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Sciatica Stretching Exercises
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Sciatic nerve pain, also known as a condition called sciatica, is an illness that when left untreated can become painful and overwhelming, and really degrade your quality of life.Sciatica stretching exercises can provide relief to your pain, but it is essential to first understand the potential causes of sciatica.
Essentially, sciatica is nerve damage 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. Therefore, when you have excessively tight hamstrings, that can trigger pain in your sciatic nerve.
Most of the time, 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 sciatic pain. You can overcome this, and ease the painful nerve by regular sciatica stretches.
Another thing that can cause sciatic nerve damage is occupations such as truck driving, where you are sitting for a prolonged period, and being bounced around at the same time, which places 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.
In order to determine which type of sciatica you may be suffering from, try this simple exercise. Sitting up straight in a chair, stretch your leg that you are having pain in, straight out. If this increases your sciatic nerve pain, chances are you are suffering from true sciatica related to a herniated disk.The 2nd test you can try is pulling your knee on your painful side slowly, up to the shoulder on the same side. Then gently pull the same knee to the opposite shoulder, and gauge the 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 exercises you can perform in order to help relieve your sciatica depending on which type you may be suffering from. 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 hamstrings. Be careful though as this can aggravate a herniated disc.
The second stretch is based on yoga exercises. Lie flat on your stomach 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. However again, be careful as this can exacerbate a facet problem that could be causing your sciatica.
Also, sometimes this may aggravate your pain temporarily, but it usually improves with repetition, and it is better to get up and move around for a bit in between repetitions, and take a break. Both of these sciatica exercises can help you heal, as long as you perform them a couple 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 consider is that sciatica can be caused by several 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 worsenyour symptoms. In such case it is normally recommended to lie on your back and hug your knees. However if you are also suffering from a herniated disc, then hugging your knees isn’t recommended. Truthfully the absolute best thing you can do is to see your doctor before performing any Sciatica stretches, and find out precisely where the cause of the pain is originating from, is the safest and smartest path to take.They can then refer you to a medical specialist that will help you perform the proper exercises relevant to your particular case.
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