7 Ways To Reduce Sciatica Pain

After my blog from two weeks ago about how you can still train with a back injury i had quite a bit of emails about different questions on training with injures and something that came up a lot and is very common with back injuries is also the terrible terrible sciatica pain that can come from from many different reasons but the most popular one is the dreaded bulged disc. If you suffer from sciatica pain you know exactly how terrible it is to have and how it can affect your whole life in and outside of the gym. Also if your like me you can go anywhere from 3-4 weeks with zero flare ups at all but when a flare up does happen it will put a stop to any weight training and it just sucks until the flare up usually dies down. Well today i thought an appropriate blog would be 7 ways that you can reduce sciatica pain and hopefully get you back to your somewhat normal training as fast as possible. If you get something out of todays blog then all i ask is you click those share buttons below as i would greatly appreciate it. Happy Reading!

What is The Sciatic Nerve?

Simply put the sciatic nerve runs all the way from lumbar spine down the leg to the bottom of the foot.

 

What is Sciatic Nerve Pain?

The pain starts at the top of the glutes and rolls down into more tightness of the legs and it will feel like a tooth ache around your lumbar into your glutes. Usually The top of your glutes will be tender to push on as well. 

 

What Causes Sciatic Nerve Pain?

There are many different things that can cause it but the most common problems are

- Tight Hips and Hip Flexors

- Tight glutes and Hamstrings

- A bulged or herniated Disk pressing on the sciatic nerve

1. Myofacial Release

I have talked a lot about myofacial release on this site and for good reasons. Just like i talked about in my 7 ways to improve recovery blog Myofacial release is simply putting pressure on and around a trigger point to allow more oxygen around the tight areas and helps relieve the inner tightness and nots. Myofacial release can be great for sciatica nerve pain but since your dealing with a nerve that is deeper inside the pressure will have to be a lot more than a standard foam roller and thats why you need to get a lacrosse ball or use a baseball. Technically massaging the nerve itself will really do nothing, but massaging the muscle around the tightness of the nerve will help relieve a certain amount of discomfort for the time being. During a sciatica pain flare up using myofacial release is one of the quickest ways to decrease the onset of pain that comes shortly after the flare up.

 

The Sites To Use Myofacial Release on

Site Location 1 - The Lateral Side of The Hip

if you feel around your hip on the very outside of the hip there is a small hole and if you push in that hole it will be a tad tender especially if you don’t massage that regularly. You are going to take the baseball or a lacrosse ball and lay your side of the hip onto the ball and let that ball drive into the side of your hip. You should feel some pain as this can be a very tight place for a lot of athletes. continue to lay on your side with that ball in your hip and slightly roll side to side allowing for some of that tightness to dissipate. Do each leg for 2 minutes.

 

Site Location 2 - The Glute and Hamstring Tie In

This is a little farther down than site one but it is where your glute meats your hamstring. Start at the inside of the glute and slowly move to the outside of the  glute. This one will really be tight and quite painful but this will also feel very good. If you want you can go on the IT band a little as well as i know a lot of people don’t like foam rolling the IT band but with some sciatica pain a little massaging of the IT band won’t hurt.

 

Site Location 3 - Right Above The Knee on the outer quad

This site is located about a thumb length on top of the knee and then about a thumb length toward the outer leg. Do the same as the above and massage that area.

 

Site Location 4 - Below The Knee on the outer side of the shin

This location is a little hard to find but when you get it you will know it. take your thumb length right below the knee and slide it over until you feel a little gap in the muscle that has a little give to it. Take that ball and position yourself so that ball digs right in there and massage that for about 2 minutes, This site will immediately loosen up your calfs which are often very tight during a sciatica flare up.

 

Site Location 5 - The very outside of the foot

I freaking love this one! this one is very easy it is just the side of the outer foot. I found laying on your side and bending your knees and positing the outer foot on the ball works the best. You can even push down on the foot to create more pressure. This will  almost immediately increase your flexibility to touch your toes again with minimized pain.

