Stretch Out Your Sciatica!

For non-severe cases of sciatica (i.e. not having foot drop or incontinence) a holistic approach of regular stretching and shifting your body's biomechanics can not only lessen your pain levels, but help it from coming back. The sciatic nerve runs from the lower back all the way down to the foot on either side of the body. Sciatica can be a result of several spinal issues, so it is important to consult with your doctor to ensure that this is not the underlying cause of your lower back pain. Deep stretching of the back and hips with follow up care to strengthen the pelvic floor and shift your gait (walking) can all help your sciatica no matter if you choose a doctor-recommended approach such as a cortizone shot/epidural or a holistic approach of chiropractic/acupuncture.

Deep stretching of the hips can take pressure off of the sciatic nerve, particularly by stretching the piriformis muscle. The piriformis connects the lower back to the hip and acts as a rotational muscle for the thigh. The sciatic nerve passes through this muscle for some of us, so when the muscle gets tight, it cuts off the nerve. Ki Hara active stretching is particularly effective for loosening these muscles, because we take the muscle from its shortened length and then actively pull it long. This means that flexbility isn't coming from a ligament or the joint, we're actually creating longer muscles--kind of like stretching taffy. You can see an example of this and its effectiveness here:

I find that another contributor in back pain is that we hold our breath from stress and become 'tightasses'. Read more about this here.

After getting more space in the pelvis, we can reengage the pelvic floor muscles and strengthen the glutes that should have been doing more work before sciatica came along. After sitting for so many years--even think back to being in school, the chair ends up supporting our weight most of the day instead of our pelvic musculature, including our bums. We end up with flat behinds while the muscles in the pelvis tighten and weaken. They then tug on the sacrum or lower back, forcing it to move in ways that it shouldn't, so it rightfully gets angry. By consciously reconnecting with the pelvic floor, which is the base of our core, and pumping the butt back up, we reactivate the parts of our body that should be holding our torso upright instead of a piece of furniture.

When working with sciatica and lower back pain clients, we not only stretch and strenghten, we also shift how you walk. If you've had that seizing pain or constant aching for a while, I guarantee you've walked weird to protect yourself from feeling it. So, another way to prevent you from having a future episide is to make sure you don't keep walking in a way that supports your body's holding of that pain. Addressing sciatica, and back pain in general, from this progressive approach helps my clients' back pain improve, it also lessens the severity/duration of future episodes In many cases, it helps keep the pain from coming back all together.

Can You Touch Your Toes? Your Calves May Be the Culprit.

When was the last time you thought about stretching your calves? Our body awareness typically gets pulled to the places where we hurt or where we want to create more muscle tone leaving the calves a bit lonely. They're just...there. Thing is, calf tightness can correspond with pain in other areas of the body including foot pain, knee pain, back pain and neck pain, even headaches! The fascial or connective tissue line runs up the entire back side of the body--sole of foot, calves, hamstrings, piriformis (deep muscle in the butt), up that respective side of the spine, neck and then stops at the browline of the forehead. This is the connective tissue line that also contacts a chair most of the day, so no wonder there would be some tightness. It can also remain constricted due to our walking pattern.

Why are my calves tight?

Unless you live in San Francisco or in a national park, you're walking on flat surfaces all day long. That's a pretty small range of motion for the ankle so the calf muscles tighten because they aren't being worked in their full, anatomical range. This means that in general, most people have tight and weak calf muscles. Why should you care? Calf and ankle strength affect posture all the way up the body and is critical for balance. Plus, due to the connective tissue line, your calf tightness could be a major culprit in your knee, back and neck pain.

Do my shoes make my calves tight?

Absolutely. High heels are an obvious example because the calf muscles are contracted or shortened all of the time. That said, every Austinite who wears flip flops and cowboy boots year round isn't faring much better. Flip flops cause people to become toe grippers, meaning they're always clawing at the ground, or really the shoe, just to keep it on. When the heel isn't cupped in the back of a shoe, our gait pattern (how we walk) shifts so we stop using our whole foot and calf to take a step. If you love flip flops, look down at your toes and you may even see them scrunched up a bit rather than nice and open. Boots keep the ankle at a fixed, right angle, so this also makes for tight calf muscles--once again, because the full range of motion of the ankle is limited. I'm not suggesting that there's the perfect shoe, or that you should never wear your boots again, but try regularly changing up your footwear. Flip flops on the other hand...if you have any pain or tension along this fascial line, you may want to consider swapping your flip flops for sandals that have a strap around the back to support your ankle. This usually keeps folks from doing the toe grip motion to take a step.

How do I stretch my calves?

I have several options on YouTube, foam rolling and stretching the shins, but this is my favorite:

From an energetic or emotional perspective, I find that when people have tight calves, they can't feel the ground, meaning they don't feel supported by the earth. When someone walks into my studio with chronic neck and shoulder pain, I will often do a deep calf stretch in the first session so that they relax their lower leg. I always stretch one leg first, then have the client stand to feel the difference. About 90% of the time, they feel more relaxed and lighter on that side, plus their shoulder on that side, will lower. Lack of grounding, or feeling supported from below, puts all of the energy into the shoulders and head. This looks more like someone who holds the weight of the world on his/her shoulders instead of feeling relaxed and connected. Try this at home on one side and see if you feel what I'm talking about.

If you know that you have pain along this back, fascial line, and that you may walk a little funny, schedule an appointment and we'll shift your gait a bit so that you aren't reinforcing tension along the back side of your body with every step!