Symptoms of Sciatica includes pain that begins in your back or buttock and moves down your leg and may move into your foot. These 3 key exercises areas can help significantly.
At Kauai Therapy & Wellness exercises incorporating strengthening, stretching, and aerobic conditioning are a central component of almost any sciatic nerve pain treatment plan.When patients engage in a regular program of gentle strengthening, stretching and aerobic exercises, they can recover more quickly from sciatic nerve pain and are less likely to have future episodes of pain.
General Exercises for Sciatic Nerve Pain
Sciatica exercises usually focus on three key areas:
Strengthening exercises
Many exercises can help strengthen the spinal column and the supporting muscles, ligaments and tendons. Most of these back exercises focus not only on the lower back, but also the abdominal (stomach) muscles and gluteus (buttocks) and hip muscles.
Taken together, these strong core muscles can provide Sciatica nerve pain relief because they support the spine, keeping it in alignment and facilitating movements that extend or twist the spine with less chance of injury or damage.
Stretching exercises
Stretching is usually recommended to alleviate sciatic nerve pain. Stretches for sciatica nerve pain are designed to target muscles that cause pain when they are tight and inflexible.
Hamstring stretching is almost always an important part of a sciatica exercise program.
Low impact aerobic exercise
Some form of low impact cardiovascular exercise, such as walking, swimming or pool therapy is usually a component of recovery, as aerobic activity encourages the exchange of fluids and nutrients to help create a better healing environment.
Aerobic conditioning has the unique benefit of releasing endorphins, the body’s natural pain killers, which helps reduce sciatic nerve pain.
When sciatica pain is at its most severe, patients may find the pain hard to bear and may need to rest for a day or two. However, resting for more than one or two days is usually not advisable, as prolonged rest or inactivity can make the sciatic pain worse and will lead to deconditioning. Regular movement is important to provide healing nutrients to the injured structures that are causing the sciatica nerve pain.
At Kauai Therapy & Wellness we have noticed that almost 50 percent of our back patients experience Sciatica nerve pain. We have been very successful in treating Sciatic nerve pain. Patients typically start seeing results in 6-9 visits and have long lasting effects. Call today for a free screen for your Sciatic nerve pain at 808.333.3688
