How to Sleep with Sciatica, Leg Pain and Low Back Pain Relief Stretches and Tips | Dr. Matthew Posa

If you're struggling with trying to  get to sleep because you have Sciatica,   this video is going to go through the top  five ways that you can get to sleep tonight,   take pressure off your spine and off the nerve,  get relief but also heal! Get to the point of   healing. I'm Dr Matthew Posa. Welcome to my page!  This page is dedicated to people and families with   tips and tricks so they can live the life they  are designed to live. So don't forget to like,   Subscribe and share this information with  the people that we know need it the most.   If you got sciatica, then you understand what I'm  saying. It's PAIN not only in the low back but it   can be pain that's going down your bum down your  leg all the way to your feet so if you're feeling   this you're feeling either numbness and tingling  you're losing maybe even some strength in your leg   it's been there for so long you're getting the  chronic low back you're not able to sleep well   the problem here is that when you look at the  spine I mean the spine should be straight when   you look at it from the front but it's the side  so what happens is there's this normal lordosis   which is a curve in your low back which protects  the the joints it protects all the discs but also   it protects the nerves and the sciatic nerve is a  collection of all these nerves down here that form   into a really big nerve it's pretty thick and it  runs all the way down from your low back all the   way down your leg so when this area is irritated  when this area is either not moving anymore so   it's it's La it's lacking in most motion or  there is a misalignment which is compressing   the muscles are active they're compressing  then that's where you're getting the problem   so what I'm going to go through today are some  things and steps you can take that are going to   not only help you be able to sleep but get you  into the right position so that way your body   can rest and actually heal at night so the best  sleeping position 100 is going to be on your back   but there's a couple things you're going to  want to do with that and I will show you the   other thing is looking at your mattress I mean if  you have a really saggy mattress been more than   10 15 years for some people even 20 then you're  going to want to invest in a better mattress the   ones there's nothing wrong with foam the foam  is really good to disperse any of the pressure   points so foam is pretty good it can get a little  bit warm but you really want a bed that has a lot   of coils and the more coils the better I prefer  the pocket coils but really at the end of the   day the more that the pressure can be dispersed  throughout the mattress the better if it has a   foam topper if it has just a regular topper those  are all fine at the end of the day you need to do   your research you need to go out and find what's  maybe a good brand locally that you can trust and   try it out see what that feels like but you need  a supporting bed it doesn't have to be firm if you   want it firm you'd sleep on the ground you need a  bed that is going to support you so so that would   be number two the other one that's a really common  advice that you're going to hear anywhere on the   Internet is going to talk about using a pillow  so you can use a pillow either between your knees   when you're side on your side or underneath  your knees when you're on your back that is   great advice I would 100 percent back that up you  need to try that and the other advice would be to   use heat heat is a really good way to make sure  that the muscles are calming down they're relaxed   they're getting lengthened and it's going to stop  the compression on that nerve but one other step   to that would be make sure that you're taking  some type of magnesium supplement magnesium is   a natural muscle relaxant it's really good for a  lot of other things that we can go through later   but the reality is is it's really good for your  muscles and your muscles love it it is it is a   natural mineral and taking that supplement would  be very very beneficial make sure to check with   the local brand that you that you're using or if  you have any of those questions leave it down in   the comments below and I'll respond to that but  let's go through the other things that you can do   in order to help let's start with a sleeping  position and putting the pillows when you're   sleeping on your back one of the things that  you want to use is a pillow that you could put   underneath your knees and what this will do is  it'll elevate your knees up and what it'll also   help to do is flatten your back now why that's  important is because most of the people's issues   come with their back being too rounded they're  too tight and that compression on the nerve is   what's irritating everything and that's why you're  getting it down your leg so when you're laying on   your back having a pillow underneath your knees  you can even have a couple pillows even if it goes   up like this as long as the back goes flat what  you'll notice is that there's you're getting a lot   less compression and you'll be able to sleep  a lot better so that would be the the first   way or the second way is if you're sleeping  on your side so if we flip over to the side   then instead of having when your leg is like  this you're putting a lot of pressure on a lot   of the joints so what you want to do especially  if one leg comes over like this now you're getting   rotation so a really easy way to do this would  be to put a pillow in between your knees and then   when you're sleeping on your side you want to make  sure that your pillow here is going to support now   the Gap so in this case you can actually see how  that would ruin my neck so you might not only have   a low back problem now in the