Sciatica is pain that radiates from your lower back down your buttock and the back of your leg. It's not a disease --- it's a symptom of another problem involving the sciatic nerve, such as a herniated disk or piriformis syndrome. Certain yoga positions, done properly, may help ease or even eliminate sciatica back pain.
Effects of Underlying Causes of Sciatica
Before you can use yoga positions for sciatica pain relief, you need to consult with your physician to find out the underlying cause of your sciatica. Once you know that, yoga expert Dr. Rita Khanna suggests consulting with a qualified yoga instructor and performing the poses he recommends only under his guidance. Each specific underlying cause of sciatica back pain may call for a different approach to yoga for sciatica relief, and a qualified instructor can design an individual regimen for you and can ensure you're performing each pose correctly.
How Yoga Can Relieve Sciatica
Yoga provides gentle, beneficial motions and stretches for afflicted muscles and joints that can help relieve sciatica pain. Some sciatica back pain is caused by a tightening of the piriformis muscle, which runs from the base of your spine to the top of your thigh bone, and many yoga poses stretch and help relax this hard-to-reach muscle. Poor posture can also cause or contribute to sciatica, and properly-done yoga poses can help improve your spinal alignment, providing relief.
Once your sciatica pain is gone, keep doing your sciatica-relief poses to help prevent the pain from returning.
Some Recommended Positions
Dr. Khanna notes that yoga poses that open the hips and gently twist the back are most effective in treating sciatica pain. Sukhasana, a seated spinal twist pose, and a leg stretch called supta padangusthasana in which you lay on your back and stretch one leg toward the ceiling, are two she recommends. She also suggests a variation of the leg-stretch pose, in which you slowly move your leg sideways, getting your foot as close to the floor as you can.
Positions to Avoid
YogaJournal.com advises sciatica sufferers to avoid seated forward bend poses in which the pelvis is fixed to the floor, because these can aggravate sciatica pain. Standing forward bends such as downward-facing dog may also irritate the sciatic nerve, but bending your knees to help rotate your pelvis forward may alleviate some of the strain and allow you to perform them. If any yoga position at any time causes you pain, stop and avoid that position until your doctor or yoga instructor advises you to try it again.
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