*Sighs*

Soul-destroying, isn’t it?

You look at people around you. (And notice they’re the same age as you.)

With what seems like perfect health.

They PR half marathons.

Perfect their swing for hours with a golf instructor.

They do 2 yoga classes a day.

Headstand? Check.

The Splits? No problem.

A perfect six-pack? That too, and the Instagram picture to prove it.

And then…

There’s you.

A little over weight, motivation eroding…….What’s that noise?

Aaugh. Uggh. Yeow.

That’s the sound you make every time your sciatic nerve flares up.

Vzzzt. Hissss. Crack.

That’s the searing pain in your leg.

Does it make your feel down? Overwhelmed?

After all the useless advice you’ve received, does healing seem impossible?

Soul-crushing, right?

Instead, you make excuses and tell yourself it’s your genetic destiny or just another symptom of aging.

You drown your dreams of ever returning to “normal” with junk food or booze or television box-sets or shopping sprees, all the while telling yourself you’re doing the right thing.

But are you?

Your soul whispers “No.” “I need to take charge.” “I need this to change…now.”

Unleashing the Power Within

No doubt.

Sciatic nerve problems are frustrating. 

Just ask the 13 million people per year that suffer from it.

Although there are many reasons that cause sciatic nerve pain, I’ll focus on the two I deal with the most. Sciatic nerve pain caused by the lumbar spine and pain caused by the piriformis.

Let’s get started.

What is the sciatic nerve?

Chances are, if you have sciatic nerve pain, you know what this is. Because sciatic nerve pain can originate from a couple of different places (as noted above) and it’s important to have a general idea of the anatomy.

The sciatic nerve starts in the lower end of your spinal cord and runs downs though your butt and down through your leg.

The Piriformis Muscle

The piriformis muscle tends to fly under the common-knowledge-anatomy radar. Back when I started yoga, I had no idea what this thing was until I took a closer look.

Simply put, the piriformis is a muscle that is located almost in the center of your butt (buttock for the formal readers ;-)). It connects your sacrum to the very top of your femur (thigh) bone.

The piriformis is considered an external rotator of the hip.

My students and clients often suffer from a tight piriformis.

How does a tight piriformis effect your yoga practice?

In more ways that you think, primarily in poses that involve squatting and lunging. Think chair pose, low lunges, crescent pose and other high lunges.

Not to scare you too much, but this creates compensatory changes down the rest of your leg and even in some cases in the neck (called the kinetic chain if you’re interested).

The Interplay Between the Sciatic Nerve & the Piriformis Muscle

As your sciatic nerve angles down the butt through to your leg, it passes the piriformis muscle.

4 scenarios occur:

1) The sciatic nerve passes underneath piriformis muscle.

2) The sciatic nerve passes over the piriformis muscle.

3) The sciatic nerve passes through the piriformis muscle.

4) The sciatic nerve splits into two and passes directly around the piriformis muscle.

In either of these orientations, if your piriformis muscle becomes tight or inflamed, it can swell or spasm and rub against the sciatic nerve. This is painful.

Piriformis Syndrome, A Pain in the Butt, Literally

This is Piriformis Syndrome. Your piriformis muscle causing your sciatic nerve pain. If you’ve ever felt a sharp or searing pain in the butt followed by numbness (and sometimes weakness) not just in your butt, but down your entire leg, this is Piriformis Syndrome.

A Simple Stretch to Expunge a Tight Piriformis

Start lying down on your back. Take your right knee and bend it in toward your chest.

Initially, you’re going to feel your groin and if your piriformis is extremely tight, you’ll feel it here.

Once you have that slowly draw your right knee over to the left and be sure to keep the leg bent. This will intensify the stretch. 

On Handling Sciatica

It’s important to clear up the confusion.

The most critical thing when dealing with a sciatic nerve issue is identifying exactly what is causing it. With my clients 100 percent this leads to the fix. Further, what actually makes the symptoms worse is trying to fix the wrong thing.

