Symptoms of sciatica are pretty simple as in most cases it starts with pain in the lower back region. The ailment starts mildly and then grows into an intense pain. This lowers down from the back through the buttock region and also carries down to the leg. Some sciatica patients also refer that their leg ache is worse than their back ache.

In case of severe acute sciatica, people feel the pain even after prolonged sitting or standing. They can not walk long and also have great trouble while getting up from a seated position. This suffering also worsens when you cough or sneeze or laugh as even a small bowel movement would results in the damage of the compressed nerve roots. Apart from these people suffering from sciatica also notice weakness in their foot or leg and also suffer from ankle ache. In cases of acute sciatica this weakness may be felt more intensely and so does the pain.

Some people ignore these symptoms as these are very similar to other muscular pains that may be caused due to stress in other muscles. But when it is left undiagnosed for long, this may lead to severe conditions that require surgery in the first place. So it is often advised that you must consult a physician once you realize these symptoms. Earlier diagnosis of sciatica can help one to get rid of that easily as there are lots of exercises and massage therapy that can soothe your muscles and calm down the pain. There are also anti-inflammatory medicines that can be used if there is a swelling in your sciatic nerve and you can’t resist the hurt. There are also lots of home remedies that you can adopt in your home to relax your muscles and add more strength to them.

There are some “Best exercises to relieve sciatic nerve pain”

I have written at great length about lower back posture and its damaging effects on the back. I have also written on exercises that reduce symptoms of sciatica and why this works. However, today I want to focus on the four best exercises for your lower back and why they are considered the best. These exercises are to be done each and every day. They are quick and easy to do.

Firstly, let’s have a look at one of the biggest myths in back care today and why it doesn’t work. I am sure you have all heard about stretching and strengthening for your lower back to cure your lower back pain. There is only one problem with this theory-it doesn’t! The major drawback is that a strong and flexible back is not a better back. That is to say, just because you can get on a back machine at the gym and extend with 200lbs of weight you are not helping your back. In fact, the machine where you sit and bend forwards and backwards to strengthen your back muscles is one of the worst machines you can do for your back! The research done by the foremost expert in lower backs, Dr. Stuart McGill actually used this same action to make discs rupture! Dr. McGill has written over 200 research papers on lower back health and is one of, if not the most recognised researchers in Lower back health. When it comes to this machine he will tell you that it’s a sure fire way to herniate a disc. The constant bending forwards with weight added to it is extremely harmful.

So having a super strong back does not mean that you have a back that will be pain free. When it comes to having a flexible back the results are the same. Many backs that are too flexible have more problems than backs that have a certain amount of stiffness. A flexible back can be an unstable back.

What you do want is a back that has good stamina. What this means is that your back is able to remain stable during your daily activities without breaking down. This is the great secret to back health!

A study in Finland showed that people who lacked back endurance (or stamina) were 3-4 times more likely to have back pain than those who had good or even fair back endurance. You need to be able to maintain good posture both when you are sitting and standing otherwise you will lose your stability and protection, your back will become unstable and your back will ‘go out on you’ or to put it more correctly, be injured!

Therefore it’s imperative to do these exercises every day to build up your stamina. The studies have shown by doing them every day your back will be better than if you were to do them only two to three times a week. Remember, you are trying to build up your endurance levels.

So before we start, if you haven’t already read my other posts on why you shouldn’t do sit-ups, trying to touch your toes, forward bends etc I suggest you do so that you can remove a vital component which is damaging your back. Also, if you are doing any type of forwards bending like getting out of bed in the morning and start touching your toes, bringing your knees to your chest you most definitely need to read my other posts on back pain because you are now putting your discs at a 300% greater risk of damage.

One final thing, please please please don’t slouch or lift things with a rounded back or work bent over forwards with your lower back bent-keep your lower back straight maintaining its inward arch and bend at the hips. By doing this you have just protected your back ligaments and discs from damage!

