The severe pain that comes from the inflammation of the sciatic nerve or pressure that is placed upon it can be excruciating. Surgery is one option that you may be tempted to turn to especially if the pain stems from an injury like a herniated disc. Before you go that route, however, there are other avenues that you might want to try.

Medication if one such option but of course it is only a temporary fix. When the drugs wear off the pain returns. Also be advised that the stronger medications can be addictive and that the body as it becomes accustomed to them, they lose they resultant affect. You may need to take some pain relief medicine in the beginning before attempting some of the

alternatives to surgery until your body adjusts.

One alternative is yoga. It involves low impact stretching. With any type of exercise the main purpose is to bring oxygenated blood and nutrient rich fluids to the affected area. This helps bring about faster healing. By stretching the muscles in question we do just that. Yoga accomplishes this with various yoga positional stretches. You only do what is comfortable and increase the stretching and duration as you progress.

If you have a great deal of trouble doing any of these stretching positions, another way that seems to begaining in popularity is water yoga. The yoga moves can be done in the shallow end of the pool but warm water is recommendated as it brings a calming effect to the muscles helping them relax. A sauna is fine to use if you have one or even a bathtub if is large enough, unfortunately most of us don\’t have a sauna or a large enough bathtub. In that case you may have to use the facilities of a physiotherapist, who you should speak to anyway to set up a proper stretching regiment specific to your particular situation.

If you can get access to a warm water area, the effects can make a difference. The warm water relaxes the muscles, takes the weight off your spine and pushing against the water makes your muscles work harder. Epsom salts added to the water furthers the soothing effects and make your body more buoyant as well.

After doing these yoga stretches you will be tempted to relax and just rest up. That\’s not the way to go. You now need to take a short brisk walk for about five minutes, even if it\’s only around the house to keep the blood flowing to the areas that have just been stretched and to remove any toxins that have accummulated in the body. This will help to produce faster results in relieving pain and in your overall healing.

Another possible alternative is the use of mechanical exercise machines especially designed to exercise certain areas of the body. These are somewhat like the ones in professional gymnasiums, but more specialized. With these machines the tension, the length of the stretch and the duration can all be set. Again a professional would need to administer the adjustments be it a physiotherapist or a certified physical training instructor with training in rehabilitation techniques. Only a few repetitions of each move are called for and if done correctly, results can be felt almost immediately.

Just remember that most professionals agree that inactivity is probably the worst thing you can do for your sciatica. This actually weakens the back and leg muscles and makes the pain worse by putting more pressure on the sciatic nerve. By exercising you strengthen the back, legs and abdominal muscles improving flexibility, reducing pain and also reducing the likelihood of further injury.

Want to learn more about relief of sciatica pain? Visit my website for helpful tips and information on relieving your back and leg pain.

Want to learn more about relief of sciatica pain? Visit my website at http://www.stretchingforsciaticatips.com for helpful tips and information on relieving your back and leg pain.

Author Bio: Want to learn more about relief of sciatica pain? Visit my website for helpful tips and information on relieving your back and leg pain.

Category: Medicines and Remedies
Keywords: relief of sciatica pain,relief from sciatica,relief of sciatica