Tips to Manage Your Sciatica Pain at Home

The pain and discomfort associated with sciatica can stop you in your tracks, making it impossible to continue with your daily activities. This condition develops when the sciatic nerve gets compressed or irritated. 

Sciatica pain follows your sciatic nerve from your lower back, over your hips and buttocks, and down a leg. Symptoms often get worse after you’ve been sitting or standing for long periods. Other characteristics of sciatica pain include: 

• Dull and achy pain 
• Shooting or stabbing pain
• Numbness or tingling sensations
• Pain that comes and goes

While there are different ways the sciatic nerve can get compressed or irritated — including injury, pregnancy, tumors, and inflammation or infection — the most common causes are pressure from a herniated disc or out-of-place ligament, disc, or bone from spinal stenosis. 

At the Center for Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery, with five locations across the greater Houston area, our team has extensive experience helping patients manage the symptoms of sciatica and treating the root cause for lasting relief. 

For patients who would benefit from surgical treatment, board-certified surgeon Praveen Reddy, MD, MCh, assesses the cause of the compression or irritation and recommends the right procedure based on your specific needs.  

But many patients with sciatica don’t need surgery right away to manage the discomfort, and others want relief while they wait for their corrective procedure. That’s why we created this guide with our top tips for managing sciatica pain at home. 

Read on to learn what you need to know to take control of your sciatica. 

1. Maintain a healthy body weight

When you weigh more than you should, especially if you carry those extra pounds around your middle, your back suffers. The added pressure these pounds put on your spinal system causes strain, increasing your risk of a problem, like disc herniation. 

If you’re overweight or obese, losing weight eases this strain and relieves pressure from your sciatic nerve. As a result, your sciatica symptoms will likely improve. 

2. Exercise regularly

Exercising regularly keeps your heart in shape, helps you maintain a healthy weight, helps you better manage stress, and improves your musculoskeletal system. Strong, well-functioning muscles work to keep everything in the right place.  

If you’re suffering from sciatica, focus on strengthening your core muscles. Since a healthy body and strong core help keep your spine and tissues aligned correctly, they’re key to lessening and preventing the pain associated with sciatica. 

3. Focus on good posture

When you have poor posture, your spine and associated muscles, ligaments, and tendons move out of their natural position. This strains your discs and nerves and increases pressure in your lower back. 

To manage sciatica pain at home, keep good posture in mind, whether you’re standing or sitting. Use a chair with lumbar support or add a pillow to ease pressure on your back. And take breaks from long periods of sitting or standing to stretch and move. 

4. Lift heavy things the right way

Whether or not you’re experiencing sciatica, use your glutes and legs — not your lower back — when lifting heavy things. If you have sciatica, it’s especially important for managing your pain, since lifting the wrong way adds strain and pressure in the wrong places. 

5. Quit smoking

It might not seem related to back and leg pain, but smoking contributes to and speeds up the degeneration of your discs. So quitting smoking helps you manage sciatica at home. 

Smoking also puts you at greater risk for developing an underlying condition that increases your chances of further irritating and compressing the sciatic nerve. Plus, smoking slows your body’s natural healing processes, making it harder to recover from sciatica episodes. 

Getting professional help for sciatica pain

If you’ve tried managing your sciatica at home and are ready for more lasting relief, our team at the Center for Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery is here to help. Dr. Reddy begins by reviewing your medical history and performing an exam. He may order imaging to confirm a sciatica diagnosis. 

He then creates a personalized sciatica treatment plan based on the severity of your symptoms and the underlying cause of your pain. One or more treatments may help manage your sciatica, including:

• Physical therapy
• Epidural steroid injections
• Minimally invasive surgery (e.g., discectomy, microdiscectomy, decompression, fusion)

Learn more about sciatica and the treatments available by contacting our team at the Center for Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery in Conroe, The Woodlands, Kingwood, Willis, or Spring, Texas.