Is Walking Good for Sciatica Relief?

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWalking With SciaticaFactors Affecting SymptomsWhen Pain Prevents WalkingSupport to Walk SafelyTips to Reduce Walking Pain

Table of ContentsView All

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Table of Contents

Walking With Sciatica

Factors Affecting Symptoms

When Pain Prevents Walking

Support to Walk Safely

Tips to Reduce Walking Pain

When sciatica pain is severe, it can be difficult to walk properly and without pain. Even so, walking is low impact and generally safe and effective for managing sciatica.

Walking can reduce pain, decrease inflammation, and improve mobility like other exercises, including yoga, cycling, running, and swimming.However, depending on the cause of sciatica symptoms and their severity, walking may cause further pain and put more pressure on the spine and sciatic nerve.

If you are hurting more after walking, it is best to rest and not force yourself to walk until the pain has become manageable.

Low-Impact, Short Walks With Sciatica

Sciaticais not just back and leg pain. It affects thesciatic nerve, the largest nerve in the body. The sciatic nerve starts in the lower part of the spine, runs through the buttocks, extends down the back of each leg, and ends just below the knee.

When the sciatic nerve becomes irritated or compressed, you may experience symptoms that make walking and moving painful and uncomfortable.

While walking can offer pain and symptom relief for sciatica, it is crucial to know your limits. If your pain is severe or worsens with walking, you will wait to avoid walking long distances. Instead, start with short walks.

Depending on your pain, symptoms, and fitness level, you may want to start with 10 to 15 minutes of daily walking.Only walk as far as you can without increasing your pain. You can also take shorter walks a couple of times a day.

As your fitness levels improve and if your pain does not increase, increase your walking time in short increments, such as five minutes at a time.

Sciatica Exercises to Avoid

Is Walking a Pain Reliever or Trigger?

While walking with sciatica can hurt at first, it may actually improve symptoms of the condition over time. Walking is a low-impact exercise that can:

Rest may initially be beneficial for sciatica. However, walking when a sciatica flare first starts may exacerbate pain, and overdoing activity may further irritate the sciatic nerve. Therefore, it is essential to start at the shortest duration possible and not to overstrain yourself.

7 Low-Impact Exercises for All Fitness Levels

Factors That Affect the Severity of Symptoms

For most people, sciatica is a condition that waxes and wanes.When it flares, irritation of the sciatic nerve can cause numbness, tingling, and pain in the buttock and down the leg.

Factors that lead to sciatica flare-ups or affect symptom severity of sciatica include:

If Pain Is So Bad You Can’t Walk

A severe sciatica episode may make it too painful to walk and get around. For severe flares, you will want to rest for a few days to see if symptoms improve.But long-term bed rest is not recommended for sciatica, and you should start moving as soon as you can.

Additional ways to manage sciatica symptoms and pain include:

Support and Therapies to Walk Safely

A physical therapist can create an individualized exercise and stretching program to help manage your sciatica and reduce the number of flare-ups you experience. Often, a healthcare provider will need to refer you tophysical therapy. With some insurance plans, however, a referral is not needed, but check with your insurance provider first.

One randomized trial reported in 2021 found that an early referral to physical therapy for recent-onset sciatica led to more significant improvements in pain and mobility compared to other therapies.

Ways to Relieve Sciatica Pain

Additional therapies and support that can help you to walk safely and comfortably with sciatica include:

Sciatica and Your Mental HealthSciatica can be a painful and challenging condition. It can affect mobility and daily activities. It is not uncommon for sciatica pain to affect mental health and lead to negative self-talk, feelings of frustration, and worries about disability.Fortunately, there are ways you can manage the mental effects of sciatica. These include:Practice self-affirmation: Practicing self-affirmation statements can improve self-esteem and maintain a positive outlook. Repeating statements like “I can manage my pain” and “I can keep going” can do wonders for managing your feelings about sciatica pain.Trymindfulness:Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you focus on being aware of what you are feeling without judgment.It may involve breathing methods, relaxation techniques, guided imagery, and other practices that relax the body and mind.Keep moving: Gentle exercise can help alleviate physical discomfort from sciatica and improve mental well-being.Seek support: Consider joining asupport groupwith others living with sciatica or chronic pain. Connecting with others who understand what you are going through can help you to feel less alone.Talk to a therapist: If you find that your negative thoughts and feelings are affecting your ability to function day to day, consider seeking help from a mental health professional. They can provide support and advice on coping.

