This video, I'm going to show you the best seated sciatica
exercises for instant pain relief. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Doctor Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
St. Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to focus on
lower back pain and sciatic leg pain from sitting. Before we
start though, I want to go over two important things. The first
being what to look for. That is centralization of symptoms. The
most common cause of sciatica is a disc bulge or herniation
that goes off to one side pinching a nerve causing leg
pain. So, during the exercises, if you notice an upward trend
of symptoms or pain, you know that these exercises are
helping. The second thing, what not to look for. During the
beginning part of the exercise, you may get a momentary
increase of symptoms or pain but it should not be causing
agony or debilitating pain. If it does, please discontinue
immediately and instead consult with your local chiropractor or
doctor. That being said, let's get started. So, let's start
with an exercise I like to call Doctor Rose Seeded Sciatica
Slayer. It's a two-part motion. The first being extension or a
backwards movement of the back to take pressure off spinal
disc, the main cause of sciatic leg pain. Start with very good
upright posture. What I'm going to do, take my hands and thumbs
and place them off to the side of the spine right around the
belt line. We're going to press into our lower back until we
kind of jet our stomach and belly button forward. You
should start to feel initial deep stretch already in the
lower back. From there, what I'm going to do is then take my
upper back and kind of lean backwards with it while I press
into the lower back at the same time. This puts a deep stretch
into the lower back. Only go to your comfort level. Once you
hit a deep stretch, let's hold this for 30 seconds. Do nice,
slow, controlled breathing also. Just let that tension
out. From there, what I'm going to do is just go a little bit
above and then repeat that process. Pretty much going from
the lower part of the back around the belt line and
working my way up. You're going to notice that one certain spot
is going to be the pinpoint spot. It just offers the most
amount of relief. Stop over that spot and throw in three to
five repetitions of thirty-second holds. You can
take this one to the next level by instead of using your
thumbs, grab a large bath towel. Go right over that
pinpoint spot that we just found earlier. So, let's say
it's right here for me. I'm going to take the two ends,
pull forward, and then repeat that exercise of leaning back.
When I do this, I just get a deeper stretch with it and it
just feels like it's more stable. So, try them both. Use
what works best for you. What we're going to do next is a
lateral lean-style McKenzie exercise. That's really good
for one-sided sciatica pain. So, let's say that I have a lot
going on into my left side. What I'm going to do is
whatever side that you're having pain. Take a hand on
that side. Place it right on the hip. You're going to press
over with this hand towards the other side until you feel like
you're kind of pressing your hips and lower back off to the
side. From there, I'm going to the hand on the other side,
bend it at 90 degrees at the elbow, and then I'm going to
lean towards the painful side. So, I'm pressing into it and
then leaning into it like this at the same time. What this
will do is take pressure off a spinal disc on the bad side and
put it more towards the center which will help unpinch a nerve
that might be causing that sciatica. So, stretch into it
for a deep, comfortable stretch, hold this one for 30
seconds. From there, you can relax, take a breather, and
then repeat this three to five times. And with each
repetition, try to stretch into it just a little bit more. You
know that this one is helping if you start to see that
centralization, that upward trend of leg pain. Go through
all of them, take what works best for you. Another cause of
sciatica and commonly overlooked is from piriformis
syndrome which is a muscle that lies underneath the glute
buttocks. It is a literal pain in the butt. So, let's do an
exercise to target that and see if we can get some relief.
Start with very good upright posture. What you're going to
do is take the painful side. Let's say my right side. I'm
going to bend my knee and bring it up over the other side. Rest
my ankle on the bottom side's knee. If this position is hard
to get into, what you can do is just bring one leg over the
other, kind of place it right in front of the shin, grab the
pant leg, slide your leg up into position. From here, what
I want to do is take my hands, place them over my hips. I'm
going to pivot through the waist, leaning forward moving
through my hips. I don't want to round my back with this one
but just slowly move through the waist keeping the back
straight as possible. You'll feel a deep stretch off to the
side into the glute buttock, hip, and lower back. Only go
towards a comfortable, deep stretch. You want to hold this
for 30 seconds and you want to do nice, slow, controlled
breathing also. From there, just come back up, take a
breather, repeat this three to five times and with each
repetition, try to stretch into it just a little bit more.
