Alternative Health Treatment - Stretches for Sciatica

• Stretches to Relieve Sciatica Caused by Tight Muscles

• Supine Knees to Chest Stretch

• Crisscross Knee Stretch
  
  

Stretches for Sciatica

Sciatica refers to the condition where pressure is placed on the sciatic nerve, causing intense pain that may start at the lower back or buttocks and run down the leg to the foot. This pain may be caused by something as simple like sleeping on a hard mattress, sitting on a hard bench. One common problem is tight muscles pressing on the sciatic nerve.

The following stretches are a couple of the ones that I personally found that worked to relieve my sciatic pain.

Knees to Chest Stretch

• Supine knees to chest - lay on the floor with your legs slightly bent. Grasp the knee of the leg with the sciatic pain with both hands. Slowly and gently pull it towards your chest. Stop if you feel any pain. It should feel like a gentle, good stretch. Be careful not to pull too hard or your muscles may go into spasm, which would then make the pain worse instead of better. You can do also do this this pose with one or both legs being pulled towards your chest, but I would put the emphasis on pulling the leg with the sciatic pain the most. If this pose produces any discomfort, then you may want to try trigger point massage therapy instead of stretching, and try the stretch again at a later time when you are out of acute sciatic pain.

Crisscross Knees

• Crisscross Knee Stretch - Lay on the floor with your arms at your sides and your legs bent. First cross your left leg over your right leg and then push both legs gently back to the left. Then repeat on the opposite side. I do both side but hold the stretch a little longer when the leg with the sciatic pain is the bottom leg of the crisscross. Don't pull too hard or your muscles may go into spasm, making the pain worse. You should just feel a nice, gentle stretch. As noted above, don't do any poses that cause greater discomfort. If any type os stretches hurt, then it may be better to hold off and try trigger point treatment to loosen the muscles instead of stretches.

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