How to Tackle Low Back Pain and Sciatica

Waking up with low back pain and pain shooting down your leg can be a rude wake-up call that you may need to stretch more, but do you know what to do? 

As a physical therapist, I am frequently asked what I do to keep aches and pain away. When I say that I stretch almost every morning I get a look that says, "yeah... I don't have the time or energy for that". BUT, I do all my stretches in bed. 

Rather than trying to get myself out of bed, change into stretching clothes, and then start my routine, I like to stay in bed where it's warm and comfortable. 

Below is a list of exercises to keep your back healthy and happy.

Double Knees to Chest: To start, bringing both knees towards your chest allows stretching of the glute muscles but also opens up your spine allowing for an increase in space between each vertebral bone. Hold this position for about 30 seconds and repeat 3 times.

Lower Trunk Rotations: With your arms out to the side and your legs bent to about 90 degrees you'll allow your knees to fall to the side. Remember to scoot your hips to the opposite side when your knees land and look away from your knees to increase the twist. In the example above, the knees fall to the right, so I scooted my hips to the left and I am looking to the left. Hold here for about 30 seconds and repeat 3 times to each side. 

Sciatic Nerve Glide: Holding on to the back of your leg you will then point your toes up to the sky, this will slacken the tension from your Sciatic nerve. 

You will point and flex your toe while on your back repeatedly. When your toes are pointing towards your nose, you will increase the tension on your Sciatic nerve. Repeat pointing and flexing your foot 10-20 times (as tolerated), and perform 3 times on each leg. 

Advanced Sciatic Nerve Glide: if you performed the above sequence a few times and did not feel a flare up of the sciatica symptoms then you can progress to a more aggressive way to move the sciatic nerve. The difference now will be that you are holding your head up the entire time as you point and flex your foot. By lifting your head up you will pull your nerves from the opposite end and will increase the tension felt, this is a good progression after you've practiced 

Getting out of bed from a resting position without warming up is like jumping into a soccer game without stretching, your muscles will be stiff and sore and you may not be able to reach peak performance. Starting your day with these exercises will help relieve your low back pain and decrease shooting pain from sciatica. 

For a FREE 30 minute consultation click HERE and see how physical therapy can improve your life!