Kinda silly right?

But think about it this way:

Imagine your car is stuck somewhere because it has a flat tire and continue to insist that the car just needs gas. All the gas in the world won’t get you anywhere.

So what is Sciatica exactly?

Sciatica is a condition that originates in the lower spine generally from L4-L5-S1 and causes sciatic nerve pain.

Notice the difference. The sciatic nerve can be aggravated via the spine or the piriformis muscle. The tricky thing is, the symptoms both of the conditions cause are similar.

And this is what leads to the confusion.

Sciatica deals with sciatic nerve pain that originates from the spine. Piriformis Syndrome deals with sciatic nerve pain that originates from the piriformis muscle.

Sciatica often times is the double whammy. Not only do you experience traditional symptoms of sciatic nerve pain, but you experience a cranky and stiff back to go along with it.

The Devil’s in the Details

Ok, you’re in pain. Your back hurts. The lower back. But, hopefully not too much.

Let’s talk about your spine. I promise I’ll keep this as simple as possible.

My goal as a yoga teacher is not to bombard you with hopelessly complicated medical terminology and give you a headache on top of your back pain, but to educate you on how and why your sciatic nerve is bothering you and present to you a solution.

Anybody who’s had a lower back pain knows the feeling, you tell a couple people it hurts whether it be a doctor, a friend, an inquiring family member, a yoga or pilates teachers, a cross-fit coach or a personal trainer and you end up with 20 different opinions and 100 fixes to go along with it.

And you just end up more confused.

You hear terms like “herniated disc”, “slipped disc”, “bulging disc”, “pinched nerve”, or “ruptured disc”.

What the Heck Does a Strawberry Jelly Doughnut Have to do with Your Spinal Column?

Think about your spine this way from now on.

Your spine has 24 vertebrae in the Cervical, Thoracic, and Lumbar regions and another 9 fused vertebrae in the sacrum and the coccyx (tailbone) for a total 33.

The first 24 vertebrae have discs in between them and these discs are made up of a firmer outer cartilage ring and a softer inner cartilage filling.

They are like strawberry filled jelly doughnuts! (I actually personally prefer chocolate ;-))

Dissecting the Terminology (And it’s not as complicated as you think)

Of course, medical professionals can never agree on this stuff, but this is the way I’ve interpreted the lingo.

Bulging Disc – This is simply when the doughnut itself bulges out from in between the vertebrae column. Generally, it’s just the bread that bulges out, not the filling. I know, I’m having a little bit too much fun with this.

Being serious now, its the outer firmer ring that bulges out. This outer layer can bang against your sciatic nerve and cause pain.

Herniated Disc – This is caused when that jelly doughnut breaks and the strawberry filling leaks out of the side. The filing can also rub against the sciatic nerve and release pro-inflamatory chemicals that can irritate the nerve.

The good news?

A herniated disc can also be referred to as a bulging disc or a slipped disc.

The bad news?

It doesn’t matter what you call it; it still hurts.

What about a pinched nerve?

A pinched nerve in general can happen at multiple sites in your body in addition to your spine. Your elbows, fingers, wrists and hands are other common places. A pinched nerve is simply when whatever is protruding (ligament, tendon or bone), bangs or compresses the nerve.

In relation to your back, it’s just the disc banging against your nerve.

The Types of Hamstring Stretches You Want to Avoid and Why

You’re a little confused, I know.

It’s daunting right?

One expert tells you one thing to relieve the pain and one expert tells you the opposite.

It’s frustrating isn’t it?

You just want the pain to go away.

You’ve been told to stretch your hamstrings to relieve the pain AND and you’ve been not to stretch your hamstrings to relieve the pain.

So, what works and what doesn’t?

The reason confusion over the hamstrings exists is because of forward folds.

Forward folds have the potential to aggravate your sciatic nerve.

