It is a kind of nerve pain that radiates from your lower back into the back and side of legs. An improvement in your lifestyle and some stretching exercises can help you deal with it effectively.
Yoga and Pilates can help in reducing sciatica pain
HIGHLIGHTS
- Use hot and cold compress to deal with sciatica nerve pain
- Avoid sitting at one place for too long
- Sit in squat position to seek instant relief from sciatica nerve pain
Sciatica is a problem that plagues many people across the world. It is a kind of nerve pain that radiates from your lower back into the back and side of legs. It can cause pain ranging from mild to severe. It can happen to people of all ages and may cause weakness in leg or foot along with numbness and tingling sensation. In his live video on Facebook, lifestyle coach Luke Coutinho says that sciatica nerve pain may be caused because of a poor lifestyle, poor posture, being overweight, lack of physical activity, the way you warm up and cool down during exercise and your diet.
Symptoms of sciatica pain
1. Lower back pain is the most common symptom of sciatica pain.
2. Weak muscles and tingling sensations which may extend to your hips, glutes, thighs and your lower body region.
Home remedies for sciatica pain
1. Mobility
You must know that sitting for long periods of time is the worst thing that you can do for sciatica. After every 30 minutes of sitting, stand up, do some stretching, try to touch your toes or anything that helps you stay active. Sitting in one place for too long affects blood circulation. Thus, mobility can help in dealing with sciatica effectively.
Also read: 5 Everyday Life Hacks For Chronic Lower Back Pain
2. Yoga or stretching
Doing yoga or stretching allows the muscles to relax and contract properly. Yoga and stretching allows everything around the ball and socket area to be free and less stiff. You need to work towards improving your flexibility for getting rid of sciatica pain.
Yoga can help in reducing sciatica nerve pain
Photo Credit: iStock
3. Sitting position
Work towards standing up every 30 minutes. You should try sitting on squat position for 30 seconds or 1 minute every day. Sitting in the squat positions opens up muscles in the lower part of your body, thus reducing incidence of sciatica pain.
Also, make an attempt of eating your meals while sitting on the floor. It is not just a humbling experience, but also a great way to keep sciatica pain at bay, and treat it effectively. It may also show magical effects on your digestion and blood sugar levels.
4. Hip flexes and glutes
Through stretching, make sure that your hip flexes and glutes are opened up and flexible. Any tightness in hip flexes or glutes increases your risks of having a sciatica or prevent it from timely healing.
Also read: Top 5 Home Remedies That Can Relieve Sciatica
5. Posture
Avoid sitting slouched as it has a negative impact on your posture. You need to make efforts of sitting, standing and walking with a good posture at all times. Exercises like Pilates and yoga are great for improving your posture. A good posture can help in treating and preventing sciatica pain.
6. Magnesium
Magnesium is an important mineral for any kind of nerve pain. It controls functioning of nerves. You can increase your magnesium intake by having more leafy greens, nuts, seeds, lentils, kidney beans, etc. The key is to consume a balanced diet in order to get sufficient magnesium from food. Avoid excess consumption of tea, coffee and alcohol. Low water intake can also contribute to low levels of magnesium.
You can also put epsom salt (magnesium sulphate) in your bath. Add 100-150 gms of epsom salt in your bath water can help in relieving sciatica pain. Also, make sure you drink enough water after soaking in epsom salt.
7. Ginger, turmeric, black pepper and fenugreek
A concoction of ginger, turmeric, black pepper and fenugreek seeds in boiled water and reduce it to half. Add some honey to it for taste and have this anti-inflammatory drink to seek relief from sciatica nerve pain.
Also read: Sciatica: All You Need To Know About Sciatic Nerve Pain
8. Hot and cold compress
Hot water compress helps in relaxing muscles around the area of pain where nerves are pinched. Cold water compress helps in reducing swelling or inflammation.
9. Essential oil
Nutmeg essential oil mixed with some sesame oil can be applied on the area of pain for relief.
Ensure that you do some stretching exercise and avoid a sedentary lifestyle. It is the single most effective way of preventing and treating sciatica pain.
(Luke Coutinho, Holistic Lifestyle Coach - Integrative Medicine)
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