Do you suffer from sciatica and need to find immediate sciatica pain relief? There is good news! We’ve discovered the top six stretches for you to do to give yourself sciatica pain relief whenever it flares up. Yoga stretches are very effective and statistically proven ways to relieve short-term and long-term pain that you experience from these flares.
These 6 options are the best stretches to complete throughout the day or right before bedtime.
1. Pigeon Pose
The pigeon pose is our first stretch suggestion. It’s easy to do and can be done from anywhere. You will need space to stretch your legs out in front of you, and that’s about it.
To complete this stretch do the following:
- Begin by sitting completely still on your floor
- Stretch your legs in front of you
- Next, bend your right leg until your right food sits on top of your left leg
- Slowly begin to pull your upper body close to the floor
- Repeat this stretch on the other leg
- You will feel a stretching sensation in your glutes and hamstrings
- Repeat this stretch as often as you need
2. Pulling Your Knee To Your Shoulder
Another great stretch is when you are lying flat on your back and you pull one knee to the opposite side of your shoulder.
To complete this next stretch, please do the following motions:
- Lay completely flat on your back
- Take your right knee and place both hands wrapped around it
- Slowly and carefully stretch your right knee until it hits near your left shoulder blade
- Ease your knee to be closer to your left shoulder, but make sure not to pull too hard
- Repeat this stretch on the other leg and bring your left leg to be closer to your right shoulder
- Hold each knee close to the opposite shoulder for roughly 30 seconds in length for optimal stretching
- Continue with this stretch whenever you need to loosen up your leg muscles to feel sciatica pain relief
3. Seated Spinal Stretch
Stretching your spinal cord region is also another effective method to sciatica pain relief. Since the sciatica pain is often linked to compression in the spine, it’s important to focus on this area of the body. This stretch can help with lower back pain, too.
To do this type of spinal stretch get into this position:
- Start out by sitting up on the floor
- Stretch both your legs out in front of you
- Take your right leg and swing it over to the furthest side of your left leg
- Begin twisting your body to the right
- It may help to plant your hand firmly to the floor to gain balance
- Turning your body and holding for about 30 seconds is all you need to do
- Repeat this process with the left leg to complete the stretch
4. Knee Marches
One more option to provide your body with sciatica pain relief is to perform knee marches.
When your knees go stiff, you can hardly move them. Performing these exercises can eliminate that pain.
- This stretch requires you to sit in a chair
- Next, begin slowly raising one leg up as high as you can
- Do one leg at a time to complete the stretch
- This type of stretch will strengthen your muscles, even if it seems easy to do
5. Hamstring Stretch
Let’s discuss one more method to helping your sciatica pain. Stretching your hamstrings out is also vital to eliminating the pain you feel in your legs, as hamstring tightness can hurt.
- Find an elevated surface to place your right leg on
- Keep your foot unflexed for this stretch
- Bend your body closer to your feet
- Try to see if you can grab hold of your foot
- Repeat this exercise on the other leg, too
6. Sciatica Pain Relief With Chest To Knees
One of the most basic stretches that can soothe your pain is bringing your knees to your chest while sitting on the floor.
- Lay on the floor completely flat
- Stretch your legs out in front of you
- Carefully bring one knee to your chest area
- Hold this pose for a few seconds
- Repeat with the other leg
- Exercise With Caution
Talk to your doctor about what types of stretches to do for your body’s needs. Need to see a chiropractor? Call us at Busch Chiropractic and learn more about our services.