Sciatic Exercise doesn’t really sound like something you want to know about. You are in pain. How are you supposed to exercise? But really, though bed rest may be a very good idea when you are experiencing an acute sciatica flare up, when going on too long it’ll do you more harm than good (too long is more than a couple of days). It is best to get back to your regular routine as soon as you can (of course avoiding what got you here in the first place). When your pain lessens, start looking into the different possibilities for sciatica exercises, according to the cause of your sciatica pain. What may do one condition a world of good may seriously aggravate a different condition. For that very reason you should always consult a physician before getting started with your sciatica exercises, since you need to know when you can start exercising, with what frequency and what types of exercises would do you good.
After all of that I’d like to focus on one type of sciatic exercises from which you will probably get the most benefits for your sciatica pain: warm water exercises. Though during an acute injury cold needs to be applied rather than warmth, once the healing process has started warm water is very beneficial in multiple ways.
Soaking in warm water will help relax you, it also increases blood flow and will help to soften up tightened muscles. Warm water will help to speed up your healing process. It’ll augment your range of movement, since warm water makes tight muscles more pliable. You might want to take a warm bath before doing your exercises (don’t overdo it, since at some point your body temperature will rise too high).
Now that you are very relaxed you could do some water exercises, which are much easier to do than normal exercises since being suspended in water takes most of the weight off your spine, disks, joints, ligaments and muscles; it also lessens the pain of some of the exercises and the fear of possible pain, which by itself can cause you to tense.
The density of the water will cause your muscles to work harder while at the same time reducing stress for the rest of your body. Even just walking or marching in water can help reduce muscle pain and spasms.
Warm water exercises and water exercises overall are a great starting point for exercises altogether after an acute sciatica flare up and other causes of back pain. Warm water exercises are some of the most beneficial exercises since you get both the reduction of inflammation due to increased circulation and the strengthening of the muscles that you will need to keep your back and sciatica nerve in good health.
In addition to water exercises there is a wide variety to exercises you can work you way up to step by step. But before starting your back exercises (now that you’ve spoken to your physician and know which exercises are for your condition), make sure you always start with 5 minutes of warm up; like taking a short walk or using the exercise bike, or even just march in place.
When you start out you probably should stick with careful back stretching exercises and then step by step build into strength building exercises fro your abdomen and back. Then you can also widen your range to some low impact aerobic exercises. With a balanced array of all of these exercises you will work many different muscle groups, which will then help you to prevent future flare ups of sciatica.
So in short: Sciatica and exercises go together, if you want to see long term relief from your painful sciatica. Always consult a back specialist before starting exercises or self-treat your symptoms and causes, so you know for sure what you can, should and shouldn’t do.
Want to find out more about sciatic exercise, then visit Christina Meier’s site on how to choose the best sciatic exercises for your sciatica.