Got sciatica?
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Sciatica is an overused term to describe what people feel when they get shooting pain down their legs. Nerve pain can either be due to nerve root compression or peripheral nerve entrapment (often sciatica). Let a healthcare professional diagnose the problem but here is a strategy to address the problem.
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What to do?
1️⃣Find your pain trigger: bend forward, bend backward, bend to the side and rotate. This lets you know what motions cause more nerve pain or pain that moves further down your legs.
2️⃣Commonly a trigger for worsening symptoms occurs with forward bending. If this is the cause a common intervention that can reduce symptoms is the opposite direction: extension/backward bending.
3️⃣Exercise: The prone cobra / prone press up. Maintaining a position of being on your elbows or hands (whatever you can tolerate). Often rapid repeated floppy push ups may irritate the spinal facets so perform 10×10 second holds and re-assess for any changes. ❗️If symptoms worsen or progress STOP. If you notice a change keep performing until symptoms plateau. .
‼️Do not panic and rush for a MRI. As a healthcare professional I don’t treat that the images shows, I treat what I find. People often have worse prognosis after hearing the results of imaging because it makes them feel ‘damaged’. The problem is just because the images show a defect it does not mean it is the cause of pain. .
✅Make sure to see a healthcare professional who can confirm the diagnosis and address any contributing factors to your symptoms.