Sciatica Exercises

In many cases of sciatica pain a physical therapist would recommend, a controlled, specific, progressive exercise routine designed to focus on the underlying cause surrounding the sciatic pain. These specific sciatica exercises would work in two primary ways:

• Reduce your sciatic pain in the short term
• Prevention of future occurrences of pain

When suffering from sciatic pain the best remedy is exercise and not bed rest. Initially, it would be wise to rest for a couple days  to allow the pain to subside but once it does, inactivity would gradually make the pain worse. Allowing the muscles in the back to atrophy, or decondition over time, means they are less able to fully support your back. This would then lead to back injuries or strains which would cause your further stress. Exercise is vital to the overall health of the spinal discs and surrounding muscles. The increased movement allows blood to flow more freely into those areas providing oxygen and nutrients to help heal damaged tissue, including the sciatic nerve.

Any program designed around sciatic pain would include the following:

• Muscle Conditioning – Sciatica exercises would primarily focus on strengthening the muscles in your back and abdominal region, providing more support for your spine. Stretching the muscles would also be focus to help keep the muscles loose as tight muscles would cause more pain. A regular, consistent, combination of the two would allow you to recover much faster, and prevent future occurrences of sciatic pain.
• Personal Diagnosis – An exercise program designed by your doctor would be specifically created just for you. This is because most cases of sciatic pain are caused by varying factors unique to each patient. Specific exercises would be more helpful depending on the cause of the sciatic pain and doing the wrong exercises could potentially cause further injury.
• Hamstring Stretches – Hamstring stretches would be helpful in almost all cases of sciatic pain and would most likely be included in any personal routine as well. These are located on back of your thighs. When the hamstrings are tighter than normal this will cause stress on the lower back and cause many of the conditions associated with sciatica.
• Exercise Properly – While doing the right exercises for your specific case of sciatica is important it should also be noted that you must do them properly. Poor form when performing any exercise can result in little to no results and potentially further aggravate the problem. It would be best to have your doctor or other professional demonstrate the proper way to perform any prescribed exercise.
• Aerobic Activity – In addition to any other type of exercise, aerobic activity can also be beneficial. This type of conditioning is great for over all fitness and should be incorporated into your routine. One easy way to get started is to simply go for a walk everyday. This gets the heart pumping and blood flowing throughout your body.

Taking care of sciatica should become a daily part of your routine. It’s not something you can just do casually or tack onto the end of the day. While exercise is a must you should also take care to minimize any stress being placed on the lower back. Make sure you are doing proper lifting, keeping good posture, proper lower back support, and avoid sitting or standing for prolonged periods.