Sciatic Stretch; Help Yourself Out of Pain Now.
If you’ve been diagnosed with sciatica, the pain that centers in the middle of the glute then runs up or down the body from the low back to the knee, you’ve probably been told that keeping the area stretched out will help lessen your pain.
The sciatic nerve as it runs through the hip is about as big around as your thumb; and it easily gets impinged by tight muscles. Most frequently, the piriformis muscle, one of the hip extensors underneath your gluteus maximus, fanning out from your sacrum to the ball-and-socket joint of the hip, is the culprit for muscle tightness in the hip.
Here’s the easy way to safely stretch your piriformis muscles, hopefully relieving sciatica.
- Lie on the floor on your back.
- Place both feet on the floor, knees point up.
- Cross one ankle across the opposite knee just above the knee-joint.
- Keeping your back flat on the floor, pull the crossed legs directly to your chest.
- Hold stretch for 10 full breaths.
- Repeat on other side.
By lying on the floor to do this stretch you neutralize and protect the low back, so if there are any disk issues or dysfunction with the sacroiliac joint; you won’t further exacerbate the problem. In this position the focus of the stretch is squarely on the hip extensor muscles, specifically the piriformis.
Use this stretch to get yourself out of pain; and add it to your regular daily routine to keep your posterior hips open and flexible, better able to support your low back.
