Is sciatica giving you a hard time?

I've been helping people with sciatica (and other problems) for over 10 years now, and I can say, sciatica is very complicated and confusing. The causes of sciatica are many and can stem all the way from damage done to your neck to nerve entrapment in your calf.

The bottom line

Through all the years of research, helping clients, being injured myself and solving my [own] health problems, I wanted to create a document of unexpected challenges that get in the way of your recovery from sciatica. I wanted to put them in one place so you can be aware of them, not have to suffer through them and, most importantly, get well as completely as possible with as little time and effort as possible.

Here are the 2 major unexpected setbacks

1) Inflammation

I have seen countless members of my practice completely destroy their progress simply because they didn't understand the inflammatory process.

I'm not saying inflammation is inherently bad; inflammation is your body's way of dealing with an injury. Sciatica, no matter what caused it, is an injury and your body is going to become inflamed in order to heal. This is especially true if your injury is less than 3 days old.

But just like Goldilocks preferred her bed and porridge 'just right' your body likes its inflammation just right. Not enough inflammation (caused by excessive icing, prescription medication, etc.) can hinder your body's ability to heal. While too much inflammation (inflammatory food, alcohol, stress, lack of movement) can plug up your arteries and veins, creating a massive amount of pain and clogging up your body's natural healing process.

I'm not saying you can't (or shouldn't) take medication, drink or have a good time. But, I am saying that other factors (nutrition, stress, sleep, etc.) you are doing to your body could be having an implication on how well or how poorly you are doing with your sciatica.

2 Things you can do:

a) Drink a lot of water

I know this sounds trivial but believe me, it's massive. W. Clement Stone said that "little hinges open big doors," and this is true with water. Drinking water seems so simple, yet if you can manage to do it, you will notice a big difference. You will move better, feel less pain and your sciatica will heal up faster.

b) Take your fish oil

An imbalanced ratio between omega-3's and omega-6's is a well researched fundamental cause of inflammation. Our culture and environment is omega-6 dominant and eating too many omega-6's leads to inflammation. Taking a fish oil (omega-3) will help balance your fatty acids, reduce inflammation (hopefully leading to decreased pain), and maybe some other ancillary benefits.

A high quality brand with a good history and reputation for quality is important. You don't fish oil purity to ever be an issue. As for dosage the active ingredients to look for are EPA and DHA. Attempt to take enough fish oil to get you 1g (or 1000 mg) of combined EPA/DHA per day.

If for some reason, you are bothered by this dosage stop, and consult with your health care practitioner. This is only a general rule of thumb, if you're not responding favourably go get answers.

2) Movement

There is one thing that every sciatica suffer has in common.

A movement deficiency - more specifically - your low back, pelvis, and hips are not moving correctly and to their full range of motion.

Until you start to target these movement deficiencies, you will never fully get better. By fully better I mean not only is less or no pain but also with a restored and rehabilitated low back and pelvis.

I know what you're thinking.

1. I don't know what movements (exercises) to do
2. That sounds like work

I can show you what exercises to do and yes it does take time but a little time applied per day in a consistent, focused manner can make a big impact.

Surgery and injections might not be the best long-term strategy for solving sciatica because they don't deal with your underlying problem - Movement Deficiencies. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix for movement deficiencies. However, if you know exactly what to do and are willing to spend a small amount of time  every day to do it, then the potential for your permanent success increases.

Let me give you the first and very important exercise you need to be able to do if you are ever planning on being sciatica free and fully mobile. You can check it out by CLICKING HERE

Spending as little as 2 minutes a day using the above exercise could positively affect your sciatic pain, clinically I have seen some people completely recover using only the above exercise. And it also has the potential benefit of helping knee, ankle, and other low back problems all at the same time as your sciatica.

The two most important things to remember are:

1. It's the little things done consistently over time that will bring you outstanding results
2. Sciatica is a movement problem with your low back, pelvis, and hips

- Dr. Kreso

P.S. If you found this information helpful I've created a complete solution for sciatica called The Sciatica Guide. The Sciatica Guide will help give you all the exercises you need to be doing to solve your problem, help you understand what caused your problem in the first place, and will be easy and simple for you to implement in less than 2 minutes a day. 

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