Raw Video (Non-Edited) Transcript
In this video I’m going to show you how to get immediate relief for sciatica pain.
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Hey everyone Dr Rowe coming to you from spine care in saint joseph Michigan. If you’re in need of immediate sciatica pain relief this is a video that you’re not going to want to miss. I’m going to break this up into a very easy step-by-step guide that’s going to progress from easy gentle stretches all the way to more advanced ones.
So go through all of them and find your comfort level and take what is most effective at getting rid of your sciatic leg pain.
All these exercises can be done at home, don’t require any special equipment, and may give immediate sciatic pain relief, even in as little as a few seconds.
So let’s get started and get rid of that sciatica pain.
Right now in the first part, we’re going to be doing what is known as sciatic nerve flosses. These are the most gentle of the exercises in this video.
So it’s a great place to start.
What I’m going to do is start off with two chairs. I find that with this, it helps us relax a little bit more. If you don’t have chairs, you can just do this on the floor. But let’s start off with very good posture through the back, and I also like to have chairs, with armrests, because again, it’s going to help you relax just a little bit more.
Whatever leg that we’re having sciatica in this case, it’s my right side right here. What I’m going to do is just straighten it at the knee. My toes I’m going to face away from me, as far as i can really stretch into it.
When you do this you’re going to feel the muscles throughout the leg all the way up to the lower back get activated, so only go to your comfort level once we hit that point. Let’s hold this for about five seconds.
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From there we’re going to go in the other direction.
Bring the ankle back as far as you can. When you do this, you’re going to feel the muscles get activated just a little bit differently.
So again, only to your comfort level these should not cause your symptoms to worsen.
You might get a momentary increase of pain, but after doing these exercises it should feel better.
If it doesn’t, please discontinue and consult with your doctor or chiropractor, instead. Because your condition might be very severe.
Another way that you can tell that these exercises are working, is what is known as, centralization of symptoms.
When you put pressure onto the sciatic nerve, what it does is, it tends to cause more symptoms down the leg. When you take that pressure off, it does the opposite. It starts to come back up to the starting point in the lower back.
So while doing these if you feel less symptoms in the leg you know that they are working for you, But we want to hold each position for about five seconds, and do this for about 10 to 15 repetitions just nice slow, and controlled.
If you have sciatica in both legs, you can do these both at the same time.
So what I do is just the same thing on both legs, and i hope that this gives you very quick relief. With this sciatic nerve floss, we’re going to need a flat elevated surface. I would start off with something low such as a chair and work your way up to something higher such as a table, a bed, a couch, something like that. Because the more that the leg is kept straight and brought back like this, the more intense the stretch is going to get.
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So we want to find that sweet spot where you’re going to be able to rest your leg on a flat surface, have the knees straight, but also be comfortable while doing this exercise. So I’m going to start off on my back like this, get into a very comfortable position, and then I’m just going to take my toes, and I’m going to go away, hold this for about five seconds.
When we feel a comfortable stretch and then we’re going to bring them back towards us like this, and do the same thing for five seconds, just nice slow controlled flossing motions again, this should not cause any discomfort.
You want to do this for about 10 to 15 repetitions.
How you can take this one to the next level is, let’s take our foot and then while we’re pretty much taking the toes away from us, turn the foot inward so I’m kind of like rotating the ankle in.
When you do this, you’re going to feel the muscles get activated a lot differently.
So experiment with that, and see if that hits that a little bit better. But you just want to again, go through the motions like this, turn the ankle inward, and to make this one harder, find a object that will just raise the leg up even further because that will intensify that stretch down that sciatic pathway.
In the second part, we’re going to focus on what are known as sciatic nerve glides.
They’re a little bit more advanced than the flosses that we did earlier.
What we’re going to do is start off in chairs again, and we’re going to build off of that stretch that we did earlier.
Whatever leg that we’re having sciatica, elevate it on the chair just like this. What I’m going to do take my toes away from me again. Get a very good stretch, go as far as you can and hold that position.
What I’m going to do from there, is pivot forward from my waist. I’m not going to round my back, but I’m going to pivot forward from my waist. Once I feel a very comfortable stretch, I’m then going to take my chin down towards my chest like this.
This will cause a lot of good stretching into that sciatic pathway.
Again only to your comfort level you want to hold this position for about 5 to 10 seconds. From there, you’re just going to relax, take a breather, and then you’re going to repeat this up to 10 times with each repetition. Try to just slump a little bit more into it, because that’s going to stretch out the sciatic nerve pathway even more, and hopefully, give you more relief.
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With this sciatic nerve glide, I’m going to be using a sturdy chair. One without wheels.
Let’s take the leg that you’re focusing on and place it on the chair toes up towards the ceiling. Let’s also try to have very good posture into the back. What I’m going to do from here is a simple flossing motion to warm up that sciatic nerve.
To make this next glide just a little bit easier, so I take the foot I’m going to, then bend it away from me, hold this for about five seconds, and then I’m going to bring the toes back towards me as much as i can.
