Sciatica Relief: Exercises and Treatments

If you haven’t already, please make sure you check out our other blog post on what is Sciatica, how it can be caused and how you can do your best to avoid it!

Today we will be looking at the different treatments we can offer here at Tan Chiro, as well as some exercises we regularly recommend patients do to help with their symptoms. Sciatica is an awful thing, super painful and can be debilitating in some cases. The best thing you can do is seek out help and get assistance with your recovery. As chiropractors in North Brisbane, Dr Jacinth and Dr Lucy are very experienced practitioners that can employ multiple different modalities to help you with your sciatica symptoms here at Tan Chiro!

Exercises:

Please contact us to book a session to discuss the following exercises in detail and tailor them to your specific needs.

Piriformis Stretch:

The sciatic nerve runs directly through the piriformis muscle next to your glutes, and stretching this can help relieve some of the pressure that may be placed on the nerve.

To do this, lie on your back and bend your affected knee, cross this over your other knee so that your affected leg’s ankle is just above the knee. Allow the knee on your affected leg to drop out to the side, and bend the good leg, sliding your heels towards your buttocks. This is a great place to start and there are ways to increase the stretch slightly if this isn’t quite enough, just ask Dr Jace or Dr Lucy when you're next! This exercise should be held at the top, starting at 5-10 seconds and progressing from there. This should also be completed for 3 sets of 5 reps to begin.

Slump Neural Glide:

Sitting in a chair round your back and lower your chin down to your chest so you’re looking down. Slowly begin to straighten your affected leg out until you reach the point where the pain comes on, and do not push any further past this. Holding your knee where it is, start to raise your head, at the same time bringing your toes back in towards you. Then lower your head again and point your toes as you do so. Perform this movement for 3 sets of 10 reps on the affected leg.

SLR Neural Glide:

Lie on your back and bend your affected leg back toward you until you can clasp your hands together under your thigh on that leg. Hold this position with your leg supported by your arms and slowly straighten out your leg until you reach the point where the symptoms come on. Make sure you don’t push past this point. From this point, lower your foot ever so slightly and lift your head to your chest and relax your head back as you start to raise your foot again. Try to perform this as one movement. Perform this movement for 3 sets of 10 reps on the affected leg.

Treatments:

Spinal Manipulative Therapy:

Adjustments to the spine can be extremely helpful in relieving some of the pressure that the spine or other structures are placing on this nerve to help relieve some symptoms. This is done to promote better movements through the joints to not only help with current symptoms but try and avoid these issues coming back in future. Chiropractic adjustments can help with reduction in pain, inflammation and other symptoms that may be directly related to your sciatica. This may be done by using the drop pieces on the table, through the activator clicker, or many other modalities Dr Jace has learnt over the years

Dry Needling:

What is Dry Needling? Dry Needling is similar to acupuncture, whereas the difference lies in the philosophy. Whilst acupuncture will focus on acupuncture points connected by meridian lines, dry needling focuses solely on trigger points (or “ knots”) in the muscles, with needles instead inserted directly into these trigger points to relieve symptoms caused by sciatica. These are often placed in tight muscles around the sciatic nerve in your back, your gluteal muscles and the piriformis muscle which is the next door neighbour of your glutes.

Muscle Releases:

If needles aren’t quite your thing, Dr Jace is extremely experienced in other techniques of muscle release. These include massage, trigger point therapies, ART and PnF techniques that will help deliver similar results to the needles and release some of the pressure.

At home rehab exercises:

Even though some of these exercises above are a great place to start, getting a more personalised and structured rehab plan from one of our experienced Chiropractors is extremely beneficial! We can apply progressions or regressions depending on where you are with your health journey and your physical capabilities.