4 Ways To Soothe Your Own Sciatica Without Drugs

From thealternativedaily.com

If you have pain, weakness, numbness or a tingling sensation that begins in your lower back, runs through the buttock and all the way down the back of one leg, you could have sciatica. Sciatica is caused by a pinched nerve in the lower back. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may relieve pain, temporarily. But they often come with unwanted and potentially dangerous side effects. Here are four ways to help relieve pain and even prevent or minimize future sciatica pain and dysfunction.

1. Stretching out the pain
A study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine suggests that over five percent of the adult population in the U.S. suffers from sciatica. Moreover, a person has a 40 percent likelihood of experiencing sciatica over his or her life. These two simple stretches are helpful for reducing the inflammation as well as relieving the pain.
Note: stretching the muscle too aggressively may provoke sciatic pain. So, it’s important to proceed carefully.
1. Lie down on the floor and bend the knee of the aching leg. Next, cup your hands under the knee and pull it slightly towards the shoulder in a gentle stretch. Remain in the position for about 30 seconds. Finally, straighten your legs and take a short break. Repeat the same exercise two times.
2. Still lying on the floor in a supine position, bend both knees keeping your buttocks on the floor. Then, cross the legs (sore leg over healthy leg). Cup your hands under the healthy leg and pull the knees gently. Stay in this position for about 30 seconds. Then release your legs and return to the starting position. Repeat two times.

2. Try yoga for pain relief

Lengthening the spine with yoga not only helps develop good posture but also helps reduce stiffness, inflammation and pain. Studies suggest that yoga is safe and beneficial for people with sciatica. For instance, if your sciatica is the result of a herniated disk, gentle poses that progress to standing poses and the downward-facing dog position will lengthen and strengthen your lower back, and help keep it aligned.
In fact, according to Yoga International, yoga can even help you manage pain and reduce the problems often associated with a herniated disk. Here’s how to try it: 

• Prep for the seated spinal twist: Sit on a folded blanket or yoga mat with your knees bent and your feet planted on the floor in front of you. Now place your right foot under your left knee, pointing forward. Steady yourself by holding your left knee with your hands. Inhale and lengthen upward through your spine. If the stretch is too much for you or if you feel pain down your leg, add a little more padding under your hips. Remain in this pose about two minutes. Repeat on the other side. Complete four sets.
• Simple seated twist: Remaining in the seated position, with the right foot under left knee, turn toward the upright knee. To help your upper body turn fully, place your left hand on the floor behind you and continue holding your left knee with your right hand. Now, inhale to lift, lengthen and expand. Keep your chest lifted and the natural inward curve in your lower back. As you exhale, twist without rounding your back. Keep your hand on your left knee to gently draw that knee toward your chest. Relax your inner thigh and groin muscle, allowing it to soften downward toward the sit bone.
• Easier and milder standing twist: This twist is perfect for anyone who struggles to lower themselves into a sitting position and raise themselves from the floor. It’s also a milder version of the seated twist. Place a chair against the wall. To stretch your right hip, stand with your right side next to the wall and place your right foot on the chair. Keep your knee bent and your standing leg straight. You can steady your balance by placing your right hand on the wall. Lift your left heel up, and stand on the ball of your foot. Now turn your body toward the wall. Exhale, lowering your left heel to the floor. Maintain the twist and hold for several breaths.

3. Acupuncture for relief
Acupuncture, used in traditional Chinese medicine, achieves or maintains better health by opening the body’s natural flow of energy. Tiny, pain-free needles are used to target specific pathways in the body. Acupuncture can provide relief from sciatica pain without adverse side effects. Studies show that acupuncture stimulates the production of endorphins — the body’s own natural painkillers — creating balance, pain relief and support for the body’s natural healing process.

