Sciatica is the condition when you experience pain or numbness in your lower back and down one or both legs. Usually it is a result of a misalignment or injury to your lower back which causes pressure to be placed upon the sciatic nerve. It is the pressure upon your sciatic nerve that causes the pain and numbness.
If you have regular episodes of sciatica and back pain there are a few simple things you can to do to alleviate it:
No 1. The first thing you need to is understand what things you are doing that are causing the sciatica pain in the first place and
No 2. Then you need to learn more about how to treat your back properly and stop doing those things that aggravate it.
The factors that increase your risk of experiencing sciatica and back pain include common factors such as:
· Sitting or driving for long periods, especially with a bad posture and without taking a break for a stretch or a walk
· Heavy and/or repeated lifting with a bad technique
· Repetitive wrong/stressful movements
· General lack of exercise and being out of condition or overweight
No 3. Thirdly, make the commitment to regularly practice a set of sciatica exercises to strengthen your back and stay pain free.
Your back is the central supporting and movement system of your body, so if the muscles that surround and support it are unfit and inflexible you are much more likely to develop sciatica and back problems.
Your lower back is supported by the so-called "core muscles". If these core muscles in particular are weak, it means your lower back is carrying a larger part of the strain of lifting and twisting and you are more likely to suffer low back pain as a result.
This is why a lot of back pain exercises focus on strengthening these core muscles, or at least "waking them up" and making them more flexible.
Getting Results
Most people find it is possible to stop sciatica in just a few weeks or sometimes just a few days and to give themselves a healthy back.
Sciatica Exercises
Remember, any sciatica exercises you do are going to be much more effective if you first eliminate the habits that are creating your sciatica in the first place. If you spend all day with a bad posture or repeating a movement that is bad for your back over and over, then, a few minutes of sciatica exercise will struggle to overcome the negative effects.
Walking
Walking is great for your back and also a great all-round exercise but the reality is that in recent years people have tended to walk less and less.
It might sound too simple, but if you don't walk regularly already, adding a daily walk of 20-30 minutes to your routine will do wonders for your back and your overall health.
As you develop your endurance, you can walk further and add hmore hills into your route. Some people find that walking with hand weights and swinging their arms, extends the aerobic benefits of a walk.
Sciatica Stretch - The Back Pull Down
This exercise is great at waking up back muscles that are often dormant. It is best done with an elastic exercise band which you can buy from almost any sporting goods store.
As an alternative, you can use any household item that has some degree of elasticity e.g. an elastic luggage strap, an old bicycle inner tube etc. You can also use a rolled up towel, but the lack of stretch in it will make the exercise harder to do.
Sit upright in a chair with your back straight and your tummy pulled in. Raise your arms above your head holding the elastic band or towel in between them horizontally with your hands approximately shoulder width apart.
Stretch your arms up as far as they will go then slowly pull your arms behind your neck, keeping the elastic band or towel horizontal and with a slight tension on it.
Keep pulling down until the band is roughly half way down your back (if you can get that far). Rest there briefly, then raise your arms again until your arms up as far as they will go again. Remember to keep the band horizontal while you move it up and down.
Do the movements up and down slowly and steadily, don't rush them. You can change the degree of difficulty and effect of the exercise by increasing or decreasing the tension on the band or towel.
If you pull harder to make it tight as you move up and down it takes more effort, but it has the benefit of working your back muscles harder and differently than if you do it with only light tension in the band.
Repeat the exercise about 5 times the first time you do it (depending on how fit you are and what your back tells you about the effect.
DON'T OVERDO it at first or you're likely to end up sore and not inclined to do it again for a while and it is best done regularly.
Then you can build up the repetitions over time until you've reached 20, which is about as many as you will ever need to do at one time.
Swimming
Swimming has a great blend of characteristics - it is aerobic, it is strength building and it is low/no impact.
The freestyle stroke with alternate side breathing (meaning you breathe on the left side, do 1 or 3 strokes and then breathe on the right side and so on) is the best stroke for back problems. The regular up and down movement of your legs loosens and strengthens muscles in your lower back area.
As with walking, you can start off slowly and gradually build up how far you swim.
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