And one last final thing, you already know that you should not bend forwards with a rounded lower back because it is damaging to your back. Then what do you think you are doing when you lay on your back and do sit-ups? You are curling your lower back over and over again which is harmful to your lower back! The only difference between doing sit-ups and bending with a rounded back to pick something up is that you are lying on the ground when you do a sit-up. Every single sit up you do is damaging your back!

Ok, so here are the four best exercises to manage your back pain and protect you from having back pain in the future.

Cat-Camel

The cat-camel is a warm up exercises to get your back mobile.

Get down on your hands and knees and place them about shoulder width apart. Now let your head bend forward you also arch your back upwards as high as you can go comfortably. This should give you a rounded spine. Then when you have done this you arch your back the other way as if you are trying to touch your belly button to the ground and also extend your neck so that you are now looking forwards. It is a gentle rhythmical sequence that should not cause you pain. It is to loosen up the spine… Remember not to cause any pain, if something is painful please stop short of the painful range. Do this eight times.

Curl up

This is to work your abdominals region and is the most effective exercise of its type. This will work your abs whilst putting the least amount of stress on your lower back and discs. You will notice with this exercise the hands are placed in the arch of your lower back so that you retain the arch during the curl up instead of allowing the back to flatten. This also protects your lower back from harm.

Lie face up on the floor with one leg straight and the other leg bent so that the foot is placed on the floor. Place your hands under your lower back with your palms facing down. Place your tongue to the roof of your mouth. Slowly raise your head and shoulders of the ground making sure that you are not allowing your head to push forwards of your shoulders. You should feel that you have a steel rod in your spine going from your head to your shoulders and you lift your head and shoulders from the floor as one unit. Hold for 8 seconds and repeat 4 times. Once you have done this, change legs over and do another 4 sets. If you are unable to do this many, do as many as you can up to the point of fatigue. Remember that we are aiming at endurance levels so by doing this each day you will slowly build up so that you can do more and more. You want to be doing more sets of 8 seconds as opposed to trying to increase the amount of seconds you hold the curl up. Breathe deeply as you contract your abdominals.

A more advanced version of this is that when you do your curl up also lift your elbows off the ground.

Side Bridge

This exercise will work your lateral stabilizers which are crucial in giving you support for your spine.

There are two ways to do this. The first is an easier version which I suggest you start with until your muscles are better conditioned.

Lie on your left side with your knees and your upper body propped up on your left elbow and forearm. Place your right hand on your left shoulder and slowly raise your hips until your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your knees. Hold this position for 8 seconds, breathing deeply the entire time. Do four reps, and then change over to your right side.

The more advanced version you straighten you legs. You have your legs straight and split apart with the top leg in front and the bottom leg behind. They should be about half a meter apart. I am not sure whether this is clear in my explanation so please just Google ’side bridge’ and see an image if you are confused.

Bird Dog

This exercise works your lower- and middle-back extensors-the muscles that help you bend backward. The final part of your core muscles that need to be worked.

Once again you need to get down on your hands and knees with them about shoulder-width apart. Slowly raise and straighten your right leg and left arm at the same time. Hold for 8 seconds, breathing deeply throughout the exercise. Lower your arm and leg straight down, and then sweep them along the floor back into the starting position. That’s one repetition. Perform four repetitions, and then change sides. The important things to look out for here is that you are not overly arching your back when you do this. You need to keep that back in a neutral position engaging your stomach muscles as you do this. You should feel your stomach muscle contracting as you do this exercise. The other important factor is to make sure that you are not hitching your buttock up. In short, if you were to place a bar across your buttocks from one side to the other, when you lift your leg the bar should remain horizontal rather than being tipped up at an angle. You may need someone to check that you are doing it right.

And there you have it!

Do these simple exercise every day to protect your back, strengthen your core muscles-all of your core muscles, lift properly, sit and stand tall and say goodbye to your back pain.

Symptoms Of Disc Herniation

The symptoms for having herniated disc are heavily depends on how serious your back condition is. You might feel nothing at all- no pain no numbness in spite of having a damaged lower back. Or if you’re unlucky enough, the herniated disc bulges out from between the vertebrae and pressing on a nerve, you will feel constant numbness or pain at the weakness points of your back.