Sciatica and Your Mental Health

Sciatica can be a painful and challenging condition. It can affect mobility and daily activities. It is not uncommon for sciatica pain to affect mental health and lead to negative self-talk, feelings of frustration, and worries about disability.Fortunately, there are ways you can manage the mental effects of sciatica. These include:Practice self-affirmation: Practicing self-affirmation statements can improve self-esteem and maintain a positive outlook. Repeating statements like “I can manage my pain” and “I can keep going” can do wonders for managing your feelings about sciatica pain.Trymindfulness:Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you focus on being aware of what you are feeling without judgment.It may involve breathing methods, relaxation techniques, guided imagery, and other practices that relax the body and mind.Keep moving: Gentle exercise can help alleviate physical discomfort from sciatica and improve mental well-being.Seek support: Consider joining asupport groupwith others living with sciatica or chronic pain. Connecting with others who understand what you are going through can help you to feel less alone.Talk to a therapist: If you find that your negative thoughts and feelings are affecting your ability to function day to day, consider seeking help from a mental health professional. They can provide support and advice on coping.

Sciatica can be a painful and challenging condition. It can affect mobility and daily activities. It is not uncommon for sciatica pain to affect mental health and lead to negative self-talk, feelings of frustration, and worries about disability.

Fortunately, there are ways you can manage the mental effects of sciatica. These include:

Tips to Reduce Pain When Walking

Walking without proper technique can put pressure on the spinal structures, which in turn puts pressure on the sciatic nerve, leading to increased pain.

Here are some ways to walk with sciatica and manage sciatica pain:

Summary

Sciatica pain can be debilitating, but recovery is possible in most cases. Walking may help manage symptoms and pain. However, if walking leads to pain, you should rest and manage pain with other methods.

Injury, overuse, smoking, health conditions, and infections can cause sciatica to flare up and increase symptom severity. You can manage sciatica flares with physical activity, pain relievers, heat and cold therapies, and stretching. Targeted physical therapy, when started early, can lead to significant improvements and recovery from sciatica.

Because walking is beneficial for sciatica, you might consider ways to reduce pain. These include starting slow, pacing yourself, being aware of your posture, walking on flat surfaces, or trying aquatic or treadmill walking.

12 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Rajneesh, K. Ohio State University.Sciatica dos and don’ts.Yale Medicine.Sciatica.Fairag M, Kurdi R, Alkathiry A, et al.Risk factors, prevention, and primary and secondary management of sciatica: an updated overview.Cureus. 2022;14(11):e31405. doi:10.7759/cureus.31405Harvard Health.What should you do when sciatica flares?Fritz JM, Lane E, McFadden M, et al.Physical therapy referral from primary care for acute back pain with sciatica.Ann Intern Med. 2021;174(1):8-17. doi:10.7326/m20-4187Bronfort G, Hondras MA, Schulz CA, Evans RL, Long CR, Grimm R.Spinal manipulation and home exercise with advice for subacute and chronic back-related leg pain: a trial with adaptive allocation.Ann Intern Med.2014;161(6):381-91. doi:10.7326/M14-0006Arthritis Foundation.How to choose the right cane.Harvard Health.Pool therapy beats physical therapy for chronic low back pain.Psychology Today.Coping with chronic pain.Psychology Today.Mindfulness.Fernandez M, Hartvigsen J, Ferreira ML, et al.Advice to stay active or structured exercise in the management of sciatica.Spine. 2015;40(18):1457-66.Harvard Health.Perfecting your walking technique.

