In this video, I'm going to show you how to instantly fix
sciatica pain. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
St. Joseph, Michigan. In this video, I'm going to show three
easy exercises that can give instant sciatica pain relief.
The first two exercises are perfect to do throughout the
day anytime that you feel sciatica pain coming on. It can
really give you quick relief. The last exercise and I think
that this one is the most important is going to focus
more on long-lasting pain relief and also prevention of
sciatica by lengthening and strengthening the muscles
associated with it. So, deaf don't skip that one. As a
bonus, all of the exercises can be done at home. They require
no special equipment and you may find give quick sciatica
pain relief even within 30 seconds. So, let's get started
and fix that sciatica pain right now. So, here's a really
easy standing exercise that you can pretty much do anywhere,
anytime including at work. Before we start with it though,
I want to make a note of what we're going to be looking for
and that is what is called centralization. The biggest
cause of sciatica is a bulging or herniated disc that goes off
towards one side pinching nerves causing pain down the
leg in the form of sciatica. More pressure, more pain that
goes down the leg. So, when you take that pressure off, what it
does is the opposite. It starts to come back up the leg to the
center point, the point of injury, the lower back. So,
during the exercise, we want to see an upward trend of pain,
centralization towards the lower back. That's how you know
they're working for you. So, with that being let's do the
exercise. It's a two-part motion and again, it's very
easy. The first one is called the doorway cobra. Just like
the name implies, we need a door frame doorway but you can
also use a wall for this one. So, start off by putting your
toes flush up against the door frame. You're then going to
take your hands, put them on your lower back right at waist
level and you're going to press your hips and pelvis into the
door frame. We want a solid, stable anchor point. So, we
don't want our back lifting off like this and Instead, what
we're going to do is arch our upper back away from the door
frame. So, taking our chest away from it. The more that you
go back, the more that you're going to feel a deep stretch
forming. You should feel it in the core muscles right here but
also in the lower back. Go back far enough where you feel a
deep, comfortable stretch and hopefully starting to see that
centralization. Don't go to the point where you're having more
pain going down the leg. Once you hit that, you want to hold
this for 30 seconds. So, do nice, slow, controlled
breathing also. Let as much tension out as possible. From
there, just relax and then repeat this one three to five
times and with each repetition, try to build backward just a
little bit more. Always challenge those muscles. From
there, I like to take this one to the next level by doing what
is known as a wall lean exercise and again, this one is
really easy to do. So, we're going to go next to our
doorframe and the hardest part about this exercise is just
knowing what side to put towards that wall or that door
frame. So, remember good door. That means good side or
non-painful side towards the door. So, in this case, I would
have right-sided sciatica. Put your feet together, space them
roughly a foot, foot and a half away from that door. What
you're going to do is lean with your upper body into the door
frame. So, your body should be kind of tilted and you want
your shoulder and elbow flush against it. No space between
your shoulder and the door. This is our solid, stable
anchor point. I'm going to take my hand, put it on the painful
side right here, and what I'm going to do is slowly press my
hips towards the door. The more that you press them towards the
door, the more that you're going to feel a deep stretch
forming in the lower back. Keep pushing in and hopefully at
this point, you're going to start to see that
centralization. So, go to a point where it's comfortable,
not to the point of pain. Hold this one for 30 seconds. You're
going to relax and then, you're going to repeat this one three
to five times and with each repetition, try to build into
it just a little bit more. To make this one more challenging,
space your feet a little bit away from that wall because
that way you can lean more into it at that point and if you do
have two-sided sciatica, you can try this on both sides but
just make sure that it's not causing anymore pain going down
the leg but this is a great exercise that you can do
throughout the day anytime that you need instant sciatica pain
relief. So, this one is one of my favorite sciatica pain
relief exercises because it works two ways. One, to quickly
take pressure off the lower back including off bulging disc
herniated disc that might be pinching that sciatic nerve but
it's also going to directly take pressure off the sciatic
nerve. It's really easy to do. So, to get into position, we
need a flat elevated surface that's going to be sturdy
enough to support your weight. I find the edge of a bed works
perfectly but you can also use a sturdy work bench. You can
also use the edge of a couch. It just has to be tall enough
where your knees are going to be able to go off the edge
without touching the floor. So, to get into position, you're
going to lie on your stomach a pillow, place it right
underneath your stomach for extra comfort. You want your
hips and your legs directly off the edge. The knees are going
to go straight down and you're going to support your leg
weight on your toes just like this. In this position, you
should already start to feel a very gentle stretch in the
lower back. That's known as traction. That's what's going
to pretty much take the pressure off those bulging
discs. To intensify this and make it a little bit better
though, what you want to do is put your arms out in front of
you, take your fingers, grip into that surface, and crawl
forward just a little bit while also taking your chin slightly
towards your chest. This usually feels really really
good. I just let gravity do all of the hard work and I try to
hold this position for an extended period of time. I try
to wear or work up towards 30 seconds but you can definitely
hold it for longer if it feels good. If you need a breather,
just come back up just like this but try to do this one for
about three to five minutes total breaking that up into as
many repetitions as you like. If you want to target the back
just a little bit differently and also help with one-sided
sciatica, what you can do is start to tilt your body through
your waist towards one direction. So, instead of going
straight with it, lean off to one side. So, I'm leaning a
little bit towards my left and see how that feels. Go a little
bit towards your left, go a little bit towards your right,
if that opens up the back just a little bit more and offers
more relief, spend more time in that position but let's take
this one to the next level by now putting in what is known as
a sciatic floss which really will just stretch that whole
sciatic nerve pathway taking pressure off the nerve and
hopefully getting a lot of pain relief so for this one we need
something that is going to glide a paper plate works piece
of cardboard I'm going to be using a furniture mover if you
have hardwood floors all you really need are socks so for
this one you're going to put that object right underneath
the foot on the side that you're having sciatica so in
this case it's left side. We're going to get back into our
original position so we're kind of just gripping forward
just like this but I'm going to more or less straight my leg
that painful side and now point my toes away from me as much as
I can. Kinda like really reaching out. With this, you're
going to feel a lot of stretching happening into that
leg only go towards your comfort level. You want to hold
this position for about two to 3 seconds. You're going to
slowly come back like this and now you're just going to repeat
this one nice and slowly. 15 repetitions, building into each
one with each repetition. Afterwards, see how you feel.