sciatica well now  you're creating a neck problem so making sure that   your pillow is well supported it's up and then  you're getting a really good alignment is going   to be really key with this position when you're  on your back with your spine so it's supporting   your head and neck but you're getting that huge  amount of curve in your low back so this is what   we're going to try to undo and the way that we do  that is again you're placing a pillow underneath   your knees that's going to cause your pelvis  to lift like this which now your back will be   against your mattress and that's going to put a  lot less pressure on your psoas muscle which is   your hip flexor muscles which is going to stop the  irritation on the nerves now that you know how to   sleep and what position is best for you what you  need to do is get ready for sleep so this is one   of the areas that I found that most people don't  address and what you want to do is get yourself   ready for bed so there's a few things you can do I  would take either a bath or a hot shower make sure   your muscles are nice and warm if you're taking  a bath use epsom salt so that way that salt has   magnesium in it and that's the one that's going  to absorb into your muscles it's going to absorb   into your skin and that's going to help calm down  your muscles which can be nice and relaxing for   you so that is you getting ready for bed but  along with that then you're going to want to   focus on some of the muscles one of the muscles we  talked about was the psoas muscle so we're going   to do a stretch for that the other one is going  to be your low back muscles or the ones that are   actually in your leg which can be your hamstring  so we're going to do a hamstring stretch and the   other one is going to be start activating your  glutes now why we want to do this is because   when we're activating your glutes what you're  getting is you're changing where the pressure   is instead of it being on the front where those  the hip flexor is or in the low back muscles now   you're creating strength and through your glutes  which are going to are better supportive muscle   that's going to take pressure off of the nerve  these are the one areas that I find that most   people don't focus on that gets results so the  first easy stretch you can do I would find either   your bed you can use a chair you can pretty  much use anything but what you want to do is   you want to something that's elevated you want to  bring your leg up you want to make sure that your   knee doesn't come up like this that everything is  staying down and quite simply you're hinging from   the hip you're bringing your chest forward and  you're making you're just getting to the point   of tension so you would just come into that  hold for a few seconds and then let go one of   the best things you can do though if you can hold  it would be to hold from 30 to 40 seconds because   then you're getting the neurological changes in  through the muscle versus just the stretch so   if you can hold that for 30 to 40 seconds now if a  tip here would be if you're going forward and your   knee starts popping up like this you've gone too  far you've overdone it you will feel the stretch   but the point is is not to get into that pain Zone  you want to just do a stretch so bring this down   hold until you feel it and that's for me that's it  that's all I need my hamstrings are pretty tight   so I'll just hold that like this if I want to over  pressure I push a little bit of pressure down but   if you can hold that for that 30 to 40 seconds  then you're going to start seeing changes there   doing the psoas stretch is pretty easy these are  the hip flexors we've gone through this in a few   other videos but what you want to do is you want  to get yourself into a kneeling position so one   knee down on the ground if you're unstable if  you're have problems with the hips or anything   like that this is where you do want to be very  careful I would have something either nearby so   either it's a bed or it's a table or if it's  a chair or somebody else but you want to have   something there because what you want to be able  to do is step out a little bit so you're going   to step up with your foot you're bringing your  pelvis forward so your pelvis itself is coming   forward but you're not coming forward like this  so that isn't the stretch the stretches where   you're bringing your pelvis forward holding that  position and then with the opposite arms so right   now my right knee is down and therefore I'm doing  the right hip flexor so I would take my right arm   and I would bring it over to the side so I'm now  hinging away from that and I'm going to hold that   and then same thing is with this if you can hold  this for a little bit longer if you're getting   into that 30 to 40 seconds you're going to create  neurological change so I'll do that from the side   so you can see that again so we would be like  this hinging forward bringing this over and over   to the side and now you'll get a deeper stretch  really targeting that muscle that is compressing   the nerve this next one I'm going to show you is  a variation of the piriformis stretch so there's   many different ways it's a figure four stretch  so you're bringing one foot over the other knee   and what you want to do effectively is you want  to hinge forward so you can do this again on the   bed you can do this on a chair but what you want  to do is hinge forward and then what you can do   is you can play around with your knee so for some  of you you're going to want to push down a little   bit onto the knee see if that makes a change  if you really feel that in the muscle but if   you don't that's okay then what you want to do  is you can bring the knee a little bit towards   you so you're pulling a little bit towards you as  you hinge forward and as you do this you're going   to start