Anyone who has ever suffered from sciatica knows that it is a truly painful experience.
Sciatica is the medical term applied to the pain that is spread throughout the lower back, legs, and feet that is a result of problems with the spine.
These problems may include a pinched nerve, herniated disc, or similar issues.
Sciatica is the result of pressure on a specific nerve that sends shooting pain signals through the lower body.
Individuals who experience sciatica will find that it can be worsened through basic activities such as sitting, driving, or walking.
The underlying issues such as a pinched nerve can also happen or become worse from coughing, sneezing, or fast movements.
The unfortunate part about sciatica is that many patients are limited to the type of treatment which they can receive for this condition.
The underlying cause plays a huge role in the type of options which are available. For some individuals, prescription pain medication and an invasive surgery are the only options for relieving a herniated disc or pinched nerve.
However, many times sciatica is short-term and simply requires some self-care to alleviate it.
In the search for a natural way to beat sciatica, many people ask the question – is yoga good for sciatica?
Yoga in Review
Yoga has a history that is as old as humanity itself. It is the most popular practice in the Eastern world and is touted for its many benefits to the human body.
Die-hard yoga fans will tell anyone that a consistent practice can truly change your life.
If we look at some of the new-age-approaches to yoga such as former wrestling star Diamond Dallas Page’s approach, we can see that yoga is for everyone, everybody, and almost every medical condition.
This particular wrestler was barely able to walk. Sciatica was just one of his many issues.
After watching his wife to yoga, he decided to implement some of the moves in his life to help alleviate the excruciating pain which he was in.
It was only a matter of time before he became hooked and decided to create his own yoga program and boast about its many benefits including the fact that it relieved his sciatica.
Yoga is a beneficial practice because it is the only type of exercise that truly works every single muscle in the body and every organ inside.
Through the different flow of emotions, individuals are able to enjoy a low impact routine that helps strengthen muscles, stretch tendons, and pushes toxins out of the body.
The lengthening and strengthening of the different muscle groups and tendons are one of the reasons why yoga is good for sciatica.
The Yoga Approach to Sciatica
To start is important to understand that not every style of yoga or every yoga pose is going to be best suited for someone currently suffering from sciatica.
The reason why yoga is so effective at relieving and preventing sciatica is that it helps loosen tight joints and also helps reshape the body so they individuals are not in a position to trigger pinched nerves or sciatica.
For example, one of the many reasons why we experience pinched nerves is because of fast-paced movements that our body is not used you.
This comes from the fact that many jobs today involve individuals standing or sitting for long periods of time. The body becomes stiff.
As a result, it takes nothing more than standing up after bending over too quickly to pensioner and lead to excruciating sciatica.
The first step is to alleviate your sciatica pain. Depending on the severity of your underlying condition, this can be completed with basic yoga moves.
The sun salutation movement is a basic five pose flow which carefully strengthens and lengthens the spine.
It is designed to stretch your body from the base of the neck all the way down to the Achilles tendon.
This line of muscles, tendons, and nerves in the body is all directly related to sciatica pain.
By using yoga to stretch this part of the body, you will help yourself relieve the pressure that is causing your pain.
Use the sun salutation flow 3 to 4 times every morning upon waking until your sciatica pain subsides completely.
Once you have overcome the initial cause of your pain, it is time to implement yoga as part of your healthy lifestyle.
There are several different types of yoga. The fast-paced or high-intensity versions should be reserved for individuals who are more active.
In terms of treating sciatica, you want a gentle flow such as hatha yoga.
Through this practice, you will learn how to move through many body lengthening poses which increase the elasticity of tight tendons and muscles while also helping improve flexibility within your spine.
The combination of these things will help prevent sciatica.
Additional Considerations
When adding yoga to your daily lifestyle, there are a few things to consider. First, the success of yoga is largely based on breathing.
Individuals must follow the instructions and breathe in for poses which are lengthening the body, and breathe out for those that are contracting the body.
The importance of proper breathing and yoga cannot be stressed enough.
This is one of the single factors that determine how well your body responds to the practice and how effective each pose is.
As you flow through yoga routine you should feel like your body is being pushed to a limit.
Despite what many people think, yoga is not specifically a calming, relaxing practice.
Yoga advocates will tell you that your body feels pushed to the limit during the practice but when it’s done you feel better than ever.
Start by incorporating just 15 minutes of yoga per day into your routine. You can then continue to increase up to 30 minutes, 45 minutes, and 60 minutes.
Individuals with sciatica may also enjoy taking a gentle warm yoga class. This is a gentle flow in a heated room of around 90-degrees.
The heat soothes the body and makes it easier to flow through tough poses.
With continued practice as part of your healthy lifestyle, yoga can help eliminate sciatica from your life.
Resources:
http://www.yinyoga.com/newsletter14_sciatica.php
http://www.livestrong.com/article/366344-yoga-postures-for-sciatic-nerve-pain/
https://yogainternational.com/article/view/7-poses-to-soothe-sciatica
