If your sciatic nerve is compressed or irritated you can develop symptoms that include pain that is in the low back or buttocks, pain that radiates down the legs and into the feet, and numbness and tingling sensations in the legs. Sciatic nerve pain or sciatica is a symptom of another medical condition such as a disc problem, disease or injury to the spine. Before starting to do exercises for a sciatic nerve injury, make sure you get your condition properly diagnosed. Exercises that are helpful for one condition may be contraindicated for another.
Abdominal Strengthening Exercises
Keeping your stomach muscles strong is an important component of an overall plan to help your back says the Mayo Clinic. When the abdominal muscles are weak you place extra pressure on your back, which can contribute to sciatica pain. Strong abdominal muscles help you to sit up straight and maintain good posture. This can also help to relieve your symptoms. The simplest abdominal exercise is a pelvic tilt. You can lie flat on your back with the knees bent. Alternate back and forth from arching your low back off the floor and then pressing the low back flat down. Do not lift the hips, try to just isolate the low back. When this movement becomes pain free you can maintain the pelvic tilt (back flat) and then progress to abdominal crunches and reverse crunches to strengthen the stomach muscles even more.
Back and Leg Stretches
The constant pain from sciatica can make your muscles tight. The tighter your muscles get the more pain you may feel. If you have sciatica it will be important to gently stretch the muscles of the low back and legs. Lying on your back with the knees bent, you can gently hug one knee at a time to your chest, you can also straighten one leg up into a hamstring stretch or you can bring both knees to one side in a spinal twist. You can also come onto all fours and do cat and camel pose by arching the back. Afterward, you can sit the buttocks onto the heels and come into child's pose. The ABC of Yoga web page states that improving the flexibility of the spine can help you to maintain better posture and relive tension and pain. In addition, yoga teaches you deep breathing exercises and meditation while you stretch to help relax even more. The combination of quiet breathing and holding stretches may help to take pressure off the sciatica nerve and relieve tightness.
Aerobic Exercise
According to the American Council on Exercise, regular exercise at the right level will help to reduce your symptoms. Aerobic type exercises such as walking, biking and swimming will keep you fit and flexible. In addition, these types of activities can help you to take off any extra weight. To help promote weight loss, you need about 30 minutes of moderate activity on most days of the week. You can split the 30 minutes up into shorter sessions during the day and gradually work up to longer sessions. Walking on a treadmill that has some cushioning may be gentler on your back then walking outside. You may prefer riding an indoor bicycle if weight bearing is too uncomfortable. You can also walk in a pool which will get you moving without placing pressure on the back.
McKenzie Exercises
The McKensie exercises were developed by a physical therapist named Robin McKenzie. The goal is to gently move the body into various position to help take pressure off the sciatica nerve. You move into positions that resolve the pain and avoid the ones that make your symptoms worse. The exercises involve arching, twisting and weight shifting movements. The Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies recommends icing after your session to help calm any inflammation or irritation to the sciatica nerve.
