Sciatica is lower back pain and it’s a common source of distress for many men women ever day. Specifically it’s found in the small of the back where it curves in, but due to the vast network of nerves that run down your spine it can often cause pain down your legs, in your glutes, or even up one entire side of your body. Alternatively it can cause tingling or general discomfort. While chronic sciatica will call for the intervention of a health professional who might recommend physio-therapy or chiropractic (or even the dreaded epidural injection that goes straight into the base of the spine), there are still several things you can do at home to alleviate the pain in the short term.

The first way to minimise lower back pain in the short term is through a variation of sciatica exercises and stretches you can perform most places to fix the alignment of your spine and take the pressure off.

The first exercise involves kneeling on the floor on all fours like an animal, then arching your back upwards like a cat. Hold this position for a couple of seconds, then lower your back so that it dips in much the opposite position to the arched one – going from concave to obtuse. Hold this second position for another couple of seconds then return your back to normal before repeating. Do this as many times as necessary to reduce the discomfort but don’t strain too hard in case you cause further damage.

The second stretch involves lying on the floor on your back, only with your legs up on a chair so that they’re bent in the same position they would be if you were sitting down normally. You should find that this immediately eases the pain, but the bad news is that you need to stay like this for at least half an hour for it to have any long term impact. This is one you can do while talking on the phone or watching TV.

Unfortunately these sciatica exercises are not ones you can do at work or in the supermarket (you’ll get strange looks trust me) and they take up a fair amount of time. A quicker one to use is to put your hands on the small of your back while standing up and just lean back as far as you can go, you might hear this crunch which can again help immediately. When you return to a seated position now try and keep your back as straight as possible.

Other than this, you can try gently massaging your own back – pushing your thumbs or knuckles into the small of your back and rubbing gently and medicating yourself on pain killers. If you do the latter though, be aware that you’ve only numbed the pain so something still isn’t right there – go careful and don’t over do it until you’re sure the problem has completely gone.

Mack LeMouse

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