Stretches for Sciatica

📍 📍 Hey guys, my name is Cody. I’m the head trainer here at Calhoun Spine and Wellness. One of the most common questions I get asked is

what is sciatica? A couple different things can cause this. One

you just have a bulging disc that’s pushing on that sciatic nerve. In this case

typically you will feel pain going all the way down the back of the leg

and into the foot.

More often what I see is just a super tight glute or piriformis muscle. Which is also in pressing the nerve just a little bit. And maybe you don’t feel the pain all the way down the leg. Typically it will stop at the knee

maybe the calf. So I’m going to show you a few stretches that might help alleviate some of that pain.

Okay

first one is going to be called a figure four stretch. So we’re going to place your ankle over your knee. She’s going to pull that right knee back into her body. She’s going to feel a pretty intense glute stretch over on the left side to effectively stretch her muscle. You want to hold this for at least 30 seconds.

It’s not going to hurt to hold it any longer than that

but at least 30 seconds. Second stretch I want to show you guys is we’re going to put this leg straight out with her right hand. She’s going to grab her left knee

pull it across her body. This specific stretch

you’re probably going to feel a little bit more in your lower back

but still definitely going to hit the glutes

glute med

and the piriformis muscle.

Try these stretches. See if they help you. If not

just come down and see us. We’ll do an assessment on you

and see if we can pinpoint exactly what’s going on.