5 Easy Sciatica Exercises for Fast Relief

This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in March 2025. For the original video, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki7aL4iquyo

Brad: Because sciatica, or pain from the back running down the leg, is such a common problem, we want to give you the best options to fix this problem.

Mike: Now we have five different options, because sciatica can act differently with everybody, depending upon your body type, where the pain is originating from, and what type of symptoms you're experiencing.

Brad: That's right. So we're going to go to two of the leading experts; one is actually not with us anymore, and we're going to give you the best options across the board. Just hold on and watch, and you'll be very happy. All right, what we'd like to do is go back in time. There was actually a video in 2017 that Bob and I made, and it is an excellent video, so why reinvent the wheel? This is from the legendary Robin McKenzie, a physical therapist: three different techniques, even with insider names; listen to these. The first one is the press-ups, the second one is the banana, and the third one is roadkill; wait till you see that one. Legitimate exercises; they're excellent.

Mike: Now, after that, make sure to stay tuned, because when we come back to the current time, we're going to go over two recommendations from Rick Olderman to actually kind of decompress your spine, and hopefully give you some sciatic relief as well.

Brad: There you go. And now my favorite thing to do is the time warp, going back in time.

Bob: So we're going to have you lie this way for a minute. Now, after that minute, what you're going to try to do is now you're going to try to go prop up on your elbows for a minute.

Brad: Right.

Bob: So, again, maybe you can go to this right away, too. Some people can.

Brad: Right. You may go up and say, "Oh, that kind of hurts." You may have to go back down, but that's okay.

Bob: You're looking at what the pain in your leg is doing. If this is making the pain in your leg worse, or it's making it go down even further, this is not the right thing to do; then we're going to have to try something else.

Brad: Exactly.

Bob: All right, so let's say going up on your elbows worked out fine, Brad. Now we're going to have to go ahead and jump into the press-ups. You can do these, you know, for a minute, if you want.

Brad: Right. I just did these with someone last week, and he couldn't do the press-up; he only got about this high. He'd get up not even that high, Bob.

Bob: Okay.

Brad: He was doing a baby press-up; he says it hurts. Well, I said, "Just do some more." And by the time he got to 10, he was pressing up all the way. And the pain started going out of his foot and out of his leg. It was a good day.

Bob: What you're trying not to do is do this.

Brad: Exactly.

Bob: You're not trying to lift up your pelvis; you're keeping the pelvis down. You're gently working it this way.

Brad: That's a good point, Bob.

Bob: So, after the press-ups, let's say the press-ups don't work, Brad. You tried half press-ups, and it's still giving you trouble.

Brad: These are the stubborn ones.

Bob: Yeah. Now the pain is on the right side. So now what you're going to try is what we call the banana. So I'm going to move my butt over this way, and I'm moving my legs over this way, and my upper body over this way. Does this all make sense, Brad, or not?

Brad: We call it the banana because his body is shaped like a banana if you look at it this way, or from the top-down, he's curved, and his hips are over to the, in this case, the left. Usually, if the pain is on the right leg, you shift the hips opposite.

Bob: To the left. Yep.

Brad: Yep.

Bob: So my feet are to the right, my shoulders are to the right, my hips are to the left.

Brad: Right, make that curve going in.

Bob: Now, in this position, you can just lie here for a little bit; you might get up on the elbows. And you might also try the press-ups.

Brad: Press-ups. And what's going to guide you is if the leg pain is getting better, then you go with it.

Bob: Yep. Now, let's say you find out this works for you. This is the thing that you can do throughout the day for one minute. I mean, that's the idea behind all these. If you find out the press-ups alone work for you, go ahead and do those for one minute.

Brad: Right.

Bob: You can do those every hour, Brad.

Brad: Yep. I had a patient; I was going to tell this story. He was an excellent patient; he had his own business, and he needed to get better fast. He and his wife went out to Las Vegas, and he was having this problem; he was getting better at the time. I said, "Do them every one to two hours." In Vegas, in a shop, his wife was shopping for some trinkets or whatever; he was down on the floor in the shop.

Bob: In a shop?

Brad: Yes. He went to a place where there weren't many people, of course.

Bob: Oh my God.

Brad: He got better, though.

Bob: I've had people where I've had them take cardboard to work, though. And they worked in a shop, you know, like a manufacturing floor. And they would go down and do it, not even hesitate.

Brad: If it works, you want to get better, you'll do it.

Bob: Now, when we say every hour, we know you may not be able to do it every hour, but if you do it five to six times a day, that's really helping a lot.

Brad: Yup.

Bob: All right, the next one, which is similar to this one, Brad, is actually the roadkill.

Brad: Right. This is kind of an unusual name; I'm not sure how it got to be called this.

Bob: Well, you look like roadkill. So I'm bringing this one leg up there, one knee up like this. And, again, I'm going to lie here; I'm going to see if this feels better. And you had a patient that you just recently worked with.

Brad: Oh, just recently. Yeah, I used this one over the years a number of times with success.

Bob: Yeah. So, you know, if this gives you the relief- again, less leg pain, less back pain- normally, it's usually less leg pain.