4. Apply heat or ice
For acute pain, applying heat or ice packs can help alleviate the leg pain, especially in the initial phase, suggests Spine Health. Apply heat or ice for about 20 minutes, and repeat every two hours. Most people ice first, but some find better relief with heat. However, the two may be alternated. Use a cloth or towel when applying the ice to prevent ice burn.
The number one reasons you’re experiencing sciatic nerve pain is because of inflammation or a herniated disk. Before reaching for NSAIDs, talk to your doctor about incorporating some gentle stretches or yoga into your daily routine. You may find that it not only relieves the pain but also prevents your sciatica from returning.

https://www.thealternativedaily.com/4-ways-to-cure-your-own-sciatica/

From fat to fit: Sedentary with sciatica, it’s time for a fitness fix

By Kevin Hackett

Middle age: it can be a real pain in the back. I’m 46 years old and more than likely beyond the halfway point in my existence on this planet, so I think “middle-aged” is an accurate description of where I’m at. And over the past couple of years, I have at times become practically crippled by aches and pains that I’ve never experienced before.
This is fairly typical of men my age who lead sedentary lives. I spend nine hours a day in an office sat at my desk, with a further two hours (minimum) sat in my car, five days a week. Spread out over the course of a year, that equates to roughly 108 24-hour days spent exercising little more than my brain and my fingers. No wonder, then, that my body has finally decided to protest.
I’ve never really “struggled” with my weight, because that would imply some kind of effort, and my personal preference is to take the path of least resistance. Exercise? I have a bicycle that needs to be exhumed from its position on my balcony, where it resides under more dust than encountered by archaeologists on a mummy hunt. I walk, usually from the car to the lifts that take me to either my workplace or home, and when the weather is good enough I’ll take a stroll around Dubai Marina on the weekends. And it’s only a mild exaggeration to say that I’d rather self-immolate than go to the gym.
But that’s precisely what I need to do if I am to relieve myself of the back problems that have caused me so much misery. I’ve had sciatica so painful it’s made me weep, and a recent bulging disc caused not only searing pain but also complete numbness of my left foot. Treating the symptoms with anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxant medicines did work, to some extent, and eventually those issues have righted themselves. But prevention is always better than cure.
Quite apart from the physical effects of ageing and my sedentary existence thus far, a number of things in my life have started to make me wish I was in better shape. I have two sons, one of whom has just turned two years old and is a bundle of boundless energy. I feel I should be able to share in his penchant for running and climbing everywhere without feeling like I’ve just done a few rounds with Floyd Mayweather. I’d also like to still be around to see him graduate, perhaps get married and start a family of his own.
My reluctance to disrobe at the beach for fear of upsetting onlookers was obviously not enough to stimulate me into action, but perhaps an increasing awareness of my own mortality will be. My father has repeatedly told me that I’ve entered the “heart attack years” and he’s absolutely right, of course. Far too often I read about people my age keeling over and dying, unaware they had heart disease or some other chronic illness that might have been prevented, had they just looked after themselves a little bit better.
Never let it be said that I don’t suffer for my art. I know that in order to be able to speak and write with any authority on how to improve my own health and that of anyone who will listen, I need to grit my teeth and arrange some training with a coach who specialises in getting people like me from fat to fit. I also know that I’m weak-willed and that the only way I’ll have the discipline to haul myself to the gym three times a week is if I am expected to journal the process. Over the next eight weeks I’ll be charting my progress, looking at the things that people my age should and shouldn’t be doing as they try to get fit.
Iconic Fitness in Dubai Marina has started a programme called the Lower Back Fix (LBF), which looks exactly like the kind of action I need to take, so I meet Iconic’s co-founder and head coach Andy Harper, to go through what is involved. I explain my issues to him and he says that what I am experiencing is actually very common.
“It’s exactly why we set up this programme,” he says. “I’ve suffered debilitating back pain myself in the past, but I know that through training you can get long-term relief. Think about the lives most of us here lead – even driving our cars can cause lower back problems because they’re all automatics, meaning our left legs are never used, so our bodies become unbalanced, with some muscle groups never doing any work. Little things like that can mount up and the result is that we end up enduring pain that most people just assume they’re going to have to deal with for the rest of their lives.”
What he’s saying makes a lot of sense and, while I’ve not injured my back like many of Iconic’s LBF clients, the rehabilitation sounds like something even I could do. “What do you really want to achieve?” he asks. I think about my response for a few seconds, and say: “I’d love to enjoy exercise. I want to feel motivated to get to the gym and to work out without automatically searching for excuses as to why I can’t.”
He laughs and promises me that the coach he’s going to assign me will change my thinking. I don’t think he knows just how much I loathe physical exertion, but I do hope he’s right.

https://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/wellbeing/from-fat-to-fit-sedentary-with-sciatica-it-s-time-for-a-fitness-fix-1.691796