The day before she was due to fly to Cape Town for her grandson’s wedding, Shirley Boyle was suddenly struck down with what she describes as ‘the worst back pain of my life’.

Determined not to miss the celebrations, the 77-year-old former dental practice manager from Newcastle-under-Lyme gritted her teeth through the nearly 12-hour flight. But by the time she touched down in South Africa, she was relying on crutches, with painkillers barely taking the edge off. It was clear this was far more than a simple pulled muscle. Back home just days later, her GP delivered the diagnosis: sciatica.

The condition occurs when the roots of the sciatic nerve – which runs from the lower back down through the hips and legs – become inflamed or compressed. It is relatively common, striking around three million Britons each year, and affecting as many as four in ten people over the course of their lifetime.

And while in most cases it clears up on its own within a few months, the pain in the meantime can be extreme – and, for some sufferers, completely debilitating.

NHS guidelines recommend a stepwise approach for sciatica, starting with over-the-counter painkillers, then moving to weak opioids, drugs for nerve-related pain such as gabapentin and, in some cases, epidural injections.

In the most severe cases, patients may even undergo surgery to decompress the nerve.

But experts told The Mail on Sunday that the vast majority of patients can ease – and even cure – the condition themselves, without using powerful drugs, simply by making a handful of lifestyle changes.

As columnist Dr Ellie Cannon wrote last week, although she sees patients with sciatica ‘almost every day’, many remain unaware of the simple treatments available. She asked readers to share how they had managed their often-debilitating sciatica – and was inundated with letters and emails.

Sciatica occurs when the roots of the sciatic nerve – which runs from the lower back down through the hips and legs – become inflamed or compressed

Their suggestions ranged from the conventional – physiotherapy, regular exercise and weight loss – to the more unusual, including inversion tables to create space between the vertebrae; CBD patches on the area and even regular buttock massages.

One woman even wrote that she cured her sciatica by ditching her underwired bras: ‘I’ve swapped to highly unflattering shapewear that is like a surgical stocking and gives no shape whatsoever. But I have not worn a bra in six months and have not had sciatica since,’ she added.

For Shirley, the solution was similarly surprising: acupuncture.

‘I’d tried it before for hip pain, so I booked a session as soon as I got home,’ she said. ‘After the first treatment I felt nothing – I thought it was a waste of money. But later that day, after sitting in my armchair for a few hours, I stood up and walked to the kitchen without my crutches.