Sciatica sucks. It’s a pain in the ass—literally. If you’ve suffered from it, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, consider yourself extremely lucky.

I’ve been dealing with it for a long time. I’ve had disk issues my entire life resulting from some slight structural abnormalities that culminated in 2005 when I involuntarily wet my bed several times. At that point, I had surgery at L5-S1 to repair a herniated disk. Unfortunately, the surgery made it worse (as an aside, I recommend that people only consider surgery as an absolute last resort). I had pretty severe neuropathic pain for the first six months after the surgery and had to take a medical leave from school because I couldn’t sit for longer than 15 minutes without getting an extreme burning sensation in my right buttock, calf, and foot. I tried tons of stuff—epidural injections, trigger point injections, electric stim, and pool therapy— but nothing seemed to help. Eventually, I saw a doctor who believed in “back boot camp,” which was essentially comprised of rigorous physical therapy mixed with a lot of stretching.

Most doctors had told me to avoid any physical exercise, so I was very nervous for this new approach, but I was willing to try anything. We did a lot of work for the hips, low back, and abs along with a very involved stretching protocol. Over time, I noticed small, incremental improvements and I was able to function better. Ironically, this is when I got hooked on strength training. I initially got interested as a means to rehabilitate my back and it just grew from there.

Presently, I’m able to lift weights and do everything else I need to do in my life. With that said, I still struggle with sciatic. To this day, if I sit for longer than about an hour, I get very substantial pain. The same thing happens when I stand idly, such as waiting in a long line. Certain exercises also trigger it, and I’ve had to drop those exercises. However, for the most part, the sciatica doesn’t interfere with my daily life because I’ve learned—through lots of experimentation—how to manage the pain. The keys for me have been developing and maintaining core strength and stretching. Lots and lots of stretching. I highly recommend that people suffering with sciatica engage in some sort of core strengthening program, but I don’t feel comfortable prescribing certain exercises without knowing the specific issues. I will say this though—avoid sit-ups.

The real purpose of this article is for me to explain the stretching regimen that I do daily to ward off the sciatic pain. When I say daily, I mean it literally. In the past four years, I can count the number of days I have skipped this routine on one hand. I do it at least one time every night before I go to sleep, and I will also do it sometimes before workouts or after I have been sitting for a long time and have a flare up. Through trial and error, I’ve developed a series of stretches that work well for me and have helped many people I know as well. The entire routine takes all of 15 minutes tops. The key with stretching is consistency. It can be annoying sometimes, but 15 minutes is nothing if it means ridding yourself of the pain.

I do the stretches below in the order I list them (I’m a creature of habit), but you can do them in any order you like. The important thing is that you do them. I like to do them while I watch TV. Each stretch is held for approximately 45 seconds. For stretches that stretch each limb individually, that means 45 seconds per limb. It is important to note that none of these stretches should cause pain or reproduce the sciatica. If that occurs, stop them immediately. This should not be an issue though. To be safe, start the stretches slowly and don’t push them to the point of discomfort. If you aren’t very flexible to start (you most likely won’t be if you haven’t engaged in a consistent stretching regimen for awhile), don’t worry about it. You will improve and should notice improvements quickly if you’re consistent.

Now let’s take a look at the routine.

1. Soleus stretch. People who suffer from sciatica often experience burning, tingling, or numbness in the calf. This has been my experience as well. I do a gentle calf stretch first just because it’s the only stretch performed standing. The rest of the stretches are performed on the ground. To perform this stretch, stand facing a wall with your palms touching the wall and your feet staggered. Your knees should be slightly bent. From here, lean into the wall until you feel a stretch in the calf of your back leg. Hold this position for 45 seconds and repeat on the other side.

2. Cobra stretch. This is a great stretch for the lower back and abs. To perform it, lie on your stomach and gently prop yourself up using your arms. Focus on keeping your chest and chin up. The key with this stretch is to start slowly. Do not push yourself to a point of pain. The goal is to feel a light stretch in the lower back. At first, you may want to begin by simply propping yourself up on to your elbows until flexibility improves and progress to rising up on to your hands.


3. Hamstring stretch. Tight hamstrings are one of the largest contributing factors to back pain. It is so important for sciatica sufferers to improve hamstring flexibility. In my experience, hamstrings require constant attention. It seems like no matter how much I stretch them, I stay extremely tight. To combat this, I do the stretches several times a day.

My favorite hamstring stretch is done with a stretching strap. To perform this stretch, lie on your back with your legs flat. Hook the stretching strap underneath your left foot and gently pull on the strap with your hands, keeping your leg straight and your right leg flat on the ground. Once you feel a stretch in your hamstrings, stop there. Work on extending your range of motion over time. If this stretch is too intense to start, keep your right leg bent while your stretch your left leg and vice versa. Repeat the process on the opposite leg.

If you don’t have a stretching strap, you can do a simple seated hamstring stretch. To do this, sit on the floor with one leg extended forward with the sole of your other foot touching the inside knee of the extended leg. Gently lean forward, bending from the hips, and try to touch the toes of the outstretched leg. If you can’t touch your toes, don’t worry about it. Your flexibility will improve with time. Here is what it looks like:


4. Piriformis stretch. This is an excellent stretch for the hips. Tightness in the hips often manifests in sciatic pain, so this is especially important to address through stretching. Begin this stretch by lying on your back with your legs bent. From there, place the outside of your ankle of the side you are to stretch on the top of the knee of your other leg. Place your hand on the back of the leg and gently pull your knee toward you. In the beginning, it may be difficult to get in this position if your piriformis is too tight. Don’t force it. Go only as far as you can go without pain and try to improve over time. This is difficult to describe in words so the picture will be particularly helpful.

 

5. Hip flexor stretch. Tight hip flexors are another contributor to low back pain. This is a problem because hip flexor tightness is common is people who sit for long periods of time (such as a desk job). It is especially important that you focus on these muscles if you spend a lot of time sitting during the day.

To perform this stretch, get into a lunge position with the knee of your front leg behind your front foot. Make sure both your feet are pointing straight ahead. From here, place your hands on your front thigh and push your hips forward. You should feel this stretch in the hip flexor of the back leg. As you progress on this stretch, you can try elevating your back foot on a small bench, similar to the bottom position of a Bulgarian split squat.

6. Pigeon stretch. This is another great stretch to open up the hips and stretch the glutes. It may seem repetitive after doing the piriformis stretch, but I find that they each feel slightly different. Moreover, hip flexibility tends to be the biggest problem for most people so it warrants two stretches. It only takes an extra 90 seconds of your time so do it. This stretch can be extremely difficult to get into at first, so take it slow. If you can’t do it at all, work on the piriformis stretch and return to this when you can.

To perform the stretch, begin by getting on your hands and knees. Slowly bring your right leg forward between your hands and place the lower part of your right leg perpendicular to your torso. At this point, pick up your hips and sit up straight.


If this is enough of a stretch for you, stop right there and hold this position. If you feel you can go further, slowly lean your upper body forward, breaking at the hips and keep your chest up. Only go as low as you can without experiencing pain or excessive stretching. The goal is to ultimately be able to touch your torso to the ground.


That’s it. It won’t take long to do the full routine, but the payoff will be huge. If you’re currently suffering from sciatica, which is unfortunately quite common for those of us who continually push the limits of our bodies through exercise, I highly recommend you give this routine a shot. You may be dismayed at your inflexibility when you start this program, but that is all the more reason to do it. This has helped me tremendously, and I hope it can help you as well.