Identify Your Back Pain

Herniation normally happens at 3 parts of your back. If you’re having constant chronic back pain, the first thing you should do is to identify where the pain comes from.

Upper back: If herniation happens at the upper back, you will feel intense pain at your front thigh when you sit or stand. The intensity of the pain highly depends on how serious is your herniation condition.

Neck: Or we call that the cervical spine area. You would feel numbness or electric shock pain at your shoulder or chest. Not often but the constant surprise visiting is able to ruin your day off.

Lower back (Lumbar area): Among the disc herniation cases, this might be the most commonly seen among the Americans. There is a very high percentage lower back herniation would develop into Sciatica.

What is Sciatica?

If you’re feeling constant pain at your lower back, hip, tailbone or feeling long lasting numbness at your leg or hip after sitting for a short while, these are the symptoms of Sciatica.

In order words, if you’re diagnosed a Sciatica patient like me, then you’re in big trouble. You wouldn’t be able to sit long at the same position because your lower back pain would alarm and to shake off the pain, the only effective way that shows immediate relief is to stand and walk around. The another unlucky part of having Sciatica is that you’re not allowed to walk or run too long either because the pain would remind you of its existence.

Good Effective Treatment For Disc Herniation

There are way too many kinds of early treatments for disc herniation. Look, the reason I said “early treatments” is because treatments like hot and cold treatment, massaging, taking painkillers or NSAIDs are only effective in easing off your pain at the early stage of disc herniation.

As you can see, these treatments are merely teaching you how to relieve your pain but not to treat the cause. How long do you think you can continue taking these medications?

If you’re REALLY sick of taking painkillers, massage therapy, reflexology or any kind of methods which are useless in curing your herniated disc problem, it is time to try some therapy treatments which is very focused to the disc herniation problem.

Symptoms Of Disc Herniation

The symptoms for having herniated disc are heavily depends on how serious your back condition is. You might feel nothing at all- no pain no numbness in spite of having a damaged lower back. Or if you’re unlucky enough, the herniated disc bulges out from between the vertebrae and pressing on a nerve, you will feel constant numbness or pain at the weakness points of your back.

Identify Your Back Pain

Herniation normally happens at 3 parts of your back. If you’re having constant chronic back pain, the first thing you should do is to identify where the pain comes from.

Upper back: If herniation happens at the upper back, you will feel intense pain at your front thigh when you sit or stand. The intensity of the pain highly depends on how serious is your herniation condition.

Neck: Or we call that the cervical spine area. You would feel numbness or electric shock pain at your shoulder or chest. Not often but the constant surprise visiting is able to ruin your day off.

Lower back (Lumbar area): Among the disc herniation cases, this might be the most commonly seen among the Americans. There is a very high percentage lower back herniation would develop into Sciatica.

What is Sciatica?

If you’re feeling constant pain at your lower back, hip, tailbone or feeling long lasting numbness at your leg or hip after sitting for a short while, these are the symptoms of Sciatica.

In order words, if you’re diagnosed a Sciatica patient like me, then you’re in big trouble. You wouldn’t be able to sit long at the same position because your lower back pain would alarm and to shake off the pain, the only effective way that shows immediate relief is to stand and walk around. The another unlucky part of having Sciatica is that you’re not allowed to walk or run too long either because the pain would remind you of its existence.

Good Effective Treatment For Disc Herniation

There are way too many kinds of early treatments for disc herniation. Look, the reason I said “early treatments” is because treatments like hot and cold treatment, massaging, taking painkillers or NSAIDs are only effective in easing off your pain at the early stage of disc herniation.

As you can see, these treatments are merely teaching you how to relieve your pain but not to treat the cause. How long do you think you can continue taking these medications?

If you’re REALLY sick of taking painkillers, massage therapy, reflexology or any kind of methods which are useless in curing your herniated disc problem, it is time to try some therapy treatments which is very focused to the disc herniation problem.