Sciatica and Muscle Imbalance

Sciatica is a pain that radiates from your lower back to your foot. This pain can be in the form of burning, tingling, a shooting pain and weakness in the leg.
India has a large population facing the problems of sciatica.
If you're one of them, let's learn about it so we can solve for it.

Causes Of Sciatica 

Sciatica can be caused by multiple factors.

1. Disc bulge - A disc bulge or a hernia in the back can usually pinch your sciatica nerve causing symptoms of sciatica.

2. Piriformis syndrome - Piriformis is a muscle that goes across the hip. This muscle can get tight with excessive sitting over years and can become a cause of sciatica.

3. Muscle imbalances - A problem with your feet, like flat feet can cause a disturbed gait cycle and disturb your hip and lower back alignment. This causes muscle tightness in the hamstrings and the hips which can again cause a pinching of the sciatica nerve.

How To Solve For Sciatica

Before we get into the actual solutions of sciatica, we would like to make it clear that all solutions are not going to fix you overnight.
Sciatica in most cases comes from problems that have developed over years of imbalances and solving these problems will take time.

Now that we’re on the same page, let’s get into the solutions - 

1. Don’t avoid movement - In a lot of cases of lower back issues and sciatica, people start avoiding bending. This may keep you pain free, but limit your regrowth towards a pain-free life. Our suggestion - keep moving within your pain free range. Bend forward with support if needed but keep the muscle working without injuring yourself further.

2. Stretch regularly - Stretching is a good way to keep your nerves and muscles loose and to train your nervous system to allow for a lengthened position.

3. Strengthening your lower back - Lower back is the center of the body and with our inactive lifestyle, it gets weak over time. It is important to train it with back extensions and isometric holds so that your body weight is distributed evenly and not by your discs alone.

4. Working on your feet - Most problems begin from your feet. Weak feet can cause imbalances that over time make you lean one side over the other, or cause more tightness on one side more than the other. Train your feet with our Mobility Guide to keep healthy.

These are small little tips from our side to help you battle your pain.
Keep moving, keep training naturally.
Train barefoot with Zen Barefoot.