Hold this one for five seconds, and just try to do this nice and slow for about five complete repetitions.
The next part, what I’m going to do, is take the foot bend it away from me and then turn the ankle inwards.
When i do this, you’re going to feel the sciatic pathway the muscles in the leg get activated, just a little bit differently. So if this is targeting that area just a little bit more and giving you more relief, throw some more repetitions in, hold that for about five seconds, relax, and do it upwards to five to ten times.
This is how we’re going to incorporate the more advanced glide into this.
So let’s take the foot and then we’re going to bend it away from us again. From there what I’m going to do is pivot from the waist. We don’t want to round the back, but let’s pivot forward from the waist just like this, and then once we hit a very comfortable stretch, let’s take the chin towards the chest even a little bit more like this, and this should put a great stretch into the sciatic nerve.
Again, only to your comfort level, you want to hold this one for about five to 10 seconds. From there you’re going to relax, take a breather, and then on the next repetition, really try to take the toes away from you as far as you can.
Bend forward as much as you can, until you feel a very good stretch, and then do that chin tuck, but you want to do this one nice slow and controlled, for about five to ten complete repetitions.
In this part we’re going to focus on exercises included in the McKinsey method.
We’re going to use extension or backward movement to help take pressure off spinal discs in the lumbar spine that might be causing that sciatic pain down the leg.
This first one is known as a press-up stretch.
You can do this one on the floor, or in bed.
What I’m going to do is from my hips down to my toes, keep that flat, and then just kind of press myself up on my elbows like this.
When you do this you’re going to feel a very gentle stretch into the lower back.
If this feels like it’s too much of a stretch, you can start off by just placing a pillow underneath your chest like this, and then slowly start to build your way up to this stretch, but you want to hold this one for an extended period of time. Try to go for 15 seconds to start off with, but you can hold this one for 30 seconds 45 seconds even 60 if you feel that it is very comfortable, and again you know it’s working. If pain starts to come back up towards the lower back, and out of the legs, but when you need a breather, just relax down like this, and then repeat this one for about five complete repetitions.
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If this becomes too easy, you can go into what is known as the cobra, that is taking your arms like this, and then straightening them out at the elbow, but again try to keep the pelvis and hips flat while you do this, and this becomes a very very good stretch.
You’ll feel it and also into the front of the legs, but you want to hold this one the cobra for about 15 to 20 seconds, you’re just going to relax, take a breather, and then repeat this one up to five times.
With each repetition, try to go up just a little bit further to challenge yourself to get more tension off the lower back, and that sciatic nerve.
With this exercise, we’re going to do standing back extension I find that it’s better to do it with a rolled-up bath towel. If you don’t have a bath towel though, you can just use your thumbs to get the same effect. I’m going to take my towel, I’m going to place it over the small of the back just like this, and if you don’t know where to place, it start off on the top part and then as you do this exercise, work your way down, and take what is most effective.
But let’s take the two ends, we’re going to pull forward with them as much as we can try to create as much initial tension.
From there what I’m going to do is I’m going to lean back with my upper back right here into extension. When you do this, you’re going to feel a great stretch across the lower back, and hopefully this will start to give immediate sciatic pain relief.
You want to hold this position comfortably for about 15 to 20 seconds. From there you’re going to relax on the next repetition.
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Let’s drive the two ends forward just a little bit more and then lean backwards into extension even further to challenge ourselves to stretch it out even further ,and hopefully get more tension off that sciatic nerve.
You just want to do this one for three to five complete repetitions, and again move the towel up and down and go with what feels is the most effective at getting rid of that sciatic pain out.
Of all the exercises in this video this one is my personal favorite. So if you stuck around and watch the whole video you’re going to be rewarded with a great stretch.
This is known as a wall or door lean exercise, and I believe the hardest part of this exercise is just knowing what side to place towards the door or the wall.
Just remember good door good side towards the door. So in this case I have left sciatica pain.
What I’m going to do, place my feet together roughly about a foot away from the door. I’m then going to lean into the door with my upper body hand elbow shoulder flush against the wall. We don’t want any space, so it’s a nice stable anchor point.
From there I’m going to take the hand, place it on the hip just like this, slowly drive the hip towards the door, and when you do this, you’re going to feel a great stretch into the lower back.
Only go to your comfort level. We want to hold this one comfortably for about 15 to 20 seconds, but if you do feel like you’re able to you can hold it for an extended period of time, half minute all the way up to a minute.
But once you need a breather, relax, take one and then repeat this for five complete repetitions.
With each repetition, drive a little bit more into it to take more pressure out of those spinal discs, and at that point, hopefully get more sciatic pain relief.
How this one works is it pretty much takes pressure off that bad side and pushes it towards the middle and you know it’s working for you when you start to see sciatic pain centralized or coming back up towards the leg.
If this becomes too easy you can make it harder by just simply spacing your feet away from the door because at that point, you’ll have more room to bend or lean into it.
I hope this one give quick instant immediate sciatic pain relief possibly even in seconds.
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Thank you for watching.
