Can a Massage Relieve Sciatica Pain?

20th January 2025

Sciatica can cause intense pain for sufferers, and often disrupts daily life through extreme discomfort. Caused by a trapped or compressed sciatic nerve, sciatica is often a long-standing issue, especially for those who don’t seek the right sort of treatment or relief.

Increasing blood flow, reducing tension and releasing endorphins can all help provide relief for sciatica pain, and the right massage can do all of these things.

The effects of a massage on nerves and soft tissue

A sciatica pain relief massage can help through a range of effects, varying from releasing trapped nerves to increasing blood flow in a targeted area. A professional massage not only reduces pain and tightness, but can actually promote healing and repair to damaged tissues.

If your sciatic troubles are as a result of recurring or lasting injury, an effective soft or deep tissue massage may restore regular muscle function, and release pressure which was compressing the nerve and causing pain.

Another positive impact of massage therapy is that it reduces swelling. Swelling is often caused by damaged blood vessels, so a massage can amend this by increasing movement and temperature in the affected area, promoting the reabsorption of fluids into the circulatory system. This decrease in swelling might reduce pressure on the sciatic nerve, or release a trapped nerve, which should lead to significant sciatica-related pain relief.

A massage can also increase joint range of motion in the lower back or upper leg areas. This is useful as it normalises movement and reduces the chance of damage or extra strain on certain muscles which may have been overcompensating for lack of motion elsewhere. Strained muscles often swell or become tighter, which can also be a cause of sciatica.


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What type of massage is best for sciatica?

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A deep tissue massage is generally the best for sciatica, though it does depend on the cause of your sciatic pain. Deep tissue massage might come under the remit of sports massage therapy, but it is so effective because it relaxes tense muscles which may have been compressing the nerve, and can even release endorphins, which can be directly linked to pain relief.

Tense muscles often put extreme pressure on nerves, trapping or compressing them. More often than not, amending this is the first port of call when treating sciatica problems.

Deep tissue massage uses slow and deep motions with sustained pressure, targeting deeper muscles and connective tissues. Ideally, this will relieve tension enough to release a trapped or compressed nerve, but even if this doesn’t happen, you can still expect a significant decrease in pain and discomfort.


In some cases, a deep tissue massage might not be the best choice for treatment. There are other options, such as myofascial release, or different kinds of sports massages, which can be effective for pain relief and treatment of sciatica. A myofascial release targets the myofascial layer of soft tissue between the muscles and the skin, which can often be the foundation of sciatic nerve issues.

Is massage therapy or a chiropractor better for sciatic nerve pain?

Massage therapy is preferable for treating sciatic nerve pain. Fitness specialists, such as our team at Injury Mechanics, understand the roots and causes of injuries and conditions causing pain. We then treat these issues by targeting these centres using an evidence-based approach which guarantees results.


A common misconception is that chiropractors are lower-back specialists, but this is actually not the case. There is limited evidence to support that chiropractic services will be effective for sciatic nerve problems, and we know that sciatica is often a symptom of other disorders or injuries which are beyond the scope of chiropractic relief. It is our belief that forms of physical and massage therapy are proven ways of treating patients consistently and effectively.

Managing sciatica pain with massage therapy

Managing sciatica pain is made significantly easier with massage therapy, but using massages alone will not achieve the best results for you. We would encourage self-management to help you treat your sciatic pain outside of our sessions, so that you see lasting results from working with us, and your pain doesn’t return.

For example, a deep tissue massage might be a great way to treat tense muscles and relieve pressure which is directly compressing the sciatic nerve. However, after this massage, we would encourage you to continue to manage your pain through teaching and encouraging correct posture and looking at movement patterns. Using these techniques and services in unison will provide the best, most effective, long lasting pain relief.

At Injury Mechanics, we are experts at treating sciatica pain.Through our methodical evidence-based approach, we target causes of pain, as well as treatment. Work with us for treatment tailored to suit you, and regain control over your body.


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Are there other ways to manage sciatica?

Massage is only a small part of the recovery of sciatica, as sciatica is an umbrella term used to summarise a lot of different onsets. Massage does indeed help with the initial pain, discomfort and range of motion, but it is key to understand the importance of expert advice in regards to joint mobilisation, changes in training/working loads to deload the problematic area, and the importance of exercise prescription.