 

Site Location 6 - The Bottom of The Foot

The very last position in the 6 site sequence is the very bottom of the foot. simply stand on the ball and massage the bottom of the foot and really dig into those tight areas.

 

What you will experience

After following my 6 sites to release method you will notice almost immediate relief from your sciatica pain. This will feel like magic the first time you do it, i know i was shocked at how well it worked, go ahead try it - bend down for a hamstring stretch - i guarantee you will be able to bend over and touch your toes with very little pain!

 

How did i create that?

So pretty much those same site locations are the same places for Acupuncture but if your like me you hate needles, So i wanted to see if just applying pressure in these areas from a long enough duration would be sufficient enough and sure enough this method truly works wonders. The only downside is this method takes a while. If you do 2 minutes at each location and for each leg your looking at at least 30 minutes of direct work. But if your at night watching Netflix then jump on the floor and do this 6 site release series and i promise it will help you release some and most of the pain.

2. Electrical Stim

If not myofacial release then electric stim is a must have. I started experimenting with electric stim when i started having a shoulder issue about a year ago and ever since then i have been in love with it. You can get a good electric stim unit and pads on amazon for only 50 bucks and its a great investment and i highly recommend anyone who lifts to invest in one as it can really help keep you healthy and help get you through injuries faster. For those of you that don’t know what electrical stim is it is a device that has a control panel and attached to that device is a couple pads that stick to your skin. Simply apply the patches where the pain is and then turn on the unit and your iwll shoot electrical stim currents into the muscles and it will contract the muscle it is attached to. Your first time you try this it will be freaky because your muscles will contract automatically without u trying to do it and it can feel weird your first few times but you get used to it quick.

 

Using Electric Stim on The Sciatic Nerve

So one of my favorite ways for instant relief while the device is on anyways is to attach each pad at the very top of the glute close to your spinal cord. When you turn it on you will feel electrical currents go all the way from the top of the sciatic nerve at your glute all the way to the bottom of your feet. It’s an amazing feeling even tho it sounds scary. While the device is on you wont have any pain and it will feel so relaxing, just don't try walking because it will feel like your paralyzed and you will pretty much fall to the floor lol but once you turn it off some of the pain will still be there but in my experience it does help reduce pain quite a bit. I really recommend you invest in a stim unit, you will fall in love with it. and you will fall in love with shooting yourself full of electricity lol.

3. Good Old Ice

Yep The 3rd method is old fashioned ice. Ice will num the pain and give a temporary relief from a flare up. The good thing about ice is thats its simple, just apply the ice bag to the area around your upper glutes and just relax. The bad thing is that in my experience while ice will help to temporarily reduce the pain it won’t be a very good long term solution. But it’s still mentioned here tho because the reduction of pain it does offer is a pretty great benefit.

4. Glute, Hip & Hip Flexor Stretches

So while you cannot stretch the sciatic nerve you can stretch the muscles around the tight sciatic nerve and doing so will allow the tightness to go down and a lot of pain can be reduced by doing so. To keep this simple here is a list of stretches that you should perform each for 1-2 minutes. Just google any of these stretches for a simple explanation of each one.

- Couch Stretch For Quads

- Deep Lunge Stretch

- Frog Stretch

- Pretzel Glute Stretch

- Twisting Glute Stretch

- Basic Glute Stretch

- Basic Hamstring Stretch one leg forward and one back

- Upward and downward dog yoga positions

Thats a simple 20 minute stretching routine that can help relieve a lot of your sciatica pain and help when a flare up happens.

5. Spine Decompression Therapy

Ok i know this one sounds scary but for those of us suffering with a bulged disk this can work wonders and there are 3 different ways to do this on your own.

