You go to stand in the morning, and you feel it, the dreaded shot of pain down your leg, sometimes reaching all the way down to your foot. Sciatic pain – which can oftentimes be so bad that someone can’t get off of the couch or out of bed – can happen for numerous reasons. Let’s break down what sciatic pain is, what causes it, and possible treatment options, including walking, which at the time can certainly sound counterproductive, but is actually beneficial!
What is Sciatica, and What Causes It?
The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in the body, starting at the spinal cord and traveling through your hips and glutes down toward your feet. When it is irritated by injury or compression, it can cause feelings of numbness, tingling, and pain through the hips and legs. The sciatic nerve can be damaged in several ways; Harvard Health Publishing even states that close to 40% of people will be affected by pain from the sciatic nerve at one point or another. Some of the ways that the sciatic nerve is irritated include the following:
- Piriformis Syndrome (tightening of your piriformis muscle around the sciatic nerve)
- Lumbar Spinal Stenosis (a condition where the spinal column in the lower back is narrowed, placing pressure on the sciatic nerve)
- Herniated Discs (ripped cartilage between the vertebrae of the spine that presses on the sciatic nerve)
Signs and Symptoms of Sciatica
If you think you have sciatic nerve pain, it’s typically pretty easy to diagnose – especially if the pain runs from your lower back/hip down through the glutes and down the back of your leg. Usually, you’ll notice that the pain is at its worst when you’re moving around, and you might feel weak in the affected leg. If the irritation runs all the way down to your foot, you might notice tingling or numbness down into your toes.
Treatment of Sciatic Nerve Pain
As painful as it might sound, one of the best ways for staying on top of sciatic nerve pain and helping it to feel better is to move. This is probably the last thing you want to do, when you’ve got shooting pain down your leg. However, staying still can make it worse, but there are some other things you can do to help decrease the pain a bit if you aren’t up for a walk. Stretching, ice packs and heating pads are all wonderful go-to’s when you’re not feeling well, and can certainly aid in decreasing the pain associated with an irritated nerve.
However, exercise is definitely key to improving sciatic symptoms – even when it seems like the opposite thing you should be doing! Sitting can actually make it worse since you’re essentially putting pressure on the nerve through the glute muscles. Let’s take a look at how you can begin to feel better if you’re experiencing sciatic pain, and with one of the simplest exercises, we can do – walking.
Treadmill Walking and Sciatic Pain
Based off information from Spine Health, doing any kind of walking (whether that’s inside on a treadmill or outside through your neighborhood) can help to improve the pain experienced with the sciatic nerve, and this is because inflammation can be decreased – and bonus, you’re exercising, so you’re releasing endorphins that make you feel good!
You might find that if you sit or lay down more often than not when sciatic pain strikes, you end up feeling stiffer and more unable to move than not. This can be rectified with a short stroll, you don’t have to go for miles in order to reap the benefits of feeling better and releasing some of that nerve pain! If you do choose to walk on a treadmill in the midst of a flare-up, keep a few things in mind.
- For one, take small steps – literally and figuratively! Shorten your stride, especially if you’re used to power walking and taking large steps.
- Secondly, set your treadmill to a level setting (no incline) and start your speed off slowly, no need to go into a power walk as you are healing.
- Third, if it hurts, stop! Use the treadmill as a way to slowly work back into some movement (or into your regular workout routine) as you begin to release some of the pressure off of your sciatic nerve.
As always, talk to your doctor before beginning any exercise program, and let them know if the pain continues. Start back slowly with your workout routines, and listen to how your body is feeling as you work through improving the sciatic pain.