Effortless Sciatica Stretching Exercises to Heal Your Pain
Ouch! Do you have pain in your lower back, hip, buttocks, or leg? If you do, there is a good chance that you may be suffering from sciatica. Here I’d like to share with you some sciatica stretching exercises that can be used to help get rid of that pain.
First though, I want to make sure you understand that the term sciatica is not a diagnosis. Sciatica is a symptom that something is irritating your sciatic nerve (the nerve that branches off from your back and runs down your leg). To truly get rid of sciatica once and for all, you need to understand specifically what is irritating the nerve.
Anyway, here are some simple sciatica stretching exercises that can help relieve a variety of causes of sciatica either way…
Get Ready to Say Good-Bye to Your Sciatica for Good
Sciatica Stretching Exercises for Your Lower Back
This is a fairly simple stretching exercise that can help with your sciatica if you’re suffering from a bulging or herniated disc. Usually the disc bulges outward and puts pressure on the sciatic nerve (which causes you pain). By doing this stretch, you can take the pressure off the nerve and help relieve the pain.
In yoga, this stretch is called the “cobra” pose, but depending on your level of flexibility, you may have to start out with an adapted version of this.
Cobra Pose:
Lay on your belly and lift your chest and upper body off the ground by placing your hands next to your chest and lifting up. (Note: for the adapted version of this sciatica stretching exercise, lift yourself up while resting your elbows on the floor instead of your hands)
Allow your legs and belly to hang loose. Pull your shoulders down and don’t let your neck retract like turtle.
Hold this position for at least 30 seconds and repeat 10 times.
Sciatica Stretching Exercises for Your Abdominals
Strengthening your back muscles is good, but you should also aim to strengthen your abdominals as well so that your core is well balanced. Sure you can do regular sit-ups or crunches, and they will probably help, but here is another sciatica stretching exercise that will help with your abs. I like to call these “yoga sit-ups”
Lie on the ground on your back. Get a friend to stand slightly above your head or place a sturdy chair there.
Reach your arms back and grab your friend’s legs or the legs of the chair.
Then lift your legs up into the air. (If you feel capable, also bring yourself up onto your upper back so that your lower back and your legs point straight up into the air).
Do 20 reps of this.
Sciatica Stretching Exercises for Spinal Stenosis or Piriformis Syndrome
Spinal Stenosis is a condition where the passageway of the nerve narrows over time, which results in significant pain down the leg. Often times relief can only be found when bending over or sitting down.
Piriformis syndrome, on the other hand, is a condition where a small muscle in the hip known as the Piriformis muscle becomes tense and begins to crush or irritate the sciatic nerve, causing sharp pain in the hip and buttocks.
I like to call this stretch “spinal flossing” and it should help with both conditions.
Basically all you need to do is sit down in a chair. Then you straighten your left leg so that it is parallel to the floor and bend your upper body forward so that you stretch the nerves that run along your spine and leg as much as possible.
Then you return back to a normal seated position, allowing the nerves to go slack.
Do this 10 times for each leg (for a total of 20 reps) and this will help stretch out the nerves and loosen up any muscles that may be pinching down on them.
Try out these sciatica stretching exercises the next time you feel a twinge of pain start to well up, and hopefully you’ll be able to nip your sciatica in the bud before it flares up and becomes unbearable. I hope these stretches help.