Exercises For Sciatica
If you have sciatica, you know the symptoms.
You feel the sharp, severe pain deep in your lower back, extending through your buttock, and shooting into your leg. If you are like most sciatica sufferers, the pain comes and goes depending on your activities and your physical position. You lie down and get some rest, and the symptoms improve with time.
But what if you can't just lie down? What if you need to keep moving through your sciatica? There's good news: exercise can be helpful in managing the painful symptoms of sciatica.
Exercise Helps Sciatica
First, exercise in general will help with sciatica and back pain. The longer you stay immobile, the more your muscles will contract and atrophy. It is important to keep moving as much as you can, even when you are sidelined by the pain of sciatica.
Second, there are specific exercises for sciatica that can be helpful in preventing and managing the disease. Exercises for sciatica can be done during a course of physical therapy, but exercises for sciatica are usually done by the patient on their own, in the comfort and privacy of the patient's home.
The best exercises for sciatica are those that stretch and strengthen the areas affected by the disease. One or more of these mild exercises for sciatica may prove effective in managing your sciatica pain:
Heel Slides: Lying on your back, slide your heel toward your buttocks, slowly bending and straightening the knee. Do 8 repetitions on each side.
Abdominal Contractions: Lying on your back with your knees bent, imagine you are holding a sponge between your belly button and your spine. Contract your abdominal muscles, as if you are squeezing the water out of your imaginary sponge. Hold the squeeze for five seconds; then relax. Do 8 repetitions.
Straight Leg Raise: Lie on your back with one knee bent, the other leg straight. Tighten your abdominal muscles to brace your lower back, and lift the straight leg straight up, holding it six to twelve inches off the ground for one to five seconds. Slowly lower your leg to the ground. Repeat 8 times on each side.
Once you master these beginning exercises for sciatica, try an intermediate exercise:
Hamstring stretch: Lying on your back with knees bent, grasp one thigh behind the knee. Supporting the leg, slowly straighten the knee until you feel the stretch down the back of your thigh. Hold the stretch for 15 to 20 seconds. Do 8 repetitions on each side.