 

Method 1 - Hanging from a pull up bar

- This is as simple as it sounds just jump up on a pull up bar and hang there and gently swing a little. You will feel some pops and cracks in your back and also this will pull your spine apart and help create more distance between those disks and possibly it can help with the bulge you are suffering from as well. Also play around with spreading your legs while hanging i found this to also help relieve pain

 

Method 2 - Inverted Table

- So here is the deal you can actually get a good inverted table for only 40-50 bucks on amazon.com You don’t have to pay a fortune for one of these. Having an inverted table allows even more decompression of the spine because you will be upside down.

 

Method 3 - Laying Face Forward On A Stability Ball

- This is a new one i just recently learned and it really helps with a bulged disk. All you do is take a stability ball and lay with your belly on it so you are facing the ground. You will feel your spine being pulled in 2 directions because the ball is allowing you to decompress your spine one way while your legs are pulling your spine in the opposite direction so pretty much gravity is pulling you apart from the middle. Doing this will create a very soothing feeling and a lot of relief.

6. Walking A Lot

The best thing i think on this list for long term relief is walking and walking a lot! Ever since Pokemon Go has come out this has helped get me walking a ton. Think of walking as a self message because thats whats sorta happening around your sciatic nerve and your lower body muscles. Going for lots and lots of walks will decrease your pain the fastest and for the most long term. I suggest you find something that gets you walking like Pokemon Go and just get out there. After my back injury early on all i could do pretty much was train shoulders, arms and walk and thats exactly what i did for about a month. Also if you have access to a pool swimming does wonders!

7. Give It Time

So the last thing i want to discuss is that sciatica flare ups while you reduce the pain with these methods in the end it’s going to be time that really will allow the pain to dissipate for the long term. Another thing i want to mention is that if you have a bulged disk theres a good possibility you might be living with these conditions for the rest of your life. Not to sound like a downer but i have seen many examples of this online. I am really hoping my issues clear up in a year so i can get back to squats and deadlifts but as of right now i get flare ups about every 3-5 weeks so i might be looking at a long term thing myself and i might just have to drop the hope of ever powerlifting again but knowing me i am going to stay positive and just do what i can and hope in the long term i can eventually return the sport that i really enjoy being a part of. In the mean time i will be bodybuilding, swimming and playing Pokemon go ;)

So Then......

Thats going to wrap this weeks blog up. To sum up todays post

- Myofacial release and my 6 site release method can really reduce your pain.

- Get yourself an electric stim unit and start shooting electricity into that sciatic nerve and the muscles around it.

- Never forget about gold old fashion ice as it can really help reduce the pain following a flare up.

-  Stretch out the glutes, hips, and hamstrings to help with tight muscles around the sciatic nerve

-  While it sounds scary it really actually is quite soothing and spinal decompression should be on everyones list.

- Get a Pokemon go account or find other motivation to just go walk and walk a lot! or swim!

-  Just give it time and understand that this may just become part of your life for the time being.

 

Sciatic pain sucks its plain and simple but hopefully todays blog has helped you find more ways of managing when a flare up happens. Also one more thing i want to mention is that if you are training and a flare up happens DO NOT PUSH THROUGH THE PAIN TO FINISH YOUR WORKOUT. I made that mistake SEVERAL TIMES, PLEASE JUST QUIT THE SET AND LEAVE THE GYM AND JUST GO WALK OR SOMETHING. Yes quitting your workout sucks but sciatica pain flareups only get worse and worse if you try and train through them, trust me i know this! If you guys do get something out of this please let me know! Let me know in the comments if you are dealing with sciatica pain and what your doing to help with it. Thanks for reading guys, and if you feel all so generous please feel free to leave a donation even a dollar can go a long way to show your support. Thank you!  cya next week!

 

Stay Strong,

Shawn Fausey

• Shawn Fausey is the Founder and CEO of Fausey's Fitness. With Over 6 years experience in Bodybuilding, Powerlifting and Nutrition. Shawn offers services of online fitness coaching, programing and consulting. Shawn is also a Graphic Designer and can be reached for graphic services on www.rev-graphics.com
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