Pills Ease Sciatic Pain?

Little Blue Pills and other ED medications are well known for their ability to temporarily enable erectile function in men suffering from ED caused by insufficient blood flow to the penis and a number of studies have shown that this increase in blood flow often help to ease the discomfort of sciatica by increasing blood flow to the nerve. However, we know that after a while of taking little blue pills they become less effective for treating ED plus intercourse has to be planned removing much of the pleasure of spontaneous  sex.

Treating Sciatica and ED with Shockwave Therapy

Normally, we treat Erectile Dysfunction and Sciatica over a few weeks using a number of treatments. Our research into using a combination of treatments has shown that this will provide the best long-term outcome for patients.

While sciatica and ED are two distinct medical conditions, both can significantly impact an individual’s quality of life. Traditionally, these conditions have been treated separately using various approaches. However, our own experiences treating patients and recent research has unveiled the potential of utilising Shockwave therapy as a combined treatment modality for both sciatica and ED. By harnessing the regenerative properties of Shockwave therapy, we have been able to enhance muscle and nerve strength, stimulate blood flow, and provide much needed help for many patients.

The Role of Shockwave Therapy in Muscle and Nerve Regeneration

Shockwave therapy, also known as Extracorporeal ShockWave Therapy (ESWT), involves the application of acoustic waves to affected areas. We have used this non-invasive procedure widely in the treatment of various musculoskeletal conditions, including plantar fasciitis and tendinopathies.

Enhancing Functional Improvement in the Sciatic Nerve – Sciatica is often characterized by pain, tingling, or numbness originating from the lower back and radiating down the leg. Shockwave therapy can stimulate the regeneration of damaged nerves, leading to improved functional outcomes. By increasing blood flow and promoting the release of growth factors, Shockwave therapy has been shown to help nerve repair and alleviate sciatic nerve compression.

Strengthening Muscles and Nerves – Sciatica can result in muscle weakness due to prolonged nerve compression. Shockwave therapy stimulates muscle regeneration and enhances the recruitment of muscle fibres. By targeting the affected muscles, Shockwave therapy can strengthen the musculature surrounding the sciatic nerve, improving stability, and reducing the risk of re-injury.

You can find links to clinical studies into the effects of Shockwave Therapy on Sciatica at the bottom of the page. (1) (2)

Revitalizing Blood Flow for Erectile Dysfunction

Improving Penile Blood Flow – Shockwave therapy has the ability to promote angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels, and improve microcirculation. By delivering acoustic waves to the penile tissues, Shockwave therapy encourages the release of growth factors and stimulates the production of nitric oxide, a key mediator of penile vasodilation. These mechanisms contribute to enhanced blood flow into the penis, resulting in better and firmer erectile function.

What’s more, its non-invasive nature makes it an attractive option for men seeking alternative or supplementary treatments and who wish to enjoy once again spontaneous erections without resorting to pills or pumps.

We also undertake ElectroMagnetic Transduction Therapy (EMMT) that reaches the endothelial cells within the millions of blood vessels in the penis, these cells produce energy, transfer nutrients and aid in cell regeneration while promoting your overall environment to enable faster healing and the recovery of sexual function. EMMT has also been found effective in a prospective randomised controlled trial to manage back pain.