Brad: Right.

Bob: Eventually, less back pain. And then you can go ahead and do press-ups, even in this position. Or don't you normally do that?

Brad: No, no, I'll have them do it for sure. I always tell the person that it's kind of a weird press-up because you're not going to go as high, but you still follow the same rules. If the leg gets better, it's okay.

Bob: Okay.

Brad: Whoa! We're back to the present time! Now, what we'd like to do is give you our favorite contemporary physical therapist. Rick Olderman, show them the decompression technique. What do you think of that, contemporary? I had to look that up to make sure.

Mike: I guess you wanted to use a different word today.

Brad: You better believe it.

Mike: So, for this stretch, you can either use a door frame, a pull-up bar, or something higher up that's sturdy and that you can hold onto. So, if I have pain on my right side, with my sciatica here, I'm going to grab the top of the door frame, my palm is facing away from me, and then I'm just going to slowly bend my knees. I'm not going to fully hang. And what this does is open up all the vertebrae in your spine, which can take any impingement on any sciatic nerve that you may be experiencing.

Brad: There you go. Nice job, Mike.

Mike: So you can just hang like this for 15 to 30 seconds; make sure to breathe. You can do it numerous times a day, or whenever you're experiencing a bout of pain. But we realized some people are shorter and can't reach as high, so what's another option, Bradley?

Brad: Well, I am glad you didn't call me bread. Anyways. Yeah, now if you're too short, or you're too tall, or perhaps your door trim is not secure and it won't hold, you grab a stick; you can use a pool stick, you can use a broom, you can use doweling, all kinds of things. We used a Booyah Stik; it should be about an inch, an inch and a half, in diameter, relatively sturdy. Could you take your shoe off, Mike? And don't ask me why.

Mike: Um, why?

Brad: Okay. Now, if your stick does not have a rubber tip, and you put it on a countertop, and it slips around, it is not safe. Then you would take your shoe off, or your son's shoe off, or whoever's in the house, or your own shoe, and put it there; it grips. Now you can safely do the technique. Take your hand, palm away from you, looking at the back of your palm, reach up as far as you feel comfortable, grip the stick, do not let your hand slide down, and lean. And, right now, I'm decompressing the right side more than the left side of my spine. The pain, or the numbness, sciatic symptoms, are on the right side. We're going to decompress and take the pressure off. Oh. And for me, it just feels good, even if you do not have symptoms. It is a good maintenance exercise as well.

Brad: You can do this standing, or if you go on a chair, or on a countertop, whatever you want to sit on, and then you simply lean over; you get the same or similar effects. Use whichever one works best for you. Do that for about three repetitions. If it does make that leg feel better, make sure you do it throughout the day. But always remember good posture, posture, posture, posture. I'm done babbling.

Brad: Now we're going to add one more option from Rick Olderman. It's the hip flexor stretch. The hip flexors actually contribute to this, or can contribute to your sciatica. Because if they're tight, they pull your pelvis forward like this, and can actually impinge on the nerve. So this is another option. Michael, describe it; he does an excellent job on this exercise.

Mike: So if your hip flexors are tight on a real body, this is what it can look like on some people. So it's pulling on your pelvis, extending your low back into an uncomfortable position.

Mike: So to loosen it up, typically, a safe stretch most people can do. You have to lie on the edge of something firm. Maybe your bed is firm; I don't know if you're comfortable getting on a tabletop or countertop, but something where you can lie and have your legs go off the ground. So what we're going to do is bring both knees to chest, and then we're going to stretch the left leg first. Going to drop it down. If you're tight, you may not be able to get your leg down as far. But you want to try to get even or below parallel with the table. And then what I'm going to do is bend my knee to stretch one of the other hip flexor muscles, called the rectus femoris, and bring my opposite knee towards my chest. You could see my leg bring up a little bit here, but just try to relax and hold this for 15 to 30 seconds and breathe. Try to keep your leg in a nice straight line, and don't let it veer off to the side. Once you do one side, reset, and then we're going to do the opposite. You may notice one side's tighter. Typically, if you have one-sided sciatica, that side may be tight if this is a contributing factor to your pain.

Brad: There you go. And I just want to say, this is a nice stretch, and that part about pulling your foot underneath really gets that rectus femoris, which is oftentimes missed. And you know what? I feel like when you're talking and I'm pointing here?

Mike: What?

Brad: I feel like when you're on an airline, you know? When they say, they pull off the thing. And now they do it on the little video, but someone's talking over, and then the airline stewardess, or whatever, they mimic, or do the mime.

Mike: You're going to tell them what flight they're supposed to be on right now?

Brad: Well, no.

Mike: Oh.

Brad: When you're on "Bob and Brad," you're always flying somewhere, having a good time. All right, that's it. So, those are some nice options. There are five of them, actually; that with Booyah was a sixth one, the last one from Rick. So give them a try, and I think you're going to have some luck.

Mike: And if you want to check out more videos on low back pain, watch "How to Fix Low Back Pain in 90 Seconds (So Simple)." This is a totally different technique, so you can try that as well.

Brad: Right. Well viewed and well appreciated by viewers as well as this therapist.

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