Sciatica, also known as sciatic nerve pain, can be a terrible disease that can truly degrade your quality of life if left untreated.Sciatica nervestretches can truly help you on your road to becoming pain free, but first you need to understand what causes sciatica.
Basically, sciatica is nerve damage that has been set off by either stress, or tight muscles pinching the nerve.The sciatic nerve originates in your lower back area, and runs down, through the buttock area, and down through the hamstring and the back of your leg. Thus, when you have excessively tight hamstrings, that can set off pain in your sciatic nerve.
Generally tight muscles indicate a weakness in the surrounding muscles, and that is the most common cause of sciatica.Sciatica exercisescan really assist to combat this, and alleviate your numbing nerve pain.
Another cause of 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. A herniated lumbar disc can also cause sciatic nerve pain, which then it would be better to avoid sciatica stretches without talking to your doctor first, as this could end up damaging your sciatic nerve further.
In order to decide the 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 pain, chances are you are suffering from true sciatica related to a herniated disk.Another test that is helpful in determining where your sciatica is developing, is gently pulling your knee on your painful side, to your shoulder on the same side. Then relax a bit and proceed to pull the knee towards the opposite shoulder, and gauge your pain.If it is more painful pulling to the opposite shoulder, then most likely you are suffering from sciatica caused by tight muscles.
Here are 2 simple Sciatica stretching exercises you can perform in order to help relieve your sciatica depending on which type you may be suffering from. Lying flat on your back, pull your knee up to each shoulder.This can help to stretch out overly tight hamstrings. Be careful though as this can exacerbate a herniated disc problem.
The second stretch is based on yoga exercises. Lie flat on your tummy and push up on your elbows, looking up and breathing deeply. The slight curve this creates in your back helps to relieve pressure and pain. However again, be careful as this can worsen a facet problem that could be inducing your sciatica.
Also it is good to note that pain may increase for a bit when doing this sciatica stretch, but usually with practice it improves. Get up and take a break between reps, walk it off. Both of these sciatica exercises can help you heal, as long as you perform them several times a day for as long as you experience nerve pain or numbness, and there are no other causes of your sciatica you are unaware of.
Another 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 recommended to lie flat on your back and hug your knees. However, again this can put pressure on any herniated disc problems. Therefore, to consult your doctor before commencing any Sciatic nerve stretching exercises, and find out exactly where the cause of the pain is originating from, is the safest and smartest path to take.You can then be referred to a specialist who can show you the proper exercises and sciatica stretches you should be undertaking.
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