hey everybody it's Doctor Jo and unicorn Kali, and today I'm going to show you
my favorite stretches for sciatic pain. so let's get started.
so before we get started, if you haven't already, make sure and click on the subscribe button down
there. and make your subscription public or let me know that you subscribe
because I always try to respond to my subscribers. ok so some of these
stretches are going to be really kind of related to hamstring stretches as well
because with the sciatic nerve pain, a lot of times it gets compressed around
the hamstring. so as long as the hamstrings are loose and flexible too,
that helps. and since the sciatic nerve runs on the back of your leg with all
those hamstrings, a lot of those stretches will stretch out that sciatic
nerve as well. so the first one is just going to be kind of in a long sitting,
half long sitting position. I'm on the floor. you don't have to do these on the
floor, you can do them on a couch or a bed if you have a hard time getting on
the floor, but for balance it might be a little bit more comfortable on a firm
surface. so but that's ok you can you can do this on the bed if you need to. so the
side that you want to stretch, you're gonna put that leg out to the side. and
then the other ones going to kind of stay tucked in. the key with this one is
your hips are going to be turned forward. so they're not towards that leg, they're
still like I'm facing you. that's about where I want my hips to be. so my my
chest and body is forward, my leg's out to the side. I'm going to kind of pull up my
toes, that helps kind of get that sciatic nerve kind of stretched out a little bit,
and then I'm gonna take the hand of the side that's out, and this is a side we're
stretching, and put it on the inside of my leg. and as I do this stretch, I'm just
gonna kind of slide it forward. the other hand is going to go up and over as we go.
but one of the things I always kind of do with this that needs to be a
correction, is when I come up and over, I'll tend to turn my body. but you still
want to keep your body to the side. It's everything's coming over almost into a
plane. so if you feel like your body's turning, you're missing out on that
stretch just a little bit. so my hand is going to kind of slide down, everything
still forward. I'm going to bring this, sometimes if you look at your hand that
helps kind of keep everything in a plane, and then they're both sliding over until
you feel you're gonna probably feel a little bit more on the inside of those
hamstrings that sciatic nerve area, but you don't want it to be painful. this
should be a comfortable stretch. again with a sciatic nerve it might be a
little bit painful, and if it is, just back off a little bit or bring this one
down and just do this part first. but again, kind of sliding to the side. it's
not coming over and sliding, but again the full one is up and over. but if you
need to modify it a little bit, you can start with just the slide over to the
side, and then maybe do that little curve with your body, and then add on to it
later. so this one doesn't specifically have to be like the full 30 second
stretch. you can, but you might want to kind of incorporate some deep breathing
with it. so instead of counting the 30 seconds, you can say hey if I do four
nice deep breaths that's usually about 30 seconds. so when you're coming up and
over, take a nice deep breath in and as you breathe out that's when you kind of
go into it a little bit and that will usually help everything relax a little
bit and let you get a little bit of an extra stretch. so the next ones are going
to be lying down. so the next one for sciatic nerve pain stretching is going
to be lying down with your knees propped up. again you can do this on a bed or
couch, you don't have to do it on the floor. so the side that I want to stretch,
I'm gonna just bring my knee up. I like to keep the other one bent up just to
kind of relax the back a little bit. this time you're gonna put your hands
underneath your thigh here. so sometimes you'll see me do a knee to chest like
this, but this is just you're bringing your knee as far to your chest as you
can. but you want to keep your hands underneath because you're going to be
doing stuff with your leg as well. sometimes when you've seen me do the the
sciatic nerve stretch, I say keep it at 90. this time you're gonna pull it as far
towards your chest as you can. so this is not about how straight you can get your
leg. this is really working that sciatic nerve. so you want to as comfortably as
you can, pull that knee towards your chest.