feeling that in through the side of your  bum and that alone bone is going to stretch out   one of the piriformis muscles which is a muscle  that goes into your hip that became that could   be causing a lot of nerve irritation and or nerve  pressure and that again comes out of the low back   so you don't want to be doing anything too funky  or twisting hard or anything like that it's just a   hinge forward bringing that over holding that for  a second the more you hinge forward in the figure   four the more you're going to feel that pressure  too but you want to play with it at any time   if you're doing the any of these exercises and  you're getting a ton more pain or more radiation   or anything like that please stop do not continue  even if it's beneficial even if we're telling you   the point being that you're you're going to  probably want to get that checked by either   your family doctor or with a trained spinal  expert such as a corrective care chiropractor   so you're going to bring that forward you're going  to hold that for a second and then release same as   all the other stretches today we're going to  be looking for that 30 to 40 seconds so that   way we're creating that neurological change that  we're looking for within the muscle itself because   we're again we're focusing on the low back here  we're focusing on those nerves a lot of the times   if the bones are not moving then this is an area  that you're going to want to address not only with   the person taking care of your spine but at home  you can be doing this and this would be one of the   stretches where you bring your leg over you're  not going to lift your bum off you're going to   keep everything down and you're just going to be  turning your body holding that for a few seconds   and then releasing and then you're going to repeat  that on the other side bringing the leg over   I'm putting pressure this way as I'm turning and  I'm doing this seated you can do this you could   do it seated or you can do it on your back you  could do it on the floor really doesn't matter   where you're doing it the the mechanics are the  probably the most important part here and it's   that you're not lifting your bum and you're not  creating excessive twist or you're not actually   going to hurt your disc because if one of the  reasons why you're getting the sciatica is because   there's a disc problem the last thing you want to  do is over rotate your spine and make that worse   and this next one that you're going to do  and the last one is going to be to activate   your glutes you're going to get you're going  to lay down you're going to bring your arms   down and you can either bring them in front  of you like this you can bring them down by   your side but what you want to do is you're  going to get you're going to squeeze your bum   which is going to lift your shoulders so  you're doing this is like a variation on   the Superman and so you're gonna squeeze  your bum lift yourself up hold for a few   seconds and then bring it back down now the key  with this is that you're not using your arms to   push up you're purely squeezing your bum and  getting as high as you can holding that for a   few seconds and then with your head I want you  to look forward not down don't have your head   like this but you're not also going like this  creating a strain so just it's a hold up and   with this one we're going to get you to hold this  for five seconds and then release five seconds and then release you're going to repeat that 15  times and and the reason for that is because we   want to build up some of the strength and the  muscle but also we want to make sure that the   muscle is active and the more active your glute  becomes the more that it takes pressure off some   of the other supporting muscles that are  compressing your nerve try those at home   before you go to bed tonight make sure you have a  good routine you're going to decompress your spine   you're going to activate those glutes and then  you're going to lay in bed when you're laying in   bed you're focusing on your position you're going  to be supporting your position using some pillows   and that's going to help your body be able to  decompress but more importantly heal I think   it's important to say if you are struggling and  this is an area that you know that you need help   then Reach Out reach out to either myself I can  recommend either a corrective care chiropractor   in your area reach out to your medical doctor or  your family physician get help because there's   so many different reasons for people's low back  pain, for sciatica that you want to make sure that   you're finding the cause of it and then you're  addressing it that way. These ways of doing it are   great support ways. These are good ways to make  sure that you're getting in the right direction   but a lot of times you need something else to  help and this is where I would highly encourage   you to do that. If this information has helped  you in any way please leave a comment down below,   you can always ask questions, but more importantly  don't forget to subscribe to the page as every   week I do put out more and more videos to best  help you until next time we'll talk to you later!

Channel: Dr. Matthew Posa DC - Milton Family Chiropractor

Views: 1,404,257

Keywords: Dr. Matthew Posa, Milton, Chiropractor, The Healthy Family Chiropractic, Dr. Jim Saclamacis, Best Chiropractor Near Me, Milton Chiropractic, Chiropractor in Milton, Corrective Chiropractor, Sciatica, Low back pain relief, sciatica relief, sciatic leg pain, Low back Stretch, Low Back Strength, Pain Relief, Sleeping with Sciatica, Milton Ontario, Pregnancy Chiropractor, Baby Chiropractor, Kids Chiropractor, Headache Relief, Headache Care, Back Relief, Back Care, Sciatic Sleep

Id: RC7ZseiQcVE

Length: 16min 29sec (989 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 31 2023