Shiatsu Corrected My Pregnancy Sciatica

I remember jumping up out of bed in serious pain. There was a nerve that was shooting pain up the back of my thigh and into the deep tissues of my buttocks. I was pregnant and thought, RLS? My husband thought that there was something wrong with the baby and I explained to him what I was feeling. He tried to massage away the pain, which really didn’t help. Eventually I took Tylenol and fell back asleep. Nightly the pain would return. Stretching didn’t work. I knew that I was taking all of my vitamins, including calcium. Water was not the issue. I finally asked my doctor, what is going on? She said that it was a sciatic nerve and it was perfectly normal during pregnancy. Normal is fine, but I surely was not fine with being in pain on a consistent basis.
I told EVERYONE about my sciatica in hopes of finding someone who went through the same issue. I asked how I could obtain relief. Many people had no idea. At the same time I was working full-time and putting together programs for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month at my company. During the process I wound up conversing with the owner of The International School of Shiatsu . I even told her about my pain! She asked me if I had ever had shiatsu and explained the benefits. I asked her, “can it fix this sciatic nerve issue that I am having?”. The answer was yes. I couldn’t get to that school fast enough! I worked with a woman named Diane who is based in New Jersey, but teaches students at the school. She is trained to work with pregnant women. For those of you not familiar with shiatsu, its like a massage with acupressure. Your body will be stretched and moved around during the process. It does not hurt and its not strenuous. I actually started falling asleep after the first couple of sessions. It really relaxed my body and improved the quality of my pregnancy.
If you are having sciatic nerve problems during your pregnancy, I would invite you to contact a shiatsu practitioner. Make sure that they are certified to work with pregnanct women. You will not be sorry.