Inactive patients who rarely exercise would have a harder time with sciatica because they don’t give their body the chance to grow stronger and more flexible. Being Inactiveĭaily activities where you move your body around a lot is a must for keeping the muscles strong and preventing back pain that stems from imbalance or weakness.
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Try to find a pain-free way to sit by keeping your spine stable and in a neutral position. Even though curling your lower back can help to alleviate the pain, a bad posture can just make existing back pains worse. Poor sitting habits can also contribute to sudden bouts of sciatica. If you need to rest, it’s much better to lie down flat on your back so the pressure on your lower body spreads out. If you have a desk job, take a stroll during break times or walk around the office for a couple of minutes every hour. The solution is to move around as much as possible to give your sciatic nerve a break, stretch it out, and get your blood pumping. Staying seated compresses the sciatic nerve and causes it to flare up in pain. Prolonged SittingĪs an activity, sitting for too long can put pressure on your glute muscles, lower back, and buttocks - where the sciatic nerve runs over.
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As much as possible, keep your legs active to keep your blood flowing. This can trigger pain and discomfort so be sure that what you’re wearing is not so tight that it digs into you. When you wear overly tight bottoms, you are forced to adjust when you move because there is added pressure squeezing into your hips, butt, legs, and lower spine. Tight pants, skirts, and shorts could lead to unwanted sciatica pain. Sitting on bulky stuff will force you to shift your balance to the piriformis muscle, which presses into the sciatic nerve and triggers pain. The piriformis muscle helps us rotate our leg outward and the sciatic nerve runs right underneath this small muscle.
What causes sciatica to flare up full#
When you sit down with your back pockets full of stuff, they can put unnecessary pressure on the piriformis muscle. It might be surprising to hear that your phone, wallet, or other back pocket items could be the mystery culprit triggering spinal pain so here is the explanation: While it is not officially recognized as a trigger for sciatica, people who suffer from the condition refer to keeping your back pockets full as “back pocket sciatica” or “cellphone sciatica”. Constant pressure and hamstring stretching can worsen your sciatica so be sure to wear shoes with supports built-in. Walking and standing too long with the pelvis in this position can also stress out your hamstrings and stretch the sciatic nerve located nearby. With your pelvis tilted awkwardly, the vertebrae of the lower back tries to keep your spine upright and places more pressure on your inflamed back. In turn, this seemingly small shift naturally causes you to push your pelvis forward. High heels force you to lean forward slightly to keep your balance, changing the distribution of your weight and forcing you to put more pressure on the front of the foot. Not only are uncushioned shoes uncomfortable, but they can be hard on your feet as well. High heels and other non-supportive shoes like flip-flops can aggravate your discomfort if you have sciatica. This includes sitting too much, wearing uncomfortable footwear or too tight pants, sleeping in a wrong position, and being inactive. So what factors trigger sciatica and make it worse? Anything that puts more pressure on the sciatic nerve can cause sciatica symptoms to flare up. Patients who suffer from sciatica often experience inflammation and numbness. Sciatica typically affects only one side of the body and it occurs due to a herniated disc, bone spurs on the spine, or the narrowing of the spinal canal which compresses the nerve.
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Sciatica is the “electric sensation” or pain that radiates down from the lower back to the hips, buttocks, and down one leg.