Understanding, managing, and preventing sciatica pain using electrostimulation

In Europs, lower back pain and sciatica affect 70% of the population. Sciatica is a pain that radiates along the leg, following the path of the sciatic nerve. In this article, discover how electrostimulation can be a valuable ally in relieving this type of pain.

What is sciatica?

The sciatic nerve (also known as the ischiatic nerve) is the longest and thickest nerve in the human body. It originates from several nerve branches at the level of the spine, particularly from the roots of the last two lumbar vertebrae (L4 and L5) and the first three sacral nerves. From there, it travels through the buttock, down the back of the leg, and divides behind the knee. This nerve supplies motor and sensory function to the posterior part of the thigh.

The sciatic nerve is involved in sciatalgias, which cause pain that can spread along its entire path, including the buttock, thigh, leg, foot, and even the toes. The term "sciatica" is commonly used to describe pain linked to lesions or irritation of this nerve. "Lumbosciatica" or "lumbosciatalgia" refer to pain stemming from irritation at the origin of the nerve, near the vertebrae.

This pain can extend from the buttock down to the foot. Sciatica may be chronic or recurrent, causing shooting, electric-shock-like pain in the areas innervated by the sciatic nerve. The most common causes are compression of the nerve from a herniated disc, tumors, or neurological disease.

Relieving Sciatic Nerve Pain with Electrostimulation

Below are our recommended programs, electrode placements, and ideal positions to help alleviate the pain.

✅Program

TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) anti-pain program (labeled as TENS or modulated TENS on Compex models)

🕒Duration of treatment

Until the pain is gone

Depending on how the pain evolves, you can do multiple sessions per day (5, 6...) if needed.

📍Electrode Placement

Place two large electrodes lengthwise along the sciatic nerve: one at the lower part of the buttock (straddling the top of the thigh) and the other behind the thigh. If the pain radiates further down, use two more large electrodes. If the pain is in the back of the leg, place them behind the calf; if it’s more towards the front, place them along the front of the leg, just outside the shinbone (which you can feel easily by touch).

🧘Body Position

Choose whatever comfortable position suits you best.

⚙️Intensity Setting

Target effect: Achieve a strong tingling sensation, but not pain.

Treating Radiating Sciatic Nerve Pain with Electrostimulation

It is also common for radiating sciatic nerve pain to be associated with lower back pain. If that’s the case, you should proceed as follows:

✅Program

Lumbago or TENS

🕒Duration of treatment

Until the pain disappears

At least once per day, ideally twice (morning and evening is perfect!)

📍Electrode placement

Place the positive electrodes on the most painful spots to touch.

🧘Body position

Seated or lying down in a comfortable position

⚙️Intensity setting

Target effect: Achieve well-pronounced but still comfortable muscle twitches.

Increase the intensity until you obtain a muscular response resembling a pulsation or strong vibration, also called muscle twitches. This muscular activity, which is very different from a real contraction, behaves like a pump and is crucial for significantly increasing blood flow in the stimulated muscle. As you increase the intensity, the muscle pulsation will first be subtle, then become more and more pronounced, eventually reaching a plateau where the muscle response is maximal. It is possible to increase the intensity further, but doing so does not provide additional benefits.

Preventing sciatica by strengthening your core with electrostimulation

This should be discussed with your physiotherapist, but often improving the muscle quality of your abdominals and lumbar muscles can lead to significant improvement—these muscles play an essential role in supporting the lumbar region. One advantage of electrostimulation is that it allows you to strengthen these muscles without imposing mechanical stress on the lower back, and thus without the risk of triggering pain (which is often the case with voluntary exercises).

✅Program

Core strengthening (or Muscle Building, depending on your Compex model)

🕒Cycle duration and session frequency

3 sessions per week for 6 weeks

(After that, and throughout the season, it’s recommended to maintain one session per week to preserve the gains achieved.)

📍Electrode placement

All 4 channels are necessary to effectively stimulate both the abdominals and the lumbar muscles.

🧘Body position

The simplest exercise consists of sitting down with your forearms resting on an armrest.

The voluntary exercise associated with the simultaneous contraction of the abdominal and lumbar muscles consists of:

- Pulling in your stomach

- Exhaling slowly to fully empty your lungs over about 8 seconds

- Performing a self-lengthening effort by tucking in your chin

Once you can perform this exercise easily and reach significant stimulation intensities, you can do the session in a plank position, for example, in a prone plank on your forearms or on your side, maintaining the position for 2, then 3 cycles of contractions. The mi-ACTION technology of the SP8.0 makes this type of combined exercise easier, further enhancing the effectiveness of electrostimulation.

⚙️Intensity setting

Target effect: Trigger strong contractions involving the greatest possible number of muscle fibers.

It’s important to regularly increase the intensity up to the maximum you can tolerate! This is crucial, as the intensity directly determines the percentage of muscle fibers you recruit. Since only the fibers that work will progress, you should always aim to engage as many as possible—turn the intensity as high as you safely can.