you're then also going to pull your toes towards you into it what's a called a
dorsiflexion position, and try and keep that position the whole time. try and
keep your your knee towards your chest the whole
time - it's gonna want to straighten out and mine might just a little bit, but you
want to for the most part keep it tight there. pull those toes up and then just
straighten that leg. so your leg's not going to get fully straight, especially
if you've got some sciatic nerve issues. but when you come up, if you start
feeling your legs shaking, that's kind of what you're looking for. if that that
means you're really kind of working that sciatic nerve. so this is more of a
little bit of a continuous motion. you can do a slight pause at the top, but
this is a stretching and holding type of motion. this is really gliding that
sciatic nerve, really getting you know that whole nervous system going. and when
you get that shaking that means that nervous system is working. when you're
doing the the glides and stuff, I just do ten. don't do a whole lot more than ten
because when you're working with nerves, they can get irritated really quickly. so
again you're just doing this to comfort level. you don't want it to be painful.
you don't want it to be hurting. just start off with ten probably with the
actual glides just once a day. you can do the stretches and stuff a couple times a
day, but with the actual glides, you might just want to do those once a day and
really see how you feel afterwards. so then the next one is going to be a
traditional hamstring stretch with a stretch strap. if you don't have a
stretch strap, that's okay you don't need anything fancy. you can use a belt. if you
have a dog leash, you can use a dog leash or you can even use something like a
jump rope. I like to put a little loop on the end just because I feel like you can
kind of move your leg a little bit better if when you have that loop, but if
you just want to wrap it around and hold both sides you can. so this time you're
gonna get your legs straight all the way down. the goal with this one is this time
you are keeping your legs straight the whole time. if you start bending your
knee, you're you're taking yourself out of the stretch that we're looking for. so
I again kind of like to keep my leg propped up. if you want to bring it down
just so you have a little bit more movement with it in the stretch, you can,
but for this one, I'm gonna keep this one propped up. so I'm just bringing that leg
up with the strap. so I'm not actively lifting my leg, I'm pulling my leg up
with the strap, keeping that knee straight the whole time. so if it starts
to bend like this, you're not getting that stretch. so then if it starts to
bend, bring that leg back down until you can get that knee straight. that's
the goal of this stretch. so this one is a full 30 second stretch. so you're
really holding that for nice 30 seconds. get some nice deep breathing in there,
that's gonna help those muscles relax while you're doing it, and then slowly
come back down. and you can do that three times. so for the next couple exercises
we're gonna stay in the same position. still keeping the strap in the same spot,
but we're just going to go out and in. so with this one, if you want to bring
your leg down so you have that more movement you can. so I'm coming back up
still trying to keep that leg straight that's the goal. if that knee starts bending,
I need to come back down. and now this time you're just gonna drop your leg out
to the side. so you're kind of getting those those inner hamstrings stretched
out this time. only go as far as you can. as long as your your pelvis doesn't come
up. so mine is coming up a little bit, so I'm going to start over. I'm gonna put my
hand here to make sure it stays down. and then start rolling that leg out. so if
you start coming up like that, you're not getting that stretch, so really try and
keep that pelvis down and then go into that stretch. again holding it for that
thirty seconds or you know use your breaths, you know, count your thirty
seconds and see how many nice deep breaths you can get in there, and then
you can just do your breath. and then come back up after that 30 seconds. and
then if you want to alternate back and forth, now you're just gonna switch over,
place your hand on the other hip. so it's take you making sure that it's staying
down. and then you're bringing it across. so this one is getting some of the IT
band and those outer hamstrings stretching where that sciatic nerve kind
of runs along. so again I'm not doing this. if my hip is coming up, I'm not getting
that stretch. I want to place my hand here so I know that that pelvis is
staying down. and then just bringing it over. so see even right here I'm getting
much more of a stretch than if I were to bring my whole leg over. so make sure
it's staying down. get that stretch. keeping that leg nice and straight,
holding it for 30 seconds. and then you can just alternate back and forth. if you
want to just to kind of give those muscles a break in between. doing three
of each for that thirty Seconds. so there you have it. those are my favorite
sciatic pain stretches. if you'd like help support my channel, make sure and
click on the link up there, and don't forget to subscribe by clicking down
there. and remember be safe, have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.