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In addition to pressing on potent points, the acupressure book also recommends the knee to chest exercise, which is the one gentle exercise that I think probably works the best for sciatica pain. To do it, I lie on the floor on my back and bring my knees to my chest and hold them there for awhile. When I do this, I can feel a gentle stretch in my buttocks, which I think releases some of the pressure on the sciatic nerve there. Sometimes it helps to move my knees around in circles to give some extra stretches to my back and buttock muscles. Another way to add to the stretch is to rock back and forth gently. However, I always stop at the first sign of pain. Once the nerve gets irritated it is hard to get it calmed down, so it is beast to go very slowly and easily.
Another tip from this book I've used is to make a self massage tool using two tennis balls in a sock. I lay down on the sock with the tennis balls massaging the acupressure points on either side of my spine. I have found this to be very effective, too, for both sciatica and relieving back tension in general. One of my sons was complaining once about his legs being tight, but for some reason he did the tennis ball massage on his back instead of a leg exercise. He said his legs felt significantly better after only a few minutes of lying on the tennis balls. I think this was interesting because it is a good example of how tension in one part of your body can cause pain in other parts. My son felt the pain in his legs, but clearly at least part of the cause of his pain was in his back, or else the back self massage would not have been effective.
Another option is to buy a dog toy with rubber balls on either end. I have one I bought at Petco that is the perfect for acupressure along the spine, and it cost about a third as much as most massage tools.
http://www.ctds.info/sciatica-treatment.html
Here are some yoga type stretches:
http://www.ctds.info/sciatica-exercises.html
exercises:
http://www.spine-health.com/topics/conserv/sciaex/sciaex01.html
Please let me know if you need more help.
Kerry
Edited by dahlilahblue on August 22 2005 at 12:24am
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Kerry, RN
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