Just a quick note to let you know that the sciatica has indeed improved, by leaps and bounds, when I followed the recommendations from the Spinning Babies website I linked below.
If you're pregnant or have sciatica, I highly recommend it. Although, if you're not pregnant and have sciatica, or are a guy, all the recommendations about not twisting your uterine ligaments might not apply so much.
The things that helped me the most were:
1. Getting on my hands and knees and then raising and lowering the small of my back--like a cat and a cow, if that makes sense. Do this like 40 times, the website says. I thought this wouldn't help because I had done a few of them before without noticing improvement, but right about repetition 28 the pain started easing up and by 40 was almost gone. Apparently the repetition is the key.
2. Sitting on the exercise ball, the floor, or with a pillow on the couch/recliner so that your hips are higher than your knees. The pillow I've been using is now officially called my tuffet.
3. Forward-bending stretch--in yoga it's called downward dog--I used the coffee table to help; I kept my legs mostly straight and bent over with my posterior in the air to lean my elbows on the table. Very undignified, but a wonderful relief to the lower back.
4. Good posture. When your back instantly lets you know if you have bad posture, good posture becomes easier to maintain.
5. Sleep with a pillow to keep you in good posture--there are pictures on the website.
Cheers,
Breanna
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