This video, we're going to go over the best standing sciatica
exercises for instant pain relief. Stay tuned!
Hey, everyone. Doctor Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
St. Joseph, Michigan. Before we start with the sciatica
exercises, let's go over the most important thing that we're
going to look for which is centralization of symptoms. The
most common cause of sciatica is due to a pinch nerve from a
bulging or herniated disc in the lumbar spine. So, it gets
compressed, bulges off to the side, whatever side that's
bulging towards, you tend to get that lightning bolt or
sciatic leg pain going on. So, with these exercises, the main
goal is to take prep off of that bulging disc. When that
happens, the pain tends to come back up a leg to the starting
point which would be in the lower back. So, while you do
these exercises, if you feel like your pain is coming back
up a leg, that is a wonderful sign and you know these
exercises are helping. So, let's start with my absolute
favorite sciatica exercise which is a Mackenzie-based
method known as a wall lean exercise. We just need to go
next to a door or a wall. This one is really easy to do. I
think the hardest part about the exercise is just knowing
what side to place towards that door or a wall. Remember, good
door. That means the good side or non-painful side is going to
be facing towards the door. So, in this case, I would be
treating a left-sided sciatica. I'm going to place my feet
together. I usually space them about a foot, a foot and a half
away from that door. I want to put my feet together. From
there, I'm going to take my arm bend it at 90 degrees and then
lean into the door with my upper body. I don't want any
space. So, from my wrist, elbow, to my shoulder, it's
flush against it. So, my body should be at a nice lean. My
hand goes on my hip like this. The movement from here, I'm
going to press into my hip with my hand very very slowly. Go
very slowly with these exercises. The more that you
push towards the door, the more that you're going to take
pressure off the painful side and go in towards the center.
So, while doing this, if you feel you're getting or that leg
pain coming up, you know it's working for you. Go towards a
very deep but comfortable stretch. This should not cause
anymore discomfort. Do nice, slow, controlled breathing
also. Let the tension out. You want to hold this for about 20
to 30 seconds. From there, you're just going to relax,
take a breather, and try to repeat this three to five times.
With each repetition, go in just a little bit more. Stretch
more into it. Always challenge it, but you can make this one a
little bit harder too by just spacing your feet away. So, if
you feel like you need a little bit more of advanced stretch,
just space your feet a little bit further away. It's just a
wonderful way to really target sciatica pain standing up
pretty much anywhere. So, another cause of sciatic-like
pain is from piriformis syndrome. If you're unfamiliar
with the piriformis muscle, it lies right underneath the glute
buttocks and can cause a literal pain in the butt, also
numbness, tingling, and pain in the back of the leg. Here's a
very easy standing exercise known as the step behind that can really
take pressure off of that very quickly and hopefully lead to
quick pain relief. Let's start with very good upright posture.
I'm going to just take one leg and place it behind me just
like this. So, I'm kind of at like a scissored stance. Try to
have a nice wide stance with this one too. From there, I'm
going to place my weight into the balls of my feet. So, it's
just nice locked and it's kind of like a stable anchor
point. The foot in the back, I'm going to turn my foot
inwards as much as I can. So, like internally rotating that.
From there, I'm going to do the same thing with the front leg.
Again, we're going to place our weight in the ball of our feet.