12 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Rajneesh, K. Ohio State University.Sciatica dos and don’ts.Yale Medicine.Sciatica.Fairag M, Kurdi R, Alkathiry A, et al.Risk factors, prevention, and primary and secondary management of sciatica: an updated overview.Cureus. 2022;14(11):e31405. doi:10.7759/cureus.31405Harvard Health.What should you do when sciatica flares?Fritz JM, Lane E, McFadden M, et al.Physical therapy referral from primary care for acute back pain with sciatica.Ann Intern Med. 2021;174(1):8-17. doi:10.7326/m20-4187Bronfort G, Hondras MA, Schulz CA, Evans RL, Long CR, Grimm R.Spinal manipulation and home exercise with advice for subacute and chronic back-related leg pain: a trial with adaptive allocation.Ann Intern Med.2014;161(6):381-91. doi:10.7326/M14-0006Arthritis Foundation.How to choose the right cane.Harvard Health.Pool therapy beats physical therapy for chronic low back pain.Psychology Today.Coping with chronic pain.Psychology Today.Mindfulness.Fernandez M, Hartvigsen J, Ferreira ML, et al.Advice to stay active or structured exercise in the management of sciatica.Spine. 2015;40(18):1457-66.Harvard Health.Perfecting your walking technique.

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Rajneesh, K. Ohio State University.Sciatica dos and don’ts.Yale Medicine.Sciatica.Fairag M, Kurdi R, Alkathiry A, et al.Risk factors, prevention, and primary and secondary management of sciatica: an updated overview.Cureus. 2022;14(11):e31405. doi:10.7759/cureus.31405Harvard Health.What should you do when sciatica flares?Fritz JM, Lane E, McFadden M, et al.Physical therapy referral from primary care for acute back pain with sciatica.Ann Intern Med. 2021;174(1):8-17. doi:10.7326/m20-4187Bronfort G, Hondras MA, Schulz CA, Evans RL, Long CR, Grimm R.Spinal manipulation and home exercise with advice for subacute and chronic back-related leg pain: a trial with adaptive allocation.Ann Intern Med.2014;161(6):381-91. doi:10.7326/M14-0006Arthritis Foundation.How to choose the right cane.Harvard Health.Pool therapy beats physical therapy for chronic low back pain.Psychology Today.Coping with chronic pain.Psychology Today.Mindfulness.Fernandez M, Hartvigsen J, Ferreira ML, et al.Advice to stay active or structured exercise in the management of sciatica.Spine. 2015;40(18):1457-66.Harvard Health.Perfecting your walking technique.

Rajneesh, K. Ohio State University.Sciatica dos and don’ts.

Yale Medicine.Sciatica.

Fairag M, Kurdi R, Alkathiry A, et al.Risk factors, prevention, and primary and secondary management of sciatica: an updated overview.Cureus. 2022;14(11):e31405. doi:10.7759/cureus.31405

Harvard Health.What should you do when sciatica flares?

Fritz JM, Lane E, McFadden M, et al.Physical therapy referral from primary care for acute back pain with sciatica.Ann Intern Med. 2021;174(1):8-17. doi:10.7326/m20-4187

Bronfort G, Hondras MA, Schulz CA, Evans RL, Long CR, Grimm R.Spinal manipulation and home exercise with advice for subacute and chronic back-related leg pain: a trial with adaptive allocation.Ann Intern Med.2014;161(6):381-91. doi:10.7326/M14-0006

Arthritis Foundation.How to choose the right cane.

Harvard Health.Pool therapy beats physical therapy for chronic low back pain.

Psychology Today.Coping with chronic pain.

Psychology Today.Mindfulness.

Fernandez M, Hartvigsen J, Ferreira ML, et al.Advice to stay active or structured exercise in the management of sciatica.Spine. 2015;40(18):1457-66.

Harvard Health.Perfecting your walking technique.

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