Sciatica Pain: What to do?
Sciatica pain can be painful and debilitating. Most patient come to us with the complaint of feeling the pain on only one side of the body. It’s estimated that up to 40 percent of people will experience sciatica at least once in their life and if you’re one of those people, you know it can be very painful and annoying. In this week’s blog, we will share with you the 4 best sciatica exercise to do at home.
What Is Sciatica Exactly?
Sciatica isn’t a condition, it’s simply what we call the pain caused by the irritation of the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in the human body and because it covers so much area, there are lots of opportunities for it to become irritated.
Sciatica is usually caused by a compressed nerve in the lower spine and the pain it produces can range from rather mild to very severe.
Symptoms of Sciatica
The symptoms of sciatica include:
- Moderate to severe pain in lower back and radiate down to your buttock and leg.
- Numbness or weakness in your lower limb, usually only one side.
- Pain that worsens with movement.
- “Pins and needles” feeling in your legs, toes, or feet.
In severe case, some may even experience:
- loss of bowel and bladder control
- Difficulty breathing and anxiety symptoms.
What Exercise Can I Do To Manage Sciatica?
1. Glute Foam Roller: Use the force of your full body weight to press down onto the foam roller. Spend 30 seconds to 1 min.
2. Piriformis Stretch: A tight piriformis might compress sciatic nerve and cause sciatica pain. Spend 15-30 seconds to stretch and relax piriformis muscle. It’s important to keep the back on the ground and pull lower limb towards body to stretch the piriformis and avoid stretching the back.
3. Piriformis Release with Lacrosse Ball: When doing this sciatica exercise, feel for tight and sore spots as you roll the ball. When you find one of these spots, stop rolling the ball and allow your body weight to put pressure down onto the ball for 30 seconds to a minute per glute.
4. Dead Bug: Lying flat on back with legs flat on the floor, raise right arm and left knee and lower them. Then, switch to raising your left arm and right knee. Keep core muscles tight and make sure knees don’t go past your hip sockets. Aim for three sets of 5-10 reps on each side.
However, if there is still pain, we recommend seeing a physiotherapist as they will determine the root cause of your condition and treat you accordingly. If you have any more questions or would like our physiotherapists to assess or treat your buttock pain, feel free to drop us a question, talk to us, or fill in the form below. Do check out our Instagram page too.
Yap Shi Qi
Rehab Therapist
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