If you feel like you have a little bit more to go, you can
always throw in more sets or repetitions and if you do have
two-sided sciatica, you can do this one leg at a time on both
sides or both legs at the same time. When it comes to
sciatica, a big overlooked cause actually comes from
muscle imbalances. That is tightness and weakness in the
lower back, the glutes, and the piformis. If you're unfamiliar
with the piriformis, it is a big player when it comes to
sciatica because when it becomes strained, inflamed, and
spasms, it can directly put pressure onto the sciatic nerve
causing leg pain. So, it's really important that we focus
on lengthening and strengthening these muscles.
Here's a really easy way to be able to do this and cover all
bases. This one is meant to be done daily and it's a good way
to not only get long-lasting pain relief for sciatica but
also as a means to help prevent it. We're going to do what is
known as a bridge exercise which will strengthen it and
then we're going to focus on lengthening those muscles. So,
start off lying flat on your back in bed or on a floor. What
you're going to do is have your knees bent, feet flat. You want
to tighten your core muscles that's taking your belly button
towards your spine and then you're going to squeeze your
glutes. Take your hands, put them right on your hips. Your
legs are going to be roughly hip width apart and you're just
going to slowly raise your hips up upward towards the ceiling
until you can get into a position where your knees, your
hips, shoulders are in a nice straight line. If you're unable
to do this because of weakness or just general pain, go up as
far as you feel comfortable and then hold this position for 5
seconds. What you'll notice over time, you should be able
to gain some more flexibility and strength to hopefully get
into the full bridge but I like to hold the bridge for five
seconds. I relax it and then repeat this 110 to fifth times.
From there, if you feel like you have a little bit more
energy, you can always throw in another set or two. To make it
more challenging, just lift one leg up like this but make sure
while you do this that your hips are level and it's not
tilting down and whatever you do on one side, always make
sure to do on the other side. So, after we've done a lot of
good strengthening exercises and got the muscles warmed up,
let's now focus on lengthening the muscles to take a lot of
tension and stress off of them. One of the best ways to be able
to do this is with what is known as a figure four
exercise. Very easy to do. So, whatever side that you're
having sciatica. Let's say it's my right side. You're going to
take that leg and take that side's ankle and put it over
your other side's knee. So, when you look down, it should
look like a figure four. In this position right here, what
you want to do is take your hand and press gently into the
bent knee. When you do this, you're going to feel a lot of
stretching forming over the glute and into that piriformis
muscle it generally feels really really good I hold it to
a point where it's comfortable not causing anymore pain for
about 30 seconds from there I just relax and then I repeat
this one three to five times and I do like to do this on
both sides to keep everything in balance so if you want to
take this one to the next level and now get a deeper stretch
what you can do is take the other side's leg right here
take your hands go through that hole that is formed by figure
four and grab the back of your thigh just like this. What
you're going to do is now pull your leg towards you. So, the
bottom leg is getting pulled towards me and when you do
this, you're going to feel a deep stretch on the other side
right over that glute. Again, it usually feels pretty good.
32nd hold, you're going to relax and then repeat this one
three to five times. If you really want to take this one to
even the next level, you can do what is called a piriformis
rocker. So, let's get back into our stretch right here but what
I'm going to do is now rotate away from that side of the bent
knees so I'm rotating just a little bit towards my left you
are going to feel a deep stretch forming I pretty much
feel it in my glutes and my hips working all the way into
my lower back I like to hold this one for about 15 seconds
relax and now rock a little bit towards the other way to hit
the muscles just a little bit differently but I try to do
this one nice and slowly for about three to five repetitions
on both side and then just switch sides to keep everything
in balance. So, let's end the video by helping each other out
with a friendly competition of who can share the best natural
way to help relieve sciatica leg pain. If you have a great
idea, tip, or exercise that you would like to share, please
leave it in the comment section below. We'll decide the winner
by the comment that gets the most likes or thumbs up and
comments that support it and to the winner, I will make a
shorts video publicly crediting you for your idea or exercise
and I'll try to demonstrate it the best way that I can. So,
let the competition begin. With that being said, if the
exercises help, please support us by giving this video a like
and maybe subscribing to the channel also. If you have any
comments or questions, please leave them below. I'll get back
to you as soon as I can. Thanks for watching.