4 Best Stretches for Sciatica Pain Relief to Try Right Now!

For those with sciatica, the pain can be debilitating and interfere with their daily lives. These stretches for sciatica should help alleviate the discomfort and get you back into life.

What is Sciatica?

Back pain can come in many forms. It can flare up immediately after an injury or appear slowly over time, and these pains can be short term or chronic. It can be difficult to identify the source of your back pain, but sciatica is often easily identified. 

Sciatica is nerve pain from an injury or irritation to the sciatic nerve, which originates in your buttock/gluteal area. If you’re suffering from sciatica, you may experience mild to severe pain along the sciatic nerve. While mild symptoms can go away over time, look out for more severe ones such as:

• Pain after a violent trauma, like a car crash
• Issues controlling bowels
• Severe pain in the lower back and leg numbness

If self-care measures do not provide relief, or you’re experiencing pain for over a week, make sure to get in touch with a medical professional.

Stretches for Sciatica Pain Relief

Tightness in your lower back or hamstring can worsen the pain along your sciatic nerve, certain stretches may provide some relief from sciatica. As always, if these stretches cause more pain or do not help alleviate your symptoms, reach out to your doctor.

Standing Hamstring Stretch

First up in our list of stretches for sciatica is the standing hamstring stretch. This move should cause the hamstrings and calves to stretch. To do this:

• Start by standing in a relaxed position with your hands at your sides and your core engaged. Keep your feet hip-width apart.
• Step forward with one foot on something to elevate it slightly, keeping your leg straight and flex your foot so that only your heel rests on the floor.
• Keeping the spine straight, bend at the hip to bring the chest toward the thigh. The other leg will also bend slightly at the knee.
• Hold this pose for 10 to 30 seconds before switching sides.

You can do this stretch multiple times.

Cat-Cow Stretch

This stretch involves moving the spine from a rounded position to an arched one and this can help improve circulation in your back and give you some relief. To perform this stretch:

• Start by getting on your hands and knees, align your wrists underneath your shoulders and your knees underneath your hips.
• Begin in a neutral spine position with your back flat and your abs engaged. Then, inhale deeply
• When exhaling, round your spine up towards the ceiling, pulling your belly button up towards your spine. Tuck your chin towards your chest, and let your neck release.
• When you inhale, arch your back and let your stomach relax. Lift your head and tailbone upwards, avoid putting pressure on your neck.
• Continue these motions for a few rounds.

Cobra Pose

Cobra pose is a yoga pose that strengthens the muscles of the upper back. To perform this pose:

• To start, lie flat on the floor or another surface face down with your head slightly lifted and hands beneath your shoulders
• As you exhale, press your arms straight and lift the upper body and front of hips up.
• Keep your legs and feet relaxed and on the ground and breathe slowly
• Hold this pose for 10 to 30 seconds before relaxing

You can do this up to 10 times.

Figure 4 Stretch

This stretch can improve flexibility and mobility in your hips and glutes. To perform this stretch:

• Lay down on your back
• Cross your right ankle over your left knee and keep your right foot flexed
• Pull your left knee to your chest and reach your right hand through your legs to interlace your fingers just below the left knee.
• Pull your left knee toward your chest. When you feel a stretch in your right glute and hip, hold there for about 30 seconds or up to a minute
• Switch sides and repeat.

Because of its close proximity to the sciatic nerve, problems with the piriformis muscle can irritate the sciatic nerve and cause pain in the hip and buttocks. This stretch for sciatica can prove effective if those are your problem areas.

Getting Treatment for Sciatica Pain

Sciatica can be difficult to deal with when it flares up, but the at home treatment options are various. If these stretches for sciatica have not been enough to solve your problem, I urge you to download my free 5 step guide to getting a great night sleep with sciatica. For those suffering from sciatic nerve pain right now and are looking for immediate relief, it could be very helpful.

At Align Wellness Center, we have helped thousands of patients that have suffered with sciatica and are looking for treatment methods. Those patients are finally starting to see relief from sciatica and are feeling better overall for it. Sciatica can improve drastically through corrective chiropractic care.

If you or someone you know is having sciatica symptoms, especially ones that won’t go away, they need to be looked at by a corrective chiropractor and ensure the cervical spine is in alignment as well as other areas of the body. If you’re looking for a chiropractor that will take a natural and holistic approach to helping you with your issues with sciatica, give us a call, even if you’re out of our area, we can look to connect you with a chiropractor near you.

We offer an in-depth exam to determine exactly what we can do to help with as much detail for you as possible. It is called the 3-Dimensional BioStructural Analysis, and the process involves the following:  

• Timeline history
• Digital posture exam
• 3-Dimensional posture exam
• Chiropractic, Neurological, and Physical Exam
• Spinal radiographs (if needed)
• Digital biomechanical analysis of your spine
• Insurance verification (by our insurance team)
• Separate time to go over the results of your test within a day or two, where we will go over:
  • What is going on
  • If we can help
  • What the best next step is for you
  • Any investment in your health that is necessary

If you’re interested, you can schedule an appointment for a 3-Dimensional BioStructural Analysis here. If you’d like tips on how you can stay healthy and well without drugs and surgery, go ahead and check out other articles on this site. If you continue to struggle with sciatica pain, or want more information on stretches for sciatica, give us a call at Align Wellness Center (847) 860-6599 or schedule an appointment online. Contact us today or stop by the office. We’re located at 900 Skokie Blvd., Suite 113, Northbrook, IL, 60062.