Bed rest is the single most crucial piece of advice anyone in their right mind would give someone else when sciatica pain strikes. After all, with the body pain that sciatica brings about, how can anyone do exercises to relieve sciatica? However, according to most experts, bed rest is the most harmful thing one can do for sciatica pain. Usually, the intensity of the low back and hip pain caused by sciatica is most intense when you try to get out of bed after a long rest.
Unlike other forms of discomfort that require prolonged bed rest, sciatica pain benefits from rest only during an acute bout of distress or for the first 48 hours after the pain begins. Resting after 48 hours only makes it worse. Why does rest cause more pain when it is expected to help? The back’s support becomes a lot weaker when one rests for an extended period because the muscles and spinal structures relax. Discomfort becomes severe because the back becomes vulnerable to agitation and damage.
Exercises for sciatic nerve pain would help strengthen the back’s support structures and improve the overall health of the intervertebral discs by promoting the flow of nutrients and fluids within the intervertebral disc. Healthy intervertebral discs help relieve pressure on the sciatic nerve and reduce pain.
There are essentially two main goals when performing exercises for sciatica:
Reducing current sciatic pain; and
Anticipating the future return of pain by strengthening the supporting structures of the back.
The best exercise program for sciatica is the one that focuses primarily on addressing the underlying cause of the pain. In effect, this means that it is essential to consult a physician before doing any exercise – whether it is simple stretching or yoga exercises for sciatica – to determine what is causing the pain in the first place. Once the pain causes are identified, the problem will be much easier to solve, as a doctor will recognize what exercise method the patient should follow to reduce the discomfort.
It should be emphasized that exercises for sciatica require guidance in the initial period of performing them. It is great to have the ideal exercises, but you will only worsen the situation if you do not do them in the right way. Sciatica exercises during pregnancy also require a good trainer so that the exercise is not too stressful for both the mother and the baby.
As the backbone for a beneficial sciatica exercise program, there are six primary and critical features. These are:
It is strengthening the core muscles. To give the back more support, sciatica exercises primarily to train and strengthen the abdomen and back’s core muscles. Light stretching exercises for sciatica and yoga are most effective in relieving pain caused by tense and inflexible muscles. This is especially true for patients with piriformis syndrome. Patients who perform regular stretching exercises recover faster from acute flare-ups, and future pain episodes are stopped.
Hamstring stretching. Not only should the abdomen and back be worked on, but the hamstring muscles should also be stretched regularly. The lower back gets more stress and strain from strained hamstrings, increasing the root causes of sciatica pain.
Specific diagnosis. The root cause of sciatica pain, such as a herniated disc, should be the following exercises’ specific focus. If an appropriate diagnosis of the cause of the pain is not made, exercises should not be done to prevent injury.
Exercising in the right way. It is a typical problem to help oneself using DVDs or the web when it comes to sciatica. Unfortunately, many of these videos only demonstrate the exercises without showing the proper form and how specific muscles would feel while performing these maneuvers. Therefore, the problem will worsen and will also prove to be inadequate. With the guidance of an experienced and qualified health professional, such as a physical therapist, physiatrist, or chiropractor, these exercises can be learned correctly and easily.
Aerobic exercises. Cardio-conditioning through aerobic exercises is an essential complement to sciatica exercises because it improves blood circulation, bringing essential fluids and nutrients to the back’s muscles and other support structures. The best forms of aerobic exercise are low-impact activities such as walking and swimming.
Maintain a healthy posture. Poor posture is fatal to any exercise session, as it is one of the leading causes of lower back pain. Learning how to stand, sit and lift with proper posture properly will help prevent sciatica pain.
Sciatica pain should not prevent a person from enjoying his or her life. By performing sciatica exercises consistently, people are not only assured of less pain in the future, but they also stay healthy.
