Are you dealing with a sciatica problem right now? Are you trying to do stretches and exercises that you found online or that someone recommended, whether professional or not? Well, in case you are, yet aren’t getting any better, let me show you the Top 5 Stretches and Exercises that we recommend our patients to NOT do because it’s only going to make their problem worse.

Sciatica stretches are the first thing people find online to try at home. But can these stretches really fix a Sciatica problem for good? Worse yet…Can they make a Sciatica problem worse?

Here are the Top 5 Stretches To Avoid When You Have Sciatica

1. Cobra Stretches
People usually lie on their stomach, bring their hands by their chest, and then they press up. Sometimes, they repeat where they go up and down. Sometimes, they hold the stretch and arch their back inward. If they repeat, they’re almost doing push-ups like version or for less aggressive versions.

2. Leg Lifts
This is where a person lies on their back, usually, and then they just pick up one leg. They might do the other side as well. This is bad to do because the muscles that you’re using when you pick up your leg like that are typically the hip flexor muscles. There are several muscles that are called hip flexor muscles, and some of those attach directly to the low back bones in the spine.

3. Figure 4 Stretches
The worst thing you could be doing for your sciatic nerve problem! These are done all the time. They’re called different things, so in case it’s not called exactly what I’m talking about, here is a description of all these exercises and stretches: The figure 4 stretch, the glute stretches, or the piriformis stretch as sometimes called. Nerves do not like stretching, however, muscles do if they’re tight.

4. Touching your Toes
This looks different depending on who’s teaching you, but you might be doing it sitting with your legs out in front of you and reaching towards your toes. Sometimes, people do a variation with their legs open and reach for their toes. Or some do a standing variation where they’ll lean over to touch their toes.

5. Hamstring Stretching
Everybody that’s got a sciatic nerve problem typically has a very tight hamstring. The hamstring is the back of the thigh where you’ve got a bunch of muscles, and right between all those muscles is where the sciatic nerve goes down.

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