My dad called me in a panic a few months ago.

He had pulled over to the side of the road because he was in excruciating pain. He described it as a firy pain that was radiating down the leg with some tingling and numbness, coupled with a deep throbbing pain in the hip socket.

This sounded very suspiciously like sciatic nerve pain.

What is sciatica?

What it is:

• Sciatica is nerve pain from an injury or irritation to the sciatic nerve bundle
• The sciatic nerve is the longest and thickest nerve in your body (about the thickness of your thumb) and is actually a bundle of nerves that originates in your lumbar region and feeds the leg
• Nerve pain generally comes from some form of compression or irritation of the nerve, either in the spine itself or often in the hip socket
  • Sometimes experienced along with piriformis syndrome or even SI joint pain

40% of adults in the U.S. will experience sciatica at some point

• This is extremely common!

What will happen if you don’t do anything about it? What are the consequences of pushing through or living with the pain?

• Contributes to inactivity, loss of muscle mass, and a general decline in health.

Most cases of sciatica go away on their own without needing surgery at all, but it may take a little while. However, there are some things you can do to encourage the pain to resolve:

In the immediate:

• Ice at first, especially if you tweaked it and there’s swelling
• Then switch to heat to help encourage your muscles and that nerve to relax
• Don’t push through the pain, but also don’t stop moving
• Take pain medication

3 solutions for long-term relief

Posture

• Alignment - pelvis, lumbar spine, feet
• Do this - stand in front of a mirror and tilt your pelvis around to begin getting the sense for how your pelvis is sitting
• At the very least, work to maintain a level pelvis as you go about the day, and then also think about your lumbar spine and feet

Strength

• Core and glute strength - having a stronger core removes pressure off of the spinal segments and helps to stabilize them, and having stronger glutes takes the pressure off of your smaller, deep internal hip muscles
• Do this - Pelvic tilt + exhale, glute bridges

Flexibility

• Mobility of your ankles, hips and thoracic spine
• Do this - Wall ankle stretch, standing hip flexor stretch, thoracic extension stretch

Success vs. Failure

Here’s what’s going to happen if you don’t follow this advice:

• Your sciatic pain could get worse, it might sideline you for way longer than necessary, you could lose the muscle mass you have now, become deconditioned and end up with other issues to deal with

But here’s what’s going to happen if you do take my advice:

• The pain will resolve much quicker, you’ll be back to your activities sooner, and you’ll be more confident in yourself, having gained so much more awareness about your body and what to do.

I just wanted to share a quick note that I received from Jenn… she did this. She followed the steps, and well, just listen to what she says:

Takeaways/Call to Action

Ok, here’s just the ONE thing I what I want you to do:

• Just pay attention to your alignment
• Go start my Back & Hip Fix program

More Resources & Links

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