This time, the theme of the workshop was sciatica. Sciatica is an illness encountered frequently in clinical practice. I know that sciatica has many causes and therefore there are many approaches to treatment, and it was for this reason that Kiyoshi Sensei's demonstration was interesting. He showed that his clinical experience was sufficient to inform us on many approaches.

Yoko-Sensei became our model for this treatment, due to her minor sciatic complaint.
What follows is a treatmetn summary. Please refer to the video for further information:


1: Questioning the patient and conduct a test for Lasègue’s sign.

2: lateral side position: Apply the basic Shiatsu treatment on the lumbar region, sacral region, gluteal region, and femoral region.

(the basic shiatsu points of the lateral femoral region, points located anteriorly along the lateral femoral region, point located posteriorly along the lateral femoral region and the basic shiatsu points of the lateral femoral region with the flexion and the extension at the lower limb by the patient’s active movement).

The reason for operating the active movement not the passive movement is because using both hands is required to give a stable pressure.
Operating this for about 10 minutes is effective.

Apply pressure on the Dermatome regions for L4-S3 and stimulate the sciatic nerve using the cutaneous reflex.
Apply the pathological reflex points A.K.A. “Aze-no Tsubo”.

3:Prone Position:

Apply the basic Shiatsu points or “Aze-no Tsubo” from the lumbar region to legs.
Conduct the test for Lasègue’s sign again to check effectiveness.

After the demonstration by Kiyoshi-sensei, members practiced each other. The approach of applying the Shiatsu pressure with active movement impressed me. During practice I noticed more clinical experiences will be required to be effective, because it was quite hard to stabilize the patient’s position. I also found it difficult to indicate the direction of the active movement properly. I’d like to keep practicing more and more. I look forward to the next workshop.  ( by  Kazumi)