Sciatica Relief
Sciatica is becoming more and more of a problem with some people not even realizing how it is affecting their daily life. Well, let me give you the 411 on sciatica and what you can do about it.
Sciatica is the brief name for irritation on the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is the largest and longest nerve in the human body, so naturally it deals with some stuff from time to time. The sciatic nerve originates in the low back and travels through the gluteus muscles, down the back of the leg, and into the foot. This nerve is also as wide as your thumb as it travels through your gluteus.
I hear it time and time again that when someones sciatic nerve starts to flare up and they develop that pain on the back of the their leg, they blame their herniated disc and do McKenzie extensions to try and ‘push’ the disc back into the spine. Now, I am not saying that those don’t work or you shouldn’t do them. If it helps with your pain, by all means - do the thing!
However, due to the length and width of the sciatic nerve, we often get nerve entrapments anywhere along the nerve - not just at the spine. Common places where the nerve can get trapped or stuck and cause the whole length of the nerve to cause pain:
Piriformis muscle
Lack of hamstring mobility
Lack of knee mobility (specifically posterior knee)
Ankle immobility
Forefoot and big toe mobility
I’m serious, all of these can play a part into why you are experiencing sciatic pain. Now, what do we do about it if all of these areas can give me pain? Simple answer, make the nerve MOVE. Whether that is simple joint mobilizations to increase range of motion, stretching along the long musculature, and providing specific nerve glides to help the sciatic nerve glide smoothly through these tissues can provide a significant amount of relief. Enough that you can avoid pain meds and steroidal anti-inflammatories. Desirable, right?
So, what do we do?
To stretch the piriformis muscle, a figure 4 stretch (google images) can help you stretch into those deep glute rotators and provide more length in the piriformis muscle to allow the sciatic nerve to glide
Hamstring stretch - a simple toe touch (while standing) can work on hamstring mobility but it is important to note that nerve pain is not desired here. If you’re experiencing nerve pain, look up and see if that relieves the tension
Knee mobility and posterior knee relaxation can be achieved by using a tennis or lacrosse ball in the back of the knee while you grab onto your shin and pull your calf toward your hamstring (knee flexion). Turning your toes inwards and outwards focuses the ball on difference musculature.
Ankle mobility, specifically dorsiflexion (bringing your toes toward your face) can help with opening up the ankle to allow the nerve room to glide through it. Kneel in front of a wall and bring your toes 4 fingers width away from the wall. Keeping your heel on the ground, try to touch your knee to the wall
Toe mobility, yes your sciatic nerve (and other branches of it) travel into the foot, and if your big toe lacks mobility, the nerve can get caught in the arch of the foot. So, to increase toe mobility - walk up to a wall and put your toes on the wall and slide your foot down so that your toe is on the wall while the ball of your foot is on or close to the floor. Think of this as a wall calf stretch but for your toes.
Lastly, nerve glides will help to floss that nerve through all of these tissues to make sure it doesn’t get stuck anywhere along the chain and ‘massage’ away the inflammation that may be lingering. You can do this by sitting in a chair, extending your knee, flexing your foot (toes toward your face) and then reversing it. If that is relatively easy, as you flex your foot, also flex your neck (chin to chest) to increase that tension but MOVE SLOWLY. Our goal is not to piss off the nerve, but to give it some love and help it move smoothy.
I know, there are many ways to try and help alleviate that pain but trust me, it’s better than getting hooked on medication and never addressing the root cause of your issue. If you want long term results, you need long term solutions.
If someone you love is suffering from chronic sciatica, please share this blog post to help them achieve their desired results and improve their life. As always, if you have questions, please reach out to me and let’s chat!
