Best Exercises for Sciatica Relief | Chiropractor for Sciatica in Philadelphia, PA
Hey, what’s up everybody. My name is Dr. Rogers Saias and I’m the clinic director at PA Pain and Rehab in Philadelphia. Today I want to tell you about two stretches that you can do at home right now to help alleviate some of the symptoms you may be experiencing with sciatica, which is that pain that just travels from your low back to on your leg. So no one likes that. Here’s a couple of things that you can do at home.
The Forward Flex Position and Your Discs
So first things first, if you recall, when we talked about disc problems, the disc lives in between the bones, the vertebrae, right, we talked about the Ice Cream Sandwich, if you didn’t see what I’m talking about the Ice Cream Sandwich. Basically, if you put too much pressure on the front of an ice cream sandwich in which down the front, and pushes the ice cream backwards. Most people that we see after an injury, we’re after, you know, we have so many people that sit on cell phones all day or computers, we have so many people have this forward flex position, they’re stuck in that position puts a lot of pressure on the front of the desks in the low back, if you’re putting too much pressure on the desk, it can push back into these wires or the nerves and to the spinal cord. And that can cause sciatica, pain down your leg can also cause pain on your arm and tapping in your neck. But we’re going to talk about the low back for now.
The Nerve Floss Stretch for Sciatica
So this first stretch I’m going to show you is called a nerve floss, we’re gonna have nerve loss, the sciatic nerve. So basically what we’re gonna do, you’re gonna sit up nice and straight and chair and want to sit up nice and straight, have good upright body posture, get planted, get your seed planted, you’re going to extend your leg. So you’re going to lift your leg as high as you can, you’re going to point your toes, and when you’re pointing your toes, you’re going to bend your head backwards. So you’re going to start with the leg that hurts. So if you have pain down your left leg, you’re going to start with your left leg. If you have pain on the right leg, you’re going to do your right leg. So you’re going to always do the leg that hurts that where you’re having pain down your leg. So again, it’s a fluid movement, you’re going to bring your leg up, and as you’re bending your foot and pointing your toes towards you, you’re going to bend your head backwards, okay, it should not increase the pain, it should decrease the pain. Obviously, if it causes more pain, don’t do it. If it causes too much tension in your neck where you can’t bring your head back into extension, this isn’t the right stretch stretch for you. So don’t do it. It’s not worth it. So if you’re getting more pain for any stretch that you do, including these don’t do the stretch, that’s a good time to give us a call to see why you can’t do that particular movement. So that’s nerve flossing, you can do this 10 times. So you can do 10 repetitions, just nice and slow, extend the head back, point the toes, feel the relief, hopefully. And you can do that multiple multiple times per day. So that’s nerve flossing. Alright, so the next exercise I’m going to show you again, if we’re too forward in our daily routine, and we’re hunched over and we have too much forward flexion, putting pressure on the front, bringing the desk backwards or the Ice Cream Sandwich backwards. What are some things that you could do to help reverse that.
The McKenzie Sciatica Stretch
So this next stretch is called the McKenzie low back or sciatica stretch. This is developed by Robin McKenzie, there’s plenty of information on the internet about this, but this is the gist of it. And again, just like anything else, if it gives you some relief, that is a good thing. But these exercises should not cause more pain. If they do you really need an evaluation to find out more. So again, just like any other exercise, always consult a physician if you’re concerned if this is right for you. So what you’re going to do is you’re going to lie down, preferably on a firm surface, but you could do this in your bed, especially if you can’t get onto the floor. So when you’re first going to do is you’re going to just lie on your stomach and we call Pro, you’re just going to lie like this, okay, for some people, this is enough, and they may get some relief. So if you’re getting paid down your leg, and you get into this position, you’re in this position for a good 30 seconds and it feels good. That’s a positive thing. And then you can advance to this position. And again, if going into this position gives you even more relief, especially after 30 seconds, or however long there’s not a magic number, you just want to be able to get into this position. If this gives you relief, you could go up into this position. So you’re going to keep your pelvis planted, you’re going to just lift up and you’re going into extension. So you’re pushing the Ice Cream Sandwich, you’re pushing down on the back of it this time and you’re pushing the ice cream away from the desk, I’m sorry, away from the spinal cord away from the nerve. Okay, so for some people, this is enough, this would be next, and then this would be more advanced. And again, it’s supposed to decrease your symptoms. If it’s not decreasing your symptoms and it’s causing you more pain either in your low back or down your leg. Don’t do this exercise. This is something that I’ve done in the past. This is something that I I teach a lot of patients because it’s very simple to do at home and anybody and pretty much everybody is looking for relief, but we want to try to do it as naturally as possible.
Sciatica Pain? We can Help. Contact Us Today.
So Again, if you’re watching this video and you’re experiencing radiating pain either down your arm or down your leg, and these, these exercises or any of the tests and the videos are making things worse for you. That’s why you need to give us a call. Give us a call. If you don’t want to talk to us on the phone, you can always send us an email asked a question, let’s set up a consultation and evaluation to see if we can help you. I hope this message finds you well if this you found this video to be helpful, drop us a comment like this video and share it with others. I hope this message finds you well and have a great rest of the day. Take care
