Stamp of Approval: Sciatic Pain Management

For the past four years I have enjoyed training for and running in races. It has brought me a lot of joy and I love the way a race motivates me to get out the door for a run. I'm not fast but I am always looking to improve my personal record, plus I love how running makes me look and feel. It's a good situation all around.

I always expected to continue running throughout my pregnancies, so aside from being exhausted and a little off balanced, I finally got out to try running again in January when my morning sickness began to subside. I ran for about a month and noticed something was wrong. I don't know if it was my form, my over-enthusiasm for starting again, or something my pregnancy hormones messed up, but I began having a pain in my lower back on one side that slowly crept into the joint where my left leg and hip meet. I tried to run through it; "I just finished a marathon last August!" I thought. One run on vacation in Arizona was quite painful and after trying to stretch it out, I found myself barely able to walk for the rest of the week. It was the most disheartening thing and when I started trying to find the source of this excruciating sensation, time and time again I was met with a phrase.

Sciatic nerve pain.

Why I am the lucky recipient of this intense, stinging nerve pain, I have no idea but I figuratively (and almost literally) felt like one of my legs had been chopped off! What was I going to do if I couldn't RUN. It was unthinkable. Thankfully I had yoga to get me through it. Here are some of the best ways I've found to manage sciatica during pregnancy:

• First and foremost, don't overdo it. This was my first and biggest mistake. Me trying to "stretch it out" as the pain was progressing made things a million times worse. I can decisively say it was running that aggravated my sciatica, so I stopped running and didn't go on any walks for awhile and this helped significantly. The goal here is to heal and strengthen.
• Gently work with these poses. Go slowly and pay attention to how it changes your sciatic pain. You should feel a difference, and at least for me I could tell it was improving the sensation instead of aggravating it. Stop if anything feels too intense. If you are past 20 weeks take care lying on your back so that you don't interfere with your body's or baby's circulation. (I found this site very helpful in getting me started).
• Cat and cow pose
• Hip circles, seated or kneeling
• Bridge pose, rolling up vertebrae and back down again slowly
• Lying on your back, hug your knees and extend them up to a 90 degree angle; make gentle circles with your knees
• Twist lying on your back. With the extended leg, lift and lower slowly about an inch.
• Supported pigeon, performed either on your back or seated over a round bolster.
• Be patient with yourself. I was so distraught over this new pain that it wasn't until I started my slow yoga sequence trying to heal that I was able to get back to giving myself credit for what I was still able to do. Within a month I was able to go on mile long walks without having it flare up, and now here we are in May and I don't have a single tinge of pain day-to-day. What a huge blessing.

I'm not back into running and I doubt I will be until after baby comes. I tried a few months ago and even though I hadn't thought about my sciatic pain much since it improved, wouldn't you know it started up again! I have learned to appreciate walking as a worthy alternative, and although it was a humbling experience to discover this I can honestly say I am grateful to be able to walk and feel those benefits in this stage of life! It has been a great opportunity for me to explore the healing benefits of yoga: this was the first time I came to yoga with a problem and had it solved perfectly. I'm not sure what similar experiences lay ahead in my life but I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn and share that wisdom with others to help improve their situation, too. I chose the photo for this post based on the word opportunity; in China and Thailand I watched people use bamboo in construction as a shovels, scaffolding, foundations, roofs, etc. because of its sturdy build. Most plants would not be able to act in these functions, but all it takes is some creativity to see how it can be used. There are many opportunities for it to become useful.

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