Sciatica Stretching Exercises

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Sciatica, well-known as sciatic nerve pain, can be a distressing illness that can truly degrade your quality of life if left untreated.Sciatica stretches can truly help you on your road to becoming back pain free, but first you need to understand what causes sciatica.

Basically, sciatica is nerve damage that has been triggered by either stress, or tight muscles pinching the nerve.The sciatic nerve begins in your lower back area, and runs down, through the buttock area, and down through the hamstring and the back of your leg. Therefore, when you have excessively tight hamstrings, that can set off your lower back pain .

Generally, these overly tight muscles mean that muscles in the surrounding areas are quite weak, and this is thought to be the most common cause of sciatica. Sciatica exercises can really assist to combat this, and alleviate your numbing nerve pain.

Sciatic nerve damage can also be triggered by job stressors such as truck driving for long periods of time. The constant bouncing applies stress on the sciatic nerve. A herniated lumbar disc can also cause sciatica, 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 determine 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 your pain increases, most likely true sciatica is to blame, and you have a herniated disk.The second test you can try is pulling your knee on your painful side slowly, up to the 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 significantly more painful pulling to the opposite shoulder, tight muscles are the most likely culprit for your sciatica.

Here are two simple Sciatica nerve stretches you can perform in order to help relieve lower back 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, because if you suffer from a herniated disc than this exercise can exacerbate it.

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. But again, be careful, because if your sciatica is caused by a facet syndrome, this can aggravate it.

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 a couple 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 worsen 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. So truthfully the absolute best thing you can do is to consult your physician before performing any Sciatica nerve stretches, and find out precisely where the cause of the pain is originating from, is the safest and wisest path to take.They can then refer you to a health professional that will help you perform the proper exercises relevant to your particular case.

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