How To Walk With Sciatica Pain

Step #1: Do Back Exercises and Stretches Before Walking

Before you give your sciatica a chance to strike, take preemptive measures. By activating your core muscles before walking, you can stabilize your back and limit nerve pain. 

• The Half Push-Up. Lie flat on your stomach and then push your body up as with a normal push-up, only keep your hips flat on the ground. 
• Hip presses. While standing, place your hands on your hips. Lean your head back and push your hips forward. (As far as you can without falling). 
• Stretch your quad muscles. This is a great way to loosen up your back before beginning your walk. 

Step #2: Shorten Your Stride

Because long strides can compress your lumbar disks (and therefore irritate your sciatic nerve), you may want to shorten your natural stride. 

This is especially important for jogging or running, as these motions lend themselves to long strides. 

You should be able to have a conversation while walking; if you find this difficult, you need to slow down and shorten your stride. 

Here’s a tip for limiting your stride length: don’t walk on your toes. Your foot should land between your heel and midfoot, and then it should roll naturally toward the toes. This technique will keep you from extending too far. 

Step #3: Engage Your Core Muscles

Here are a few ways you can do this:

• Activate your abdominal muscles. Keeping your abs engaged limits the pressure put on your disks, which limits pressure on your sciatic nerve. 
• Use good posture. Keep your eyes on a fixed spot ahead of you; this will help keep your head and shoulders back and prevent slouching. 
• Pull your stomach in. This forces you to use your abdominal muscles and helps keep your back in alignment. 

Additional Info:

If you’re returning from surgery, or if you’ve been going through non-surgical treatment for severe sciatica, it’s critical that you start small and increase your walking speed and distance in short increments. 

Never start off with a run; always walk first. It’s a good idea to limit yourself to about four hundred meters to start. Once you’ve done that for a few days, you can double it and then go up from there. 

If you get tired after walking, don’t slouch to rest. Stay upright at all times

Conclusion

Sciatica can make walking difficult, but here’s the good news: walking actually helps alleviate sciatic pain. This is because it releases endorphins that are part of your body’s natural way of dealing with pain. 

As long as you take things slow and use the techniques outlined above, you should eventually be able to walk without sciatic pain. If you are still suffering from sciatica pain and need to find an experienced doctor near you, call 1-800-897-8440 today.