When you fold, if you can’t actually hinge from the hips (your pelvis is unable to rotate forward), you will round your back and the result is that your discs could bulge and press against your sciatic nerve. If your nerve is already inflamed and irritated, stretching the sciatic nerve will make the symptoms you are already experiencing much worse.

So what about my hamstrings?

Let’s end the confusion.

The reason you have been told not to stretch your hamstrings is because many “common-knowledge” hamstring stretches are forward folds.

What you should have been told is to avoid forward folds, not to avoid stretching your hamstrings all together.

The ongoing struggle with your sciatic nerve is like a divorce settlement that just NEVER ends.

Never mind the details, you’d prefer just to be able to walk again (in both cases, unfortunately).

Annoying? Yes.

Frustrating? Yes.

But when the battle just never ends? It’s downright diabolical.

Let me repeat this because it’s critical for ending the fight with your sciatic nerve once and for all.

If you have tight hamstrings or tight hips or weak/tight lower back muscles, you will be unable to hinge from your hips when you forward fold, you’ll round your lower spine (big time), stretch and pound on your sciatic nerve and cause an extreme amount of pain.

But, Hamstring Stretches are not The Devil you’ve been Led to Believe

Let’s inject a little creativity into our approach.

Can you think of ways to stretch your hamstrings WITHOUT folding forward?

Tricky right?

Ok, here we go…

Why stretching the Hamstrings are Important for Alleviating Sciatic Nerve Pain

Let me preface this by saying when trying to resolve a sciatic nerve issue, no matter what kind of stretching that you are doing, it should be light. Yoga gets a bad rap because people overextend themselves in poses that can actually be quite therapeutic.

When something goes from a “stretch” to a “pose” all of a sudden the overzealousness come out.

Joking aside, your sciatic nerve is indirectly related to your hamstrings but, the tighter your hamstrings are the higher the probability that you could develop a sciatic nerve issue. 

Although, I have seen people with above average hamstring flexibility have sciatic nerve issues. In this case, it is almost always the piriformis that’s acting up.

When someone does have tight hamstrings, it affects their ability to fold correctly and never mind forward folding yoga poses here, but think simple everyday activities such as bending over: picking up your iPad, tying your shoes, sitting in a chair and reaching for something on your desk.

It unrealistic to tell someone to never fold again (think about all those natural life movements that you’re always having to think about). It’s much more practical to rehab the ability to fold correctly. That’s why you want to stretch your hamstrings.

Initially, you’ll have to stretch them without folding forward. A minor inconvenience for a long term payoff.

Take Charge of Your Sciatic Nerve with these 12 Essential Yoga Poses

3 Killer Ways to Stretch your Hamstrings (With Props) Without Folding Forward and Without Aggravating your Sciatic Nerve

1. Supine Splits With a Strap (Lying on Your Back)

Lie down on your back. Lift one leg up in the air, flex your foot and wrap the strap around your foot. Start to pull. Go lightly. It is still possible to aggravate your sciatic nerve here if you are overzealous.

You should feel the leg gently moving down toward your torso.

Here are a couple of important “red-flags” to pay attention to:

1) You don’t want your hip to shift to the side. If your hip shifts to the side while you are pulling on your leg you are pulling too much. Ease up.

2) You do not want to feel your lower back move in anyway. If your lower spine starts rounding, you are recreating the same scenario that causes pain in a forward fold. Your spine, potentially a disc that’s slipped out, will bang against the sciatic nerve. That hurts.

2. Half Splits or Splits with your Hips Elevated on Blocks.

The key to both of these variations is to get a light stretch in your hamstrings.

This is the problem. Students hear the spits and they think one of two things, “No way, I can’t do that” or “Great, this looks like a cool pose and push right into it!”.

Neither of these mindsets work, unfortunately. Nor is this the type of spits we’re going for.

These modified versions of the spits are useful and therapeutic.

Again, the key to making these useful is not pushing too far.

When healing the body, the goal is never to perfect a shape, but to focus on the feeling the stretches provide you.

Bottom line, any time you push too far in a pose (including the ones I’m showing you), you turn something that is supposed to be restorative into something that’s destructive.

