#1 Take Tension off the Nerve:
The sciatic nerve runs from the lumbar (lower) spine all the way through our glutes and down the back of your leg and can be aggravated by tension when it is injured. Often patients note pain with sleeping at night time, especially sleeping on their front or back. A nice way of relieving this is by removing tension on the nerve by sleeping with two pillows between your legs or sleeping on your back but bending your knees and placing your feet on 2-3 pillows. Similarly, avoiding seated positions for long periods help reduce tension on the nerve.
#2 Strengthen your Glutes and Hamstrings:
The sciatic nerve innervates (sends neural signals to help the muscles contract) the gluteal muscles and hamstrings and therefore when irritated or injured can affect the muscles abilities to contract effectively. To prevent loss of muscle tone and function it is important they are strengthened. We have covered Glute and hamstring strengthening in numerous previous blogs but the glutes are strengthened in exercises like hip thrusts, knee push outs and crab walks while the hamstrings are strengthened during rollouts, deadlifts and Nordic curls.
#3 Strengthen back extensors:
The sciatic nerve can be irritated by bending forward especially when are knees are straight. This can cause a lot of discomfort. By promoting the movement of back extension (pushing our hips forward and arching our backs) it helps relieve tension on the nerve and helps strengthen our erector muscles which keep us upright. Strengthening these muscles can help reduce the load on the nerve. “Superman’s”, deadlifts and RDLs can improve back extension strength
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