I first heard the term “sciatica” when a fellow 14-year-old in my dance class was diagnosed with it. Sciatica sounded scary and painful, and it certainly can be. Sciatic pain, whatever your age, is disconcerting yet also fairly common. Symptoms can last anywhere from a few days to months. Snow shoveling and other winter activities like navigating slippery sidewalks can cause a flare-up, and so this feels like a good time to take a closer look at this extraordinary nerve.
The sciatic nerve is the largest and longest in the body. At its thickest point it is as big around as your thumb! The sciatic nerve exits the spine at several places at the lower lumbar and sacrum and runs down the back of the leg to the foot and toes. When inflamed, discomfort can occur anywhere along that long neural pathway.
Happily, sciatica often resolves by itself in time if treated with kindness, patience, and respect. Kindness: don’t get angry and try to ignore it when your sciatica flares up, rather pay attention, and be gentle with yourself. Patience: it may take some time to feel better, but forcing yourself to push through the pain will only slow down your recovery. Respect: if it’s really troublesome, work with a physical therapist until symptoms abate.
In school we were taught that the piriformis (a muscle deep in the side of the hip, under the glutes) covers the sciatic nerve, and can cause trouble when bunched up or overly tight. This is true, but not the whole story. I recently learned that in about 16% of the population, the sciatic nerve is structurally complicated and divides in two above, below, or even through the piriformis muscle, reconnecting back to one branch below the muscle. While considered normal, these variations might increase the opportunities for irritation and pain.
All of this makes me grateful we have the healing art of Qigong to turn to when sciatica flares. First and foremost, in Qigong class-- or anywhere else-- if a movement causes you pain, don’t do it! This is especially true of twists, folding forward at the hips to a flat back position, and hamstring stretches. Modify or skip those altogether. Next, take comfort in knowing that other things we do in Qigong such as tapping, self-massage, gentle circling, deep breathing to relax, and harnessing our visual imagination, will all help the irritated nerve heal. There is an extensive network of blood vessels along the sciatic nerve, as well as deeply embedded in a sheath of connective tissue enveloping the nerve itself. Qigong provides excellent ways to gently encourage flow into and through these deep, nourishing pathways of blood and qi. It’s all about encouraging circulation as you gently, patiently, respectfully go with the flow.
