12 Exercises To Avoid When You Have Sciatica

Are you suffering from sciatica pain and wondering if exercise can help? They can, but there are some exercises that you should avoid.

First, avoid any exercise that causes you pain. After that, it is generally best to avoid exercises that stress your lower back, spine, or legs. Such exercises include:

1. Running 
2. High Impact Exercise 
3. Leg circles
4. Seated Hamstring Stretch 
5. Hurdler Stretch 
6. Bending Forward 
7. Squats
8. Deadlifts
9. Abdominal Stretches 
10. Cycling 
11. Double Leg Lifts 
12. Any Exercise that causes pain

Avoiding exercises like these will go a long way in relieving your pain.

So, let’s dig in a little deeper.

If you’ve been diagnosed with sciatica and are intending to treat the condition using conservative techniques, it is highly recommended that you do so under the care of a chiropractor or other medical professional. They can help you determine which exercises you can do and which ones to avoid.

Here is a list of exercises to avoid:

1. Running

As a rule, running tends to put stress on your hips and pelvis and, as such, can aggravate sciatica. Because of this you should avoid running with sciatica until your chiropractor lets you know it’s okay.

2. High-Impact Exercise

In addition to running, other high-impact exercises you should avoid include jumping, twisting, some forms of aerobics, as well as high-impact sports like volleyball, basketball, soccer, and football.

3. Leg circles

This exercise should be avoided because it can result in injury to your hamstring which, in turn, can aggravate your sciatica making it worse.

4. Seated Hamstring Stretch

This stretch involves bending one leg while stretching the other. Again, this can pose a problem with your sciatic nerve; it can be pulled and hurt more easily with this stretch.

5. Hurdler Stretch

This is another stretch, one that can stress your hips and back, resulting in stress to the sciatic nerve. As such, it should be avoided

6. Bending Forward

A number of other exercises involve bending forward at the waist. Many of them should be avoided. Whether it is the standing forward bend or the Downward Facing Dog from yoga, both can easily cause stress to your lower back, pelvis, and, in turn, your sciatic nerve.

7. Squats

Squatting should also be avoided, particularly when done with weights. This exercise, by nature, will stress the lower back, hips, pelvis, and legs, as well as the discs in your spine. And all of this can aggravate your sciatic nerve and make your pain worse.

8. Deadlifts

Again, deadlifting, another weightlifting exercise, should be avoided and largely because it, too, stresses the lower back and hamstrings which may, in turn, affect the sciatic nerve.

9. Abdominal Stretches

Some exercises that work the abdomen, like the cobra from yoga, may also need to be avoided. Again, they can compress and stress the lower back which can aggravate your sciatica.

10. Cycling

This exercise sometimes aggravates the sciatic nerve because it puts too much pressure on your spine, and lower back.

11. Double Leg Lifts

When you lift both your legs at the same time, all the weight from your legs is distributed to your lower back and this, of course, can aggravate your sciatic nerve.

12. Any exercise that causes you pain

This usually goes without saying, but should you try an exercise and find out that it causes you pain, you should immediately stop doing that exercise and consult your chiropractor.

As you can see, the common factor in many of these exercises is the stress they bring to bear on the lower back. That‘s not really surprising as that’s where the sciatic nerve is located. As a result, any stretch involving that area should be done gently and only under the direction of a qualified chiropractor or similar medical professional who can direct you through it.

Exercises and Stretches For Sciatica

Having discussed the exercises you should avoid, let’s take a look at some of the exercises you can do. This post discusses a number of sciatica stretches for fast relief in 8 minutes or less that can be done, if done carefully and gently. Some of the ones listed may be difficult for some individuals – particularly the elderly who can’t move around quite as well anymore.

Sciatica Exercises for Seniors

There are a number of sciatica stretches that are gentle enough that they can be recommended for most people regardless of age. You can likely get a comprehensive list by contacting your local chiropractor. In the meantime, however, you can try these:

• The Pelvic Tilt
• The Bridge
• The Single Knee-to-Chest Stretch
• The Double Knee to Chest Stretch
• The Prone Leg Raise
• And the Calf Stretch

The guiding principle with these exercises is to stretch gently and be careful. As mentioned earlier, if you feel pain, stop and consult your chiropractor.

Sciatica Exercises in Bed

Some people may be inclined, or even directed by a medical professional, to do stretches in bed – either when they settle in to go to sleep at night or first thing in the morning when they wake up. If that is the case, there are a number of helpful stretches for sciatica that may be applicable. These include:

• The Single Knee-to-Chest Stretch
• The Double Knee to Chest Stretch
• The Pelvic Tilt
• And The Press Up

Again, if needed, you can consult a chiropractor for a more comprehensive list.

Sciatica, Surgery, and Conservative Care

If you have a more painful case of sciatica, and you are hesitant to try conservative care and worried about surgery, relax. Don’t worry. Conservative care is often an effective means of dealing with sciatica. And you have time to try it before committing to something as drastic as surgery. Even if the pain is significant.

According to the journal Spine, in cases involving sciatica, it is recommended to permit up to 3 months of conservative therapy before recommending surgery. ⁽¹⁾

Another study, this one in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, found that sciatica is a frequent medical problem in primary care for which typical management includes physical conditioning, proper pain management, and surgery as a last resort. ⁽²⁾

Another study in the Spine journal designed to evaluate the effectiveness of conservative treatment found that “Active conservative treatment was effective for patients who had symptoms and clinical findings that would normally qualify them for surgery.“ ⁽³⁾

So, if you’ve got sciatica. Start with conservative treatments, and go from there.

Conclusion

Hopefully, the above tips will help you deal more effectively with your pain should you be suffering from sciatica and you are trying to go it alone. However, if your pain is not subsiding after a few days or so, you should really consider seeing a chiropractor. We, here, at Better Health will be more than happy to help.

Sources:

1. https://journals.lww.com/spinejournal/abstract/1984/01000/the_conservative_treatment_of_sciatica.12.aspx
2. https://journals.lww.com/jfmpc/Fulltext/2022/08000/Sciatica__Management_for_family_physicians.12.aspx
3. https://journals.lww.com/spinejournal/Abstract/2012/04010/The_Efficacy_of_Systematic_Active_Conservative.2.aspx