Shooting, stabbing or burning sensations. A feeling of pins and needles. If you have sciatic pain, it’s likely interfering with your quality of life. We want to help.
Stretches for Sciatic Nerve Pain
Most sciatica conditions are related to nerve root irritation in the lumbar spine. There are a few stretches to relieve sciatic nerve pain that we recommend. They can be found on our Home Care Exercises page. The #10 exercise (pelvic tilt) takes some pressure off the discs and the nerve roots in the low back. The #9 exercise is a good stretch of the hip rotator muscles, which include the glutes and the piriformis. Those are areas in which sometimes the sciatic nerve is going to get entrapped in those muscles if they’re tight.
Be Sure to Fit Those Exercises In
It’s good to do these stretches in the morning as many patients feel their worst first thing in the morning. Dr. Lichter recommends that you perform them at least a few times a day — whatever fits within your schedule.
Avoid Prolonged Sitting
A high percentage of our patients spend all day sitting at a desk. We tell them to make sure they get up every hour even if for just a minute because that sitting posture puts so much stress on the discs in the low back.
Most sciatic patients will feel worse with prolonged sitting. They tend to get locked in mentally in their work and they wind up sitting for hours at a time. So these micro-breaks are essential. Make sure you get up every hour for at least a minute or two.
Other Helpful Approaches
As sciatica is nerve root inflammation, we usually recommend that patients use ice or cold packs on their low back. Sometimes we’ll suggest an anti-inflammatory such as ibuprofen. If you’re not comfortable taking medication, we offer different nutritional supplements that reduce inflammation. These include proteolytic enzymes and sometimes turmeric. Acupuncture can also effectively manage sciatica.
You don’t have to put up with sciatica. These stretches for sciatic nerve pain will help, but it’s best to combine them with multidisciplinary chiropractic care. Contact our practice today to book an appointment!