It was 6 a.m.  and the usual lazy Sunday morning stillness was suddenly  rocked by the sound of heavy thunder and lightning.  He woke up suddenly out of a deep sleep  jumping out of bed as usual and attempted to scurry over to the bathroom to empty his full bladder.  In a split second,  a severe pulling pain grabbed his right leg and wouldn’t let him walk.   It felt as if a professional wrestler grabbed hold of his leg and was pulling him down for the pin.   The scream he let out eclipsed the sounds of the rumbling monsoon outside.  He knew right then, that something had to be done about this excruciating sciatica pain in his right leg,  He fought and dragged his heavy numb “peg leg”  to the toilet.  As he stood there thinking thoughts of the worst case medical scenario, he knew this time it was different.  This was really getting to the point where he had no choice but to do something about it. At 42 years old when you can’t roll out of bed in the morning to go to work because the pain is so excruciating something is definitely wrong.  What he didn’t know  was that there was a really simple solution that would get rid of this thing,  If he only understood what was actually causing it he could solve it for good.

But I don’t want surgery!

He finally arrived  at his doctor’s office on Monday morning,  and waited  in agony for 3 torturous hours as an “urgent”  case.   He had to call in sick to work for the second week in a row.    The doctor told him that he needs to see a neurosurgeon right away .The doctor said that his back was the cause of this really bad sciatic pain, and he would do well with surgery,  but would have to take off from work for 6 weeks to recover.     He left the office with complete loss of all hope, and didn’t know where to go next.   Even though he trusted his doctor, he still didn’t believe that surgery was the answer for his sciatica pain. He went to Google and he started to do research right away.

If he really new that there was a solution that could literally eliminate his pain naturally,  with less medication  then he was taking, he would totally go for it. Actually most people would, but they just don’t understand what’s actually causing their pain , so they trust their family doctor to give them advice about the sciatica pain.   The family doctor treats diseases and cures diseases.  He didn’t know that there was as Brooklyn physical therapist who is specializing in sciatica treatments and can treat the cause of the sciatica. I’m going to give you my top 2 self help number one exercises for sciatica pain relief.   If done correctly and repeatedly, this will totally help.  First let’s take a look at the causes of sciatica before we get into my top secret stash of power exercises.

The Sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in the body,  it’s kind of like a garden hose,  If you can imagine that.  Like a garden hose it can get squeezed at different locations.  If water flows out a garden hose then electricity flows in the sciatic nerve and down  into the leg muscles and  nerves.

When the sciatic nerve tries to give power to the muscles in the leg, and it gets  squeezed the electricity that comes out of the nerve is reduced and you feel pain in the muscles because the muscles are not getting enough power to do their job.   This causes the feeling of tightness around the calf and in the buttock area.   It also makes the sciatic nerve  feel like its being pulled almost like a fishing line tensioned when a fisherman attempst to  pull up  on a heavy fish in the ocean.

Top 3 Three Reasons For Sciatica Pain:

• Piriformis: The muscle called the piriformis in your buttock is deep inside the butt, and when it does the work of the gluteus maximus which is your number one hip muscle for running, standing up from a chair, or walking then that small muscle in the butt presses on the sciatic nerve and that causes the pain, numbness and heaviness into the calf and leg.
•  Joints of the Lower Back :  The Sciatic nerve can also get irritated in the lower back segments.  The lower back needs muscle control  to prevent instability.  This means that in order to hold your spine in good position when you are lifting, or bending or even sitting the segments of your spine  must be well supported by your core muscles.   When the segments shift  due to lack of core stability, there is pressure  on  the nerve that comes out of the spinal canal.  This pressure can cause the pain to shoot down the leg
•  Hip Flexor Tightness: The sciatic nerve can also get irritated when you have a tight hip muscle in the front of your thigh. Most of us sit  for many hours of the day and that creates a shortening of the nerves and muscles in the front of the thigh called the psoas muscle. When our hip tries to do its normal job and push us up from a sitting position or even help us move while we walk it tends to work harder because of lack of  hip flexor mobility.  This makes the sciatic nerve feel tension from overuse.

Sciatica Pain Relief Tool Kit

I can’t believe that I’m actually giving away my top sciatica self stretching  and decompression exercises absolutely free. This will only work if you have the exact signs and symptoms that we discussed  above. Go back and read my top 3 reasons for sciatica pain, and then you’ll really get the best benefit out of this toolkit.

Self stretch number 1.

 Psoas stretch:  

Get on the floor in a kneeling position and keep your back very straight. Attempt to lean forward while at the same time squeezing your stomach muscles and your butt as you attempt to feel the stretch in the front of your thigh. This exact exercise will release the muscles that are stopping your hip from moving properly.    Once releasing the hip flexor, the sciatic nerve will not be as irritated if this is done correctly.

Self stretch #2

Straight Knee Deadlift  “self stretch of the sciatic nerve”

Standing with your back very straight and your knees very straight attempt to bend down  as you keep your back straight and keep looking up  at the wall in front of you.   Imagine that you have a string pulling your tailbone up to the ceiling and  that you tail bone if being held up buy a hook, this will keep your back in hyperextension or really straight as you bend forward and down towards the floor.   You should feel pulling sensation in your sciatic nerve and buttock area.   Try to attempt 5 repetitions of this exercise and build up towards doing at least 10 good ones

Note disclaimer this series of exercises is only meant to educate you and give you some knowledge about how to self help your own sciatic pain.   If you feel more pain after doing this exercise then please    call your healthcare provider and consultation Skype or in person at the office.

THESE SHOULD NOT GIVE YOU MORE PAIN AFTER YOU DO THEM.

Knowledge is power!

At ALLCARE physical therapy  we aim to add value to people suffering with chronic pain. If this exercise gave you even a little bit of relief of your symptoms then physical therapy will totally help you. 80% of people can self fix their own back pain, but it takes the right kind of treatment with the right dosage of exercise aimed at the right location of the body, to get long term relief and recovery. Call ALLCARE Physical Therapy in Brooklyn today and see what type of solutions we have that can get you to not only to feel relief for the short term, but get you to learn how to prevent the pain from ever coming back. Correct maintain and  prevent is what we aim for!

. Your  Brooklyn sciatica  guru 🙂