3. Get Familiar with a Tennis Ball or a Squash Ball

This is not technically a stretch, but a myofascial release.

Start by grabbing a tennis ball or a squash ball.

Find a firm chair or firm sitting surface and place the ball underneath your hamstring. 

Roll the leg around to target and isolate different areas of your hamstring muscle.

To turn this into a stretch you can carefully extend the leg out in front of you and gently roll the leg in and out.

5 Poses for Stretching the Piriformis

1. Thread the Needle

Start lying down on your back. Bend your left knee and place your right ankle on top of your left thigh.

Move slowly and cautiously, draw your legs in toward your chest. Take your right hand reach it through the loop that the legs create and take your left hand and reach it outside your left leg and clasps the fingers around the shin bone if you can.

Continue to lightly draw the legs in toward your torso.

 

2. Lying Pigeon

Start lying down onto your back. Bend your right knee in toward your chest then slowly draw the foot over to the left.

Slide both of your hands underneath the calf muscle so that the calf rests in the creases of your elbows.

Draw the leg toward your chest. Keep the left leg as straight as possible. If you feel the left leg wanting to bend, you have gone too far.

3. Double Pigeon

Start sitting down. Bend your right knee and draw your right foot over to the left toward your left hip.

Then take your left ankle and rest it atop your right thigh. For a little extra intensity, draw the foot slightly over the thigh.

It’s important to remember not to let the lower back round and the shoulders slouch forward in this pose.

4. Half Lord of the Fishes (Ardha Matsyendrasana)

Start sitting and take your right heel and move it toward your left hip. Now take your left foot and step it up, over and outside the right thigh.

Take your right elbow and move it outside the right thigh and lightly twist.

This is a simple spinal twist. Use your inhales to lift the crown of your head and use your exhales to rotate yourself open.

5. Cow Pose (Gomukhasana)

Let’s do the modified version of this pose first. Start sitting, keep your left leg straight. Take your right knee and stack it over the left knee and hang onto the foot with your left hand. You can control the intensity of the stretch by controlling the foot with your left hand.

If you want to try the full version of the pose, start sitting. Bring your left heel toward your right hip and bring your right heel toward your left hip. Stack the knees right on top of one another if you can.

Bonus if you want to stretch the shoulders: Take your right arm reach it up in the air and pat yourself on the back. Take your left arm out to the side and around (similar to the action of reverse prayer) and clasps the hands if you can. If not grab hold of your shirt or a strap.

6. Marichyasana C

Start sitting. Bend your right knee and place your foot on the ground. There should be enough distance between the right foot and the left inner thigh to place a grapefruit or a softball in between.

Inhale and lift your left arm up into the air. Exhale and take your left elbow to the outside of the right thigh. Hold there.

Backbends *Can* be Useful for Healing Sciatic Nerve Issues

In my experience, backbends are useful when done mildly and cautiously.

And in general, my clients with sciatic nerve issues get immediate relief after a couple of simple, light backbends.

It’s a must that you proceed with caution and don’t push beyond your limits, even if they do seem fun. 🙂

It’s also important to understand that just because a light backbend feels good, it doesn’t mean a big backbend will feel great.

In theory, bending the back (extending the spine) pushes the discs away from the nerve.

1. Cobra & it’s Variations

Start lying down on your stomach. Bring your hands along the ribcage. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and lift up.

It’s important to move slowly, you don’t want to feel any compression in your lower back at all.

As you lift roll your thighs up toward the ceiling. This is will physically draw your tailbone down a little bit and give even more room in the lower back.

If doing cobra on your hands still feels like too much, do it on your forearms.

2. Bow Pose

Get comfortable with cobra pose. This pose is a little more advance.

Start lying on your stomach. Reach back with your hands and grab hold of your ankles. Carefully lift yourself up.

It’s important to maintain the focus primarily on the lower spine. You want to make sure you maintain the extension in the lower back and focus on squeezing your mid and upper back muscles together.

