plans call for more movement in general, along with targeted exercises to loosen up inflamed areas.
Including specific stretches or light isometric exercises in your day can help relieve pain in the spine or legs while improving strength. When your symptoms re-emerge or worsen, you can practice certain stretches and exercises at home without the need for a doctor visit.
Try beginning by alternating periods of sitting/lying down with short walks. Aim to take more steps every day, and consider getting a pedometer or fitness tracker, which can motivate you to be more active and increase your walking distance. Then when you’re at home, work on lengthening the spine by improving your posture.
5. Use Heating Pads
Many people find sciatic nerve relief by using inexpensive heating pads set on a low or medium setting, placed on the lower back for about 15 to 20 minutes every day. You can practice this several times a day, about every two or three hours, while at work or when you’re home.
Another similar approach that works well is taking warm baths, since heat loosens up tight muscles and helps increase circulation. The best way to apply heat to the painful area is to purchase a reusable heating pad that either requires hot water or to be plugged in, but you can also buy single-use heat wraps that last for several hours at a time.
While heat can be used to dull pain, just the opposite also works for some people. Some find that applying an ice pack to the back for 10 to 15 minutes every two to three hours does the trick. If pain still doesn’t seem to go away naturally, most doctors recommend taking an over-the-counter painkiller when symptoms get very bad (like Tylenol or ibuprofen/Advil).
6. Reduce Inflammation
It’s estimated that 5 percent to 10 percent of all patients with low back pain have sciatica, but there are a few personal and occupational risk factors that raise the odds for developing sciatic nerve pain. These include older age, being tall, high levels of mental stress, being overweight or obese, sitting for long periods, cigarette smoking, and high amounts of exposure to vibration from vehicles (for example, being a truck driver for a living).
Many of these risk factors cause inflammation, which makes it harder to heal from injuries and increases pain. To combat inflammation and improve your odds of achieving sciatic nerve relief more quickly, make sure to eat a nutrient-dense healing diet, avoid smoking/using recreational drugs and get exercise and good sleep.
Sciatic Nerve Pain Symptoms
It’s estimated that 1 percent to 2 percent of all adults experience a herniated disc at some point that leads to sciatic nerve pain. Much more common in men than in women, and more likely to develop in people over the age of 30, sciatic nerve pain can affect both athletes/those are who are very active or people who are more sedentary.
The most common sciatica symptoms include:
Strong, sometimes shooting pains in the limbs and lower back — pain can start in the back and work its way down the buttocks and thighs
Numbness and tingling in the limbs
Trouble moving or exercising
Feeling stiff and unable to flex the feet
Pain when sleeping
Throbbing and inflammation around the thighs or lower back when sitting or standing for a period of time