Sciatica Stretches – Any Time, Any Where
Sciatic nerve pain, also known as sciatica, is an disease that when remained untreated can become distressing and consuming, and really degrade your quality of life.Sciatic nerve stretching exercises can truly help you on your road to becoming back pain free, but first you need to understand how sciatica is caused.
Basically, 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 overly tight hamstrings, that can set off your sciatica .
In General tight muscles suggest a weakness in other muscles in the
surrounding area, and that is the most common cause of sciatica.Sciatica exercises can really help to combat this, and ease your numbing nerve pain.
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 applies pressure and stress on the sciatic nerve. Sciatica can also be caused by a herniated lumbar disc, in which case, only performing sciatica stretches won’t help too much, and can in fact in up damaging your sciatic nerve further.
In order to decide which type of sciatica you may be suffering from, try this simple exercise. Sitting upright in a chair, stretch your leg that you are having pain in, straight out.If your pain increases, most likely true sciatica is to blame, and you have a herniated disk.The second test you can perform 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 sciatic nerve pain depending on which type you may be suffering from. Lying flat on your back, pull your knee up to each shoulder.This can help stretch out tight hamstring muscle. Be careful though as this can exacerbate a herniated disc problem.
The second sciatica stretchesyou can perform is a yoga technique, where you lie flat on your tummy, and proper yourself up on your elbows while looking up slightly. The slight curve this creates in your back helps to relieve pressure and pain. But again, be careful, because if your sciatica is caused by a facet syndrome, this can worsen it.
Also, sometimes this may exacerbate your pain temporarily, but it usually improves with repetition, and it is better to get up and walk around for a bit in between repetitions, and take a break. These sciatica exercises are meant to help you, but always use good judgment and caution when performing them.
One thing to remember is that sciatica is rarely caused by just one factor. Sometimes, it may be due to facet syndrome, which I briefly mentioned above. That involves rear joints at the base of your spine. In such case, extending your back like mentioned above can actually aggravate your symptoms, and it is suggested to lie flat on your back and hug your knees. However, again this can put pressure on any herniated disc problems. 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 health professional that will help you perform the appropriate exercises relevant to your particular case.