3. Camel Pose

Start kneeling at the front of your mat.

The gentlest form on this pose it to simply put your hands on your lower back. Lightly push your hips forward. It takes just a tiny tiny bit. Let your body adapt to this.

Over time, if you start to feel comfortable reaching the hands further down, you can cautiously go for your heels. But again, don’t push to hard, you don’t want to re-injure yourself.

And the Largest Indicator of Success…Drumroll please…

Consistency.

Until now, maybe you haven’t known exactly what was causing your pain. Now you’re armed with knowledge, some key poses to alleviate pain, and a plan.

What’s the Plan?

Pick a couple of these poses each day, just 2-3 of them and commit to stretching for just 10 minutes a day.

And make a promise to yourself (and me) that you will not get overzealous, overstretch and injure yourself even more.

Consistency.

10 minutes a day over a long period of time will work wonders for your sciatic nerve as long as you respect your body.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you can brutalize yourself and force yourself into poses once a month and think that’s the equivalent. It’s not. It’s actually the recipe for the graveyard.

Really, don’t beat yourself up.

Take it slow and enjoy the ride.

How to Prevent Reoccurrence?

Whether you’d like to believe it or not, part of where the sciatic nerve pain came from to begin with was your lifestyle.

As you build a rhythm of smart, daily stretching, you must make strides to shift your lifestyle.

5 Ways to Shift Your Lifestyle

1. Adopt the 55-5 Rule

Ever just tell yourself you don’t have time to stretch.

It’s so easy to convince your stiff-self right?

Try this. Commit to making the last 5 minutes of every hour time to stretch. No matter what you are doing or where you are, commit to stretching.

These 5 minute chucks add up. Before you know it, you’ll done an hour of stretching before you’ve even left the office.

2. Scrutinize your Nutrition

Take a good hard, honest look at what you eat.

Not in shallow way. Most people only start thinking about nutrition when they get fat. They only think about food as a way to change their body image.

How about long term health?

What about inflammation? Which we now know is tied to just about every chronic disease on the planet.

You can still look “fit” and be highly inflamed.

And if you are overweight, think about how that impacts your lumbar spine. Kinda scary, right?

What would I recommend?

No sugar. No grains. No refined oils. (This is a topic for a post in itself.)

3. If you spend lots of time driving, fix your sitting posture in the car.

Don’t allow yourself to completely slouch over in the car seat. Focus on engaging your core muscles as much as you possible can. Try and pull your bellow button back toward your spine as often as possible.

Think about it.

Slouching in your car is the equivalent of a forward fold. It’s causing your lumbar spine to round. Those jelly doughnuts we talked about earlier can start shifting all over the place.

4. Increase your Ability to ‘Feel’ your Body by Developing More Proprioception

Proprioception is a fancy term for body awareness.

Work on simple things like balancing on one leg with your eyes closed. All you have to do is stand and lift one foot off the ground an inch with your eyes closed. Focus on what you feel, it’s move challenging than you think.

Also try this one:

Close your eyes and attempt to move your right index finger from your right ear to the very tip of your nose and down to the center of your knee cap. Do both sides. Simple things like this increase your spacial awareness.

5. De-Stress by Injecting “Power Meditations” into Your Day.

You can combine Power Meditations with 55-5 Rule. Start the first minute with a seated or standing mediation and be hyper aware of your posture especially in your back.

Focus on controlling your breathing, slowing the rhythm of it down, and even pausing for a split second between your inhales and your exhales.

This will set the stage for increased body awareness in the next 4 minutes of stretching that you do. Add the power meditations in whenever you see necessary.

Quit Doubting Yourself

Not knowing where to start is what prevents us from taking action.

The body is complicated, I know.

But now, you’re educated. Take action. You have full control over your sciatic nerve.

Push aside the stuff that hurts. Do what works and do it consistently.

Paradise awaits.

Want more FREE information like this? Click Here to Subscribe