Use of supplements to treat patients diagnosed with sciatica
WorkSafeBC Evidence-Based Practice Group, Martin CW
Record ID 32018015240
English
Authors' objectives:
To determine whether there is any evidence to support the (causal) association between the use of supplements, particularly Magnesium Gyclinate, Palmitoylethanolamide, Turmeric, Vitamin D3, Vitamin C and/or Creatine Monohydrate, in treating patients diagnosed with sciatica.
Authors' results and conclusions:
No published study on the application of magnesium gyclinate and creatine monohydrate for treating sciatica was identified in our systematic literature search. Twenty-three and forty-three published study was identified when we expanded our search to magnesium and creatine only. Thirteen, one, three and three published studies were identified when searching for the application of palmitoylethanolamide, vitamin D-3, vitamin C and turmeric, respectively, in treating sciatica. Upon examination of the titles and abstracts of the 83 published studies identified in our literature search, only one study was thought to be relevant to the objective of this systematic review and was retrieved in full for further appraisal. Hesselink and Kopsky published an expert review (level of evidence 5) on the safety and efficacy of palmitoylethanolamide in treating sciatic pain and carpal tunnel syndrome. We manually traced this expert review paper for the primary studies that are relevant to the objective of this systematic review and identified and retrieved in full three primary studies that may be relevant to the objective of this systematic review. The expert review (level of evidence 5) paper by Hesselink and Kopsky will not be discussed further. It should be noted that two of these studies were published in journals that are not indexed in the National Library of Medicine database (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/serfile_addedinfo.html) ,which also includes all MEDLINE® titles as well as other non-MEDLINE titles (https://ftp.ncbi.nih.gov/pubmed/J_Medline.txt); hence were not identified in our literature searches. The large (n=610) case series (level of evidence 4) reporting the outcome among chronic pain patients of different pathogenesis treated with 600 mg Normast® did not provide separate outcomes among different chronic pain groups, hence will not be discussed further. At present, there is no evidence to support the efficacy/effectiveness of magnesium gyclinate, turmeric, vitamin D-3, vitamin C and/or creatine monohydrate in treating patients diagnosed with sciatica. At present, there is some high level but of very low quality evidence on the effectiveness of palmitoylethanolamide in treating patients diagnosed with sciatica. However, the potential effect of bias, chance and confounding cannot be excluded in affecting the reported outcomes.
Authors' methods:
A comprehensive and systematic literature search was conducted on August 26, 2025. The search was done on commercial medical literature databases where a combination of key words was employed in this search. No limitation, such as on the language or date of publication, was implemented in any of these searches. A manual search was also planned and conducted on the references of the articles that were retrieved in full.
Details
Project Status:
Completed
URL for project:
https://www.worksafebc.com/en/about-us/research-services/evidence-based-medicine-and-systematic-reviews
Year Published:
2025
English language abstract:
An English language summary is available
Publication Type:
Mini HTA
Country:
Canada
MeSH Terms
- Sciatica
- Dietary Supplements
- Vitamins
Keywords
- Magnesium Gyclinate
- Palmitoylethanolamide
- Turmeric
- Vitamin D3
- Vitamin C
- Creatine Monohydrate
- sciatica
Contact
Organisation Name:
WorkSafeBC
Contact Address:
6591 Westminster Highway, Richmond, BC, V7C 1C6 Canada. Tel: 604-231-8417; Fax: 604-279-7698
Contact Name:
ebpg@worksafebc.com
Contact Email:
ebpg@worksafebc.com
Copyright:
WorkSafe BC
This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA or other HTA producer. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database.