If you are suffering from sciatica then you must definitely be trying different kinds of massages, manual manipulations and pain killers already. A number of people suggest that sciatic nerve stretches are great for alleviating back pain and it can be true in your case as well. However, you must definitely take expert advice before trying anything at home. In case you end up doing the wrong exercise or doing it in the wrong way, you will certainly be mitigating your chances of recovery and causing more troubles for yourself. In order to do this, simply go ahead and read about the worst sciatic stretches that you could be performing and try to avoid them as much as possible.
The lower back rotation stretch is an exercise that must be avoided at all costs. This is one of the most well-known offenders who will be enhancing back pain issues and might even irritate the sciatic nerve. The rotation stretch demands you to lay down on your back and rotate your legs. You have to keep your shoulder blades on the ground all this while. It is important to understand that the lumbar region was not meant to handle rotational pressures and in this case, the entire pressure of the rotation will solely be on the sciatic nerve.
Also lumbar vertebrae are bigger than the cervical and thoracic vertebrae and rotating them is the last thing on earth that you must be doing. You might feel some relief while performing these sciatic nerve stretches but they will likely not help during the long run. Also raising your legs off the ground is also bad, as it can exacerbate back pain and put undue strain on your pelvic muscles. It is better not to enhance the risk of an injury on focus on milder stretches.
Follow our recommendations here for good lower back sciatica stretches
The knee to chest stretch is another culprit that must be deleted from your sciatic nerve stretches routines. This stretch lays too much stress on the lower back. You have to lie down on your back and then slowly pull your knees to your chest. This kind of exercise will relax the muscles of your lower back for the next 20 minutes. However, as soon as they come back to their usual contraction phase, they hurt more than ever.
With time, your muscles lose their spinal stability and are not able to contract in an effective manner. Remember, in a more relaxed condition, your sensitivity to pain will also decrease. The chances of injury will be heightened during this time and you will invite more than you intend to shrug off your shoulders.