Let's take this one to the next level by throwing some dynamic
movements in there that's going to help up that area a little
bit more. Hopefully, give us some more relief. So, what I'm
going to do is start with that initial stretch leaning forward
until I feel it but this time around, I'm going to pull my
arms out in front of me and then, I'm going to twist my
back and body in the opposite direction. You'll notice that
it hits the lower back, glute buttock area just a little bit
differently. Again, 30 second holds and then from there, I'm
going to twist towards the side and see if that one helps out
too. You can also do what is known as a lateral lean to
target more often a side. So, start with very good upright
posture. Hands go back on the hips. What I'm going to do is
just lean my upper body away from the side of pain. This
will really target a muscle called the quadratus lumborum
which is a big instigator of pain. So, go all the way away
from the body and then lean towards the side of pain. Go
through all of those motions. If you feel like one just hits
that area a little bit more, gives you more relief, throw in
more repetitions, target the movements that give you the
most amount of relief. One of the easiest way to get sciatica
leg pain relief is with what is known as sciatic nerve
flossing. I'm going to show you how to take flossing to the
next level with the two chair method but if you don't have
two chairs, you can do this exercise just keep the leg
straight and put the heel on the floor. So, I'm going to
take the painful side, put it up on the chair like this. The
chair that we're sitting in, make sure it has a lot of
support for the back. You want to be able to relax as much as
possible during this exercise. Also, try to have very good
upright posture. What I'm to do is start off by taking my foot
and taking my toes away from me. The more that we bring the
toes away from us, the more that you're going to feel a
deep stretch in the leg, this is pretty much opening up that
whole sciatic nerve pathway. This might cause an initial
increase of pain but it should be momentary. If it is causing
agonizing, debilitating pain, please discontinue immediately
but once we feel that deep stretch, let's hold this right
here for about 5 seconds. From there, we're going to bring the
back towards us as much as we can. We want to do this one
nice and slowly for five second holds, 10 to 15 repetitions in
both directions and try to stretch into it just a little
bit more with each repetition. If you do have two-sided
sciatica, you can do this by putting both legs up at the
same time and hit both legs. It really works great for
two-sided sciatica. How we're going to take this one to the
next level like I mentioned earlier is we're going to
incorporate a slump stretch in there. So, let's get back into
our original position. I'm going to take the foot away
from me pretty much just trying to get that initial deep
stretch and then from there, I'm going to take my hands, put
them on my hips, and then pivot forward through my waist. I'm
not trying to round my back with this one. I'm trying to
keep it straight as possible leaning through the waist.
You'll really feel a deep stretch into the leg only go to
your comfort level. From there, I'm going to take two fingers
put them on my chin, and then do a slight chin tuck. Again,
this will intensify that stretch. You want to hold this
one for about five seconds and then you're just going to relax
and then you're just going to repeat this for about 10 to 15
repetitions and with each repetition, try to stretch into
it just a little bit more and again, if you do have two-sided
sciatica, you can do this on both sides at the same time. My
favorite way to get sciatica pain relief is through
decompression traction. Think a deep pulling motion in the
lower back that will quickly take pressure off bulging disc,
herniated disc, pinched nerves, anything that might be causing
that leg pain. This is how we can do it seated. Grab a sturdy
chair. You might want one that's metal that can support
your body weight. We also want to make sure it doesn't have
wheels and solid armrest. What I'm going to do is go right to
the edge of that chair. Have very good upright posture. I'm
going to straighten my legs, toes up towards the ceiling.
I'm going to take my hands, place them on the armrest. I'm
going to then slowly press upwards and lift my body weight
off of the chair kind of like a dip exercise. When we do this,
you're going to feel gravity taking your body weight
straight down towards the floor. This will help traction
or open up the lower back. Usually feels really really
good. Start off by holding this for about five to 10 seconds
but if you have the strength, hold it for longer, 30 seconds
a minute. The great part is you're going to get a very good
arm workout but when you need a breather, just come back down
like this. You want to repeat this upwards to ten times. So,
if you stuck around to the end of the video, you're going to
be rewarded with a very unique exercise known as the McKenzie
seated flexion. This one is especially good for anybody
that has lower back pain and leg pain while sitting. Go to
the edge of a chair. What I want is very good neutral
upright posture to begin with. Let's take our hands and then
put them on the inside of our knees. We're going to drive our
knees outwards until we feel a very good initial stretch into
the hips, pelvis, and lower back. From there, I'm going to
take my hand put them on my knees. I'm going to do an
extension or a backwards motion into the back to begin with.
So, I'm going to draw my chest forward and then take my
shoulders backwards. When you do this, you're going to feel a
very deep stretch into the back, really focus on feeling
that. Hold this for just a couple seconds and with all
these motions, I'm just going to hold it for a couple seconds
so I don't have to keep repeating it. From there, I'm
going to then go into flexion by just slouching forward,
purposely giving myself bad posture, lean into it as much
as you can From there, I'm going to intensify the stretch
by putting my arms overlapping like this and then bending
forward through my knees. Once we hit a deep stretch, I'm
going to take this one even to the next level by taking my
chin down towards my chest. From there, I'm going to start
over, putting my hands back on my knees, going back into that
extension stretch and then slouching into it and then
finishing with that final position. With all of those
motions, build into them as much as you can, over the repetitions.
But I try to do that one for about five to ten complete
times and I hope that that gives you a ton of sciatic
nerve pain relief. If the exercises help and gave you
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any comments or questions, please leave them below. I'll
get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks for watching!