Physio Exercises For Sciatica

One of the biggest boosts I got was to my morale. Visiting somebody who actually knew the pain I was in - and what was causing it - was a massive boost to my confidence. All the visits to the GP's had really been a waste of time - and perhaps worse than that. I had gone there with the expectation they knew something about the condition and could advise me. All I got was a packet of anti-inflamatory pills - without a single explanation of my condition and how to go about dealing with it.

Before my visit to the physio - I could hardly stand up after sitting down for a few minutes. The pain in my lower back and buttock was so intense. I could not get out of a car easily, I had to swing my hips around so I could step out with my left foot and not my painful right foot. I stuggled to walk, I was walking with a strong limp as I dragged my foot behind me. I couldn't believe what was happening to me at 40 years old. I am 82kg and 1.8 metres.. hardly overweight, have run a marathon in under 4 hours and was a decent squash player - but now I can't walk??

So I started doing my John Travolta stretch as best I could. I also made a measurement of how far I could bend over - touching my toes - or said another way, how far down my leg could I touch. Before starting the physio work I could barely touch my knee without shooting pains.

So the way I did the measurement was to make a mark on the wall where I could reach out to..from a fixed position on the floor. I found it very painful to bend and stretch with both arms at the same time.. however my physio had told me to do both at the same time and not favour one or the other. Try to hold each stretch initially for at least 5 seconds without bouncing.

I booked to see the physio exactly one week later - so now I had a personal target, how much stretching and bending could I achieve in just one week. For the first time I had a goal and somehow this alone made me feel better in itself.