How Sitting Less Can Help To Provide Relief From Sciatic Nerve Pain
Sciatic nerve pain, as I’m sure you know, affects many people! And if one thing is for sure, it definitely is not pleasant to have! Because Sciatica can be so painful, who WOULDN’T want to have relief from Sciatic nerve pain!?
In this article, I will be discussing how sitting can potentially lead to sciatic nerve pain over time. In particular, I’ll be delving into something known as Piriformis Syndrome, which is a cause of Sciatica that many people experience.
However, there are several different causes of Sciatica. If you do have the symptoms of Sciatica, I recommend you see a doctor first and foremost to be sure of what is going on! They will be best able to provide you with relief from Sciatic Nerve pain.
Without further ado though, let’s talk about how sitting can lead to Sciatica over time.
Sitting Too Much Can Weaken The Gluteus Maximus Muscle Over Time
The Gluteus Maximus, as you can perhaps tell by its name, is the largest, strongest butt muscle you have.
The Gluteus Maximus serves many important roles. Its main actions include extending your leg behind your body and externally rotating your leg outward. Functional activities it allows you to do include standing up from your chair, going up and down the stairs, running, and more.
HOWEVER, if you sit on your butt for hours a day and don’t exercise, your Gluteus Maximus can weaken over time. After all, if you don’t use a muscle, you start to lose it, as they say!
When this muscle weakens, it cannot do its job as well. When this happens, other muscles will have to pick up the slack.
One such muscle that works harder in this case is the Piriformis muscle.
As you can see, the Piriformis is a much smaller butt muscle. When the Gluteus Maximus cannot perform external rotation of your leg as well, the Piriformis will work harder to do this.
When the Piriformis works too hard, it can become sore and inflamed. That is when issues occur.
How Sciatica Is Caused By The Piriformis
In case you didn’t know, the Sciatic Nerve is the largest nerve in your ENTIRE body!
And it just so happens that this nerve travels either under OR directly through the Piriformis!
Because of this, you can see how an inflamed Piriformis muscle can lead to Sciatica.
When this muscle is inflamed or very tight, it can impinge upon the Sciatic Nerve.
I will explain how this happens in my video below
Read More Below…
When the Piriformis is inflamed, this can cause symptoms such as pain, numbness, tingling, weakness, and a burning sensation down your leg.
Therefore, if this is happening to you and you want relief from Sciatic Nerve pain, then this has to be addressed!
In my video below, I will summarize everything I said up above in a more concise manner.
Essentially in the video, I was pointing out that keeping your Gluteus Maximus strong can keep Piriformis syndrome from happening. Then you won’t need relief from Sciatic Nerve pain in the first place!
However, if you already do have Sciatica caused by Piriformis syndrome, you likely want to know something you can do about it. Firstly, I’d recommend staying away from aggravating activities, like biking or running! Avoiding aggravating activities is a primary thing to do to get relief from Sciatic Nerve pain.
Also, I’d HIGHLY recommend seeing a physical therapist if you have this, as they will best be able to treat you.
However, I can give you a great stretch down below to help you.
How To Stretch The Piriformis Muscle
If your Piriformis muscle is very tight, you are going to want to stretch it to get Sciatic Nerve pain relief. You should not have pain while doing this stretch.
In the video below, I will give you a very effective and simple stretch that you can easily do laying on your back.
To do this stretch and get Sciatic Nerve pain relief, first lay on your back. For the side you want to stretch, take the heel of that leg and place it on your opposite knee. Then wrap BOTH your hands behind the thigh of your opposite leg. From here, you are going to bring that leg towards your body.
In this position, you should feel a GREAT stretch. By doing this stretch and lengthening your Piriformis, you will be allowing yourself to better attain relief from Sciatic Nerve pain.
Keep in mind, for the video below, I had just got done with foot surgery. So I am doing the Entire video in my bed!
If this stretch is Painful, stop doing it!
How To Floss The Sciatic Nerve (If you have pain doing this technique, Stop!)
As a final thing I thought I’d throw in to help you get relief from Sciatic Nerve pain, I thought I’d teach you a nerve flossing technique.
Essentially in your body, nerves can become scarred down for various reasons. When this happens, the nerves cannot move throughout your body as well. This can then lead to nerve symptoms.
Think of a string running through a straw.
If there is nothing in the straw, the string should move smoothly through the straw, no problem!
However, say there is a piece of gum in the straw. Now, the string can get stuck and bound down. It’s kind of the same with nerves in your body.
So right now, I am going to give you a nerve flossing technique that will hopefully provide you with relief from Sciatic Nerve pain. This technique only works on some causes of Sciatica, not ALL! So it certainly is not guaranteed to provide relief from Sciatic Nerve pain.
Also, if you have pain while doing this nerve flossing technique, stop doing it!
Final Thoughts
Essentially, from this article, I hope you realize the importance of being active and exercising! Doing this will help you to maintain the strength in muscles such as your Gluteus Maximus so that it does not weaken over time. As I mentioned above, if this muscle weakens, it can lead to Piriformis Syndrome.
Because Sciatica can be quite painful, it’s best to PREVENT it in the first place. So try to do more standing than sitting throughout your day and try to be more active. If you get Sciatica, you will want to avoid activities like running or biking as this can make things worse if you want relief from Sciatic Nerve pain.
If you do manage to get Sciatica, I would recommend you GO SEE A DOCTOR, as receiving direct care from someone in person will help you out the most.
Other things you can try for relief from Sciatic Nerve pain include stretching and nerve flossing. You should not have pain when doing either one.
Hopefully this article informed you with regards to Sciatica and things that can help you achieve relief from Sciatic Nerve pain.
If you enjoyed this article, a comment down below IS appreciated 🙂