At this point, the pelvis should feel very locked and
whatever leg is towards the back. You should feel a very
good stretch happening into that piriformis muscle. So, it
should feel like right over the glute itself. You really
want to focus on turning the feet inwards until you get that
initial stretch. From there, what I'm going to do is place
my hands on my hip and whatever side is back so in this case
it's my left I'm going to start to turn through my waist all
the way towards my left side this will intensify that
stretch and it feels really really good I try to go towards
a very deep stretch hold this one right here for about 30
seconds doing nice slow control breathing also again you should
get pain relief with this one if it feels like it's causing
more discomfort discontinue immediately hold this one for
30 seconds you're just going to relax take a breather from
there you can just your legs, get a little bit more of a
scissored stance, try to bring those feet inwards as much as
you can, and then from there, stretch a little bit more into
it but you want to do this for about three to 5 repetitions
and then from there, switch to the other side. Do both sides
to keep them both in balance. This is what I'd like to call
Doctor Rowe's Sciatica Slayer combo. It's a two-part exercise
that's really going to help open up the lower back and
hopefully give you some quick sciatica pain relief and the
first part, we're going to do what is known as standing back
extension. Extension or backwards movement is great for
taking pressure off spinal disc. Remember what we
mentioned earlier in this video, spinal disc issues like
disc bulges and herniations are the most common cause of
sciatica. So, I'm going to take my thumbs like this and start
right at the belt line. Let's start right at the very low end
of the back. The movement is very easy. What I'm going to do
is press into that area if my thumbs and hands while I lean
my shoulders and upper back backwards and when you do this,
you feel a very deep stretch over the area of the thumbs. Go
as much as you're able to. Really try to build some
extension in there. Once you hit a very comfortable stretch
and kind of have like a nice beer bell beer belly going.
Hold this one right here for about 30 seconds. Do nice,
slow, controlled breathing also. From there, you can
relax, take a breather, and throw in a couple more reps.
Just try to stretch into it just a little bit more. What
I'd like to do from there is then experiment with different
positions. So, I'll start low and then I'll raise my thumbs
up and just do the same thing. What you'll notice is is that
one certain spot might be the pinpoint area that's causing
the most amount of pain. So, explore the area, find the spot
that really needs it the most, throw more repetitions in at
that point and the second part, we're going to focus on a
little bit more of a lateral lean to try to take pressure
off of a bulging disc that might be causing that
sciatic-like pain. So, whatever side that we're experiencing
sciatica. Let's it's my left side right here. What I'm going
to do is take my hand, place it on the hip just like this. My
other hand, I should say my arm is going to go bend at
90 degrees and go overhead just like this. I tend to space my
legs out just a little bit and put my weight on my heels for a
stable anchor point. So, I have very good upright posture. The
movement, I'm going to press into the hip, drive the hip in
the opposite direction while I lean my upper body in the
opposite direction. So, my hip is going towards the right, my
upper body is going towards the left. This feels really good.
You'll feel a good stretch into that left side. Go towards a
very deep stretch. Obviously, not causing any discomfort and
you want to hold this one for about 20 to 30 seconds. From
there, you can relax, take a breather, and then just simply
repeat this three to five times. With this exercise, you
only want to do it on the painful side. So, I would not
recommend doing it on both but give those a try and I hope
that really gives you a lot of sciatica pain relief. One of
the easiest to get instant sciatica pain relief while
standing is with what I call the decompression dip.
Decompression is a pulling motion also known as traction
in the lower back that will help take pressure off bulging
or herniated discs. We're also going to let gravity do all of
the hard work. So, it's really nice. What we need are two
sturdy objects. You can use two chairs obviously without
wheels, two cabinets, anything that is of the same height,
sturdy. It's not going to slip and it can also support body
weight. You're just going to put your hands right at the
edge just like this. I try to have very good upright posture
and I'm going to start off in the beginner's pose. I'm just
going to put my body weight on my toes just like this and
support my upper body weight with my arms. In this position,
you should already feel gravity pulling down into the lower
back towards the floor. It usually feels pretty good.
Notice if you are getting centralization so that pain
coming back up leg with this one. You want to hold this one
comfortably for about 30 seconds do nice slow control
breathing also let the tension out the more you relax the
better the result from there you can relax and then take a
breather I would try to work your way up to doing this for
three to five times if you do have some strength you can hold
this for longer I mean if you can hold it for a minute do it
the longer that you hold it the more that it's going to help
open up those joint spaces. The advanced stage is instead of
supporting your body weight on your toes lift your feet up off
the and just allow your legs to go straight down towards the
floor. You're also going to get a pretty good arm workout with
this one. Try to hold this one for as long as you can. You
might be able to only hold it for 10 to 15 seconds, but
progress into it. It just allows gravity to help open up
our lower back and hopefully get rid of that sciatica pain
pretty quickly. Give that one a try. If the exercises help and
gave you a lot of sciatica pain relief, help us out too by
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channel. If you have any comments or questions, please
them below. I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you
so much for watching!