Two Important Sciatica Stretching Exercises for Sciatic Pain Relief

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Two Important Sciatica Stretching Exercises for Sciatic Pain Relief

Monday, November 3rd, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed

Sciatic nerve pain, also known as a condition called sciatica, is an disease that when left untreated can become distressing and consuming, and really degrade your quality of life.Sciatica stretching exercises can truly help you on your road to becoming pain free, but first you need to understand what causes sciatica.

Sciatica is essentially damage to the sciatic nerve that is triggered by pinching of
the nerve from tight muscles, or tension being placed on the nerve. The sciatic nerve originates in your lower back area, and travels down, through the buttock area, and down through the hamstring and the back of your leg. Thus, when you have excessively tight hamstrings, that can trigger pain in your sciatic nerve.

Generally tight muscles indicate a weakness in other muscles in the
surrounding area, and that is the most common cause of sciatica.Sciatica exercisescan really assist to overcome this, and ease your numbing nerve pain.

Sciatic nerve damage can also be triggered by job stressors such as truck driving for long periods of time. The constant bouncing places stress on the sciatic nerve. Sciatica can also be caused by a herniated lumbar disc, in which case, only performing sciatica stretches won’t help too much, and can in fact in up harming your sciatic nerve further.

In order to decide the type of sciatica you may be suffering from, try this simple exercise. Sit in a chair and try stretching the leg with the side you are having pain on, out straight.If your pain increases, most likely true sciatica is to blame, and you have a herniated disk.The second test you can try is pulling your knee on your painful side slowly, up to the shoulder on the same side. Then relax a bit and proceed to pull the knee towards the opposite shoulder, and gauge your pain.If it is more painful pulling to the opposite shoulder, then most likely you are suffering from sciatica caused by tight muscles.

Here are 2 simple Sciatica nerve stretchesyou can do to help relieve your pain. Lying flat on your back, pull your knee up to each shoulder.This can help stretch out tight hamstring muscle. Be careful though, because if you suffer from a herniated disc than this exercise can worsen it.

The second sciatica stretchesyou can perform is a yoga move, where you lie flat on your tummy, and proper yourself up on your elbows while looking up slightly. The slight curve this creates in your spine helps to relieve pressure and pain. But again, be careful, because if your sciatica is caused by a facet syndrome, this can aggravate it.

Also, sometimes this may exacerbate your pain temporarily, but it usually improves with repetition, and it is best to get up and walk around for a bit in between repetitions, and take a break. These sciatica exercises are supposed to help you, but always use good judgment and caution when performing them.

Another thing to keep in mind is that sciatica is seldom caused by just one factor. In some cases, it may be due to facet syndrome, which I briefly mentioned above. That involves rear joints at the base of your spine. In that case, extending your back like mentioned above can actually worsen your symptoms, and it is recommended to lie flat on your back and hug your knees. However, again this can put pressure on any herniated disc problems. Thus the absolute best thing you can do is to consult your physician before doing any Sciatica stretching exercises, and find out precisely where the cause of the pain is originating from, is the safest and wisest route to take.They can then refer you to a health professional that will help you perform the appropriate exercises relevant to your particular case.

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