Sciatica Stretches - Any Time, Any Where

Sciatic nerve pain, best-known as a condition called sciatica, is an disease that when remained untreated can become distressing and overwhelming, and really degrade your quality of life.Sciatica nerve stretches can truly help you on your road to becoming pain free, but first you need to understand what causes sciatica.

Essentially, sciatica is nerve damage that has been triggered by either stress, or tight muscles pinching the nerve.The sciatic nerve starts in your lower back area, and travels down, through the buttock area, and down through the hamstring and the back of your leg. So, when you have excessively tight hamstrings, that can set off pain in your sciatic nerve.

In General tight muscles suggest a weakness in the surrounding muscles, and that is the most common cause of sciatica.Sciatica stretches and regular sciatica exercises can really help to combat this, and ease your numbing nerve pain.

Sciatic nerve damage can also be triggered by job stressors such as  truck driving for long periods of time.  The constant bouncing applies stress on the sciatic nerve. Sciatica can also be caused by a herniated lumbar disc, in which case, only performing sciatica  stretches won't help too much, and can in fact in up damaging your sciatic nerve further.

In order to determine the type of sciatica you may be suffering from, try this simple exercise. Sitting upright in a chair, stretch your leg that you are having pain in, straight out.If your pain increases, most likely true sciatica is to blame, and you have a  herniated disk.Another test that is helpful in discovering where your sciatica is developing,  is gently pulling your knee on your tender side, to your shoulder on the same side.  Then relax a  bit and proceed to pull the knee towards the opposite shoulder, and gauge your pain.If it is more painful pulling to  the opposite shoulder, then most likely you are suffering from sciatica induced by tight muscles.

Here are two simple Sciatica stretching exercisesyou can do for sciatic pain relief: Lying flat on your back, pull your knee up to each shoulder.This can help stretch out tight hamstrings. Be careful though, because if you suffer from a herniated disc than this exercise can aggravate it.

The second stretch is based on yoga exercises.  Lie flat on your tummy and push up on your elbows, looking up and breathing deeply.  This creates a slight curve in your lower spine and helps to relieve pressure and pain. But again, be careful, because if your sciatica is caused by a facet syndrome, this can aggravate it.

Also, sometimes this may increase your pain temporarily, but it usually improves with repetition, and it is better to get up and walk around for a bit in between repetitions, and take a break. Both of these sciatica exercises can help you heal, as long as you perform them a couple times a day for as long as you feel nerve pain or numbness, and there are no other causes of your sciatica you are unaware of.

One thing to keep in mind is that sciatica is seldom caused by just one factor. Sometimes, it may be due to facet syndrome, which I briefly mentioned above. That involves rear joints at the base of your spine. In such case, extending your back like mentioned above can actually exacerbate your symptoms, and it is recommended to lie flat on your back and hug your knees. However, again this can put pressure on any herniated disc problems. Therefore the absolute best thing you can do is to see your doctor before performing any Sciatica stretching exercises, and find out precisely where the cause of the pain is originating from, is the safest and wisest path to take.You can then be referred to a medical specialist who can show you the proper exercises and sciatica stretches you should be undertaking.