Sciatic Exercise didn’t seem to make a lot of sense to me in the beginning. But when you think about it, even though bed rest is the logical first line treatment of an acute sciatica flare up, it will probably do you more harm than good when prolonged (more than a couple of days). The best thing for you is to get going with your normal routines as soon as possible (while you’ll avoid the kinds of movements that got you into trouble). When your first pain has subsided some you should seriously work towards different kinds of sciatic exercises, in accordance with the underlying cause of your sciatica. What may greatly alleviate one condition may worsen another. That’s one of the reasons you should always consult a back specialist before setting out on your new exercise routine, to see when and with what frequency you should start exercising and which exercises would actually be good for you.
After all of that I’d like to focus on one type of sciatic exercises from which you will probably get the most benefits for your sciatica pain: warm water exercises. Though during an acute injury cold needs to be applied rather than warmth, once the healing process has started warm water is very beneficial in multiple ways.
Soaking in warm water will help relax you, it also increases blood flow and will help to soften up tightened muscles. Warm water will help to speed up your healing process. It’ll augment your range of movement, since warm water makes tight muscles more pliable. You might want to take a warm bath before doing your exercises (don’t overdo it, since at some point your body temperature will rise too high).
Now being relaxed and with loosened muscles, you could do some water exercises. These exercises are a lot easier to do than the normal kind, since being suspended in water takes most of the pressure from your weight off your spine, muscles, disks, ligaments and joints. This will also help reduce the pain that comes with some of the exercises, especially when you just started exercising and there is still some inflammation and stiffness present. It’ll also help with the fear of possible pain, which by itself can tense you up like a spring.
Water density will make your muscles work harder than usual, but will take weight and pressure off the rest of your body. A good starting exercise to help reduce pain and muscle spasms could even be just walking or marching in the water.
Exercises in warm water and water in general are a great point to start out on exercises altogether, be it after a sciatica flare up or for some other cause of back pain. Exercises in warm water are some of the most beneficial exercises. You get the reduction of inflammation due to increased circulation on one hand and the strengthening of the muscles on the other hand that you will need to keep your spine and sciatic nerve in good shape.
After water exercises you will find a wide array of exercises available to you, that you can work towards bit by bit, but before you start to exercise altogether (now that you have talked to your back specialist and learned which exercises you can do), always start up with warming up for at least 5 minutes. That could be a short walk, or even walking in place. Even using an exercise bike will do the job.
In the beginning you should probably only do gentle stretching exercises for your back and then bit by bit grow into back and abdominal exercises to build strength. It would probably also be a good idea to add in some low impact aerobic exercises, like swimming. When finding a good balance with all these exercises you use a wide selection of muscle groups and that in turn will help you to prevent future flare ups.
To sum it up: Sciatica and exercises can’t be kept apart if your goal is pain relief and strengthening in the long run. Make sure to speak to a back specialist prior to starting your exercise routine or self-treating your causes and symptoms, just so you can be sure what you are able to and should and shouldn’t do.
Want to find out more about sciatic exercise, then visit Christina Meier’s site on how to choose the best sciatic exercises for your sciatica.
