Health Fitness

Get help for scatica: relieve pain through exercise

Contrary to what you might think, exercise is one of the best things you can do to help relieve sciatica. Bed rest is fine initially for a few days if necessary when the pain starts, but it will worsen your condition if it continues. Exercise and physical movement are necessary to condition the muscles of the back and the small muscles of the spine to better support the back. Without proper exercise, your back muscles become weak and this can lead to more back injuries that will cause a greater amount of pain. Exercise is not only important for maintaining muscle conditioning, but also for maintaining the discs in your spine. Since your discs are not internally vascularized, movement is required to get nutrients into your discs and also to remove waste. Keeping the discs healthy will help prevent pressure on the sciatic nerve. Many exercises can be done in the comfort of your own home. A simple exercise program for sciatica usually includes strengthening your core muscles, stretching your hamstrings, and aerobic exercises.

What exercise is for sciatica?

Before you start your sciatica exercise program, be sure to visit your health care provider. It is important that you have a proper diagnosis of the cause of your underlying pain. For example, do you have a herniated disc or, in particular, spinal stenosis? This will determine the correct type of exercises that you will need to do. Doing the wrong exercises will increase your sciatic pain and possibly cause permanent damage. Not only is it important to do the correct exercises, but the exercises must also be done correctly. Exercises done incorrectly can make your problem worse. It’s a good idea to work with a physical therapist or chiropractor to learn how to do the exercises correctly. Then you should be able to safely do it on your own.

1. Core muscle strengthening

An exercise program for sciatica usually begins with strengthening your core muscles. Your core muscles include your stomach muscles and your back muscles. Strengthening these muscles will provide better back support. Stretching exercises for the back and stomach target muscles that cause pain because they are tight and lack flexibility. By stretching and strengthening your core muscles, you should be able to recover quickly and slow down future occurrences of sciatic pain.

2. Hamstring stretches

Next, you can incorporate hamstring stretching exercises. If you’re not familiar, your hamstrings are located on the back of your thigh. Most likely, your hamstrings are too tight and are putting strain on your lower back. Tight hamstrings can make your condition worse, or this may be the cause of some of your sciatic pain. Hamstring stretching should be part of your regular exercise, whether you have sciatica or not. This form of stretching is known to be effective for most forms of sciatica.

3. Aerobic exercises

The third form of exercises involves aerobic exercises. Aerobic exercises aren’t what you’d call specific to sciatica, but they can be beneficial. Aerobic exercises provide fitness throughout the body. One of the easiest forms of aerobic exercise is walking. I am sure you are aware that walking is a very low impact exercise and will provide excellent therapy for your sciatic pain. It is best to walk every day. If you’re not used to walking, be sure to start slowly. Try to work up to three or more miles a day. Your walk should be fairly brisk to get your heart rate up. Walking will strengthen all the muscles in your body allowing you to have good posture. Good posture is important to relieve and even eliminate all back pain.

Important Final Tips:

Taking care of your sciatica will be a daily effort. Be careful how you lift things, don’t sit or stand for long periods of time, and try to maintain proper posture. Everything contributes to relieving your sciatic pain. Don’t forget to get a proper diagnosis before you start and make sure you learn how to do your exercises correctly. If you follow this regimen, you should have great success. In fact, you can experience relief in a few days to a week.