Three tips for treating sciatic nerve pain

How to Treat Sciatic Nerve Pain

If you’re feeling pain in your lower back that radiates into your leg, you’re probably wondering what’s causing the pain. The most likely cause of this type of pain is a condition called sciatica. Sciatica is when the sciatic nerve has been irritated or pinched, and this nerve runs from your lower back, through the buttock and down the back of the leg. You might also be wondering how you can treat sciatic nerve pain. Here are three tips that can be very helpful for treating pain associated with this nerve.

1.   Limit your bed rest

Many people think that the best way to deal with pain is to rest until it goes away. You might even be tempted to try bed rest as a treatment for sciatic nerve pain. A few days of rest can be helpful when your pain first starts, but you should make sure that you’re lying on a firm mattress or couch. Also, many patients tend to start losing the benefit of this condition after about three days. After this, your muscles are more likely to stiffen up, which could cause your pain to increase again.

2.   Do some easy stretching

One reason that you may need to know how to treat sciatica nerve pain is you have tight lower back muscles. The tightness in these muscles can often be reduced by stretching them, and reducing the muscle tightness can also decrease irritation of the sciatic nerve. There are many simple stretches you can use to target your lower back when you have sciatica.

An example of such a therapeutic exercise is the cobra stretch. To do this stretch, lie down on your stomach on the floor or a bed. Then, move your hands to about the level of your rib cage and slowly press your upper body upward without lifting your hips. You should try to hold the stretch for about 10 seconds, and then you can lower your upper body back down. Just make sure that you pay attention to your pain and stop at once if your pain increases.

3.  Get in a little low-impact cardio

Another tip that can help you treat sciatic nerve pain is to do a bit of low-impact cardio. Try to take a short walk while you’re recovering from sciatica, but you’ll need to make sure you take it slow at first. Consider starting with one or two 5-minute walks per day. Another alternative is to walk on a treadmill at your local gym. These forms of low-impact cardio can help your pain by increasing your blood flow. They can also boost the levels of endorphins in your body, and these can help your pain because they’re one of the body’s natural painkillers.

Whatcom Physical Therapy offers many treatment options for sciatic nerve pain

If you’re looking for a physical therapy team to help you treat sciatic nerve pain, Whatcom Physical Therapy has just the team you’re looking for. We offer free screenings at our two Washington clinics. The information we gather in your screening will be used to build you a personalized therapy plan, and our team can use multiple beneficial therapy methods in this plan, such as:

Take the next step to start getting our help for your pain. Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment.