Sciatica Stretches - Any Time, Any Where

Posted on October 31, 2008
Filed Under Back Pain |

Sciatica, best-known as sciatic nerve pain, can be a dreadful illness that can really degrade your quality of life if left untreated.Sciatica nervestretches can provide relief to your pain, but it is crucial to first understand the potential causes of sciatica.

Essentially, sciatica is nerve impairment that has been triggered by either stress, or tight muscles pinching the nerve.The sciatic nerve begins in your lower back area, and travels down, through the buttock area, and down through the hamstring and the back of your leg. Thus, when you have excessively tight hamstrings, that can trigger pain in your sciatic nerve.

Generally, these overly tight muscles mean that muscles in the surrounding areas are quite weak, and this is determined to be the most common cause of sciatica. You can overcome this, and ease the painful nerve by regular sciatica stretches.

Another cause of sciatic nerve damage is occupations such as truck driving, where you  are sitting for long periods of time, and being bounced around at the same time, which applies pressure  and stress on the sciatic nerve. Sciatica can also be caused by a herniated lumbar disc, in which case, simply performing sciatica  stretches won’t help too much, and can in fact in up harming your sciatic nerve further.

Consider  one of these simple exercises to help you find outthe type of sciatica you may be suffering  from. Sit in a chair and try stretching the leg with the side you are having pain on, out straight.  If this increases your sciatic nerve pain, chances are you are suffering from true sciatica related to a  herniated disk.The second test you can try is pulling your knee on your painful side slowly, up to the shoulder on  the same side. Then relax a  bit and proceed to pull the knee towards the opposite shoulder, and gauge your pain.If  it is significantly more painful pulling to the opposite shoulder, tight muscles are the most likely  culprit for your sciatica.

Here are 2 simple Sciatic nerve stretching exercisesyou can do to help relieve your pain. The first one you perform the same exercise as listed above under the test exercises, but you do it lying down on your back. This can help stretch out tight hamstring muscle. Be careful though as this can aggravate a herniated disc.

The second stretch is based on yoga exercises.  Lie flat on your tummy and push up on your elbows, looking up and breathing deeply.  This creates a slight curve in your lower spine and helps to relieve pressure and pain. But again, be careful, because if your sciatica is caused by a facet syndrome, this can aggravate it.

Also it is good to note that pain may increase for a bit when doing this sciatica stretch, but usually with practice it improves.  Get up and take a break between reps, walk it off. Both of these sciatica exercises can help you heal, as long as you do them several times a day for as long as you have nerve pain or numbness, and there are no other causes of your sciatica you are unaware of.

One thing to remember is that sciatica can be caused by various factors at once. Herniated disc’s, facet syndrome which I mentioned briefly before, tight muscles. Facet syndrome involves rear joints at the base of
your spine, and extending your back like the yoga exercise from before  can actually increase your pain and worsenthe problems.  In that case it is normally recommended to lie flat on your back and hug your knees. However if you are also suffering from a herniated disc, then hugging your knees isn’t recommended. Thus the absolute best thing you can do is to see your doctor before performing any Sciatica stretches, and find out exactly where the cause of the pain is originating from, is the safest and smartest path to take.They can then refer you to a therapist that will help you perform the appropriate exercises relevant to your particular case.

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Comments

One Response to “Sciatica Stretches - Any Time, Any Where”

  1. sophia jason on December 10th, 2008 7:04 am

    Sciatica is a common form of low back pain and leg pain caused by pressure on the sciatic nerve. Sciatica occurs most frequently in people between 30 and 50 years of age and can be a debilitating disorder in some people. Anti inflammatory drugs and surgery are used but they do not cure the condition. Spinal manipulation, massage therapy are some of the possible solutions and are recommended before considering surgery. For more information on sciatica visit here click here, know more about New York Integrative Medical and Rehab

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