The problem with low back pain and sciatica is that the lower back and the surrounding area are very important to any movement or activity that you engage in. It’s not like when you’ve injured an arm or leg, where you can rest your arm in a sling or use crutches for your leg to allow healing to take place, with low back pain you can’t afford that luxury.

Regarding functional activities, the first thing that needs to be addressed is to divide them into two categories:

Yo) Those that cause or aggravate low back pain or sciatica.

ii) Those that do not cause you pain or do not increase your pain at all.

Most likely, there is a common factor linking the components of each of these two groups.

For example, suppose sitting down aggravates your low back pain, but standing up and walking around relieves your pain. Let’s think along the lines that flexion activities are the aggravating factor for your low back pain and extension-type activities are the relieving factor.

With this example above, the first and most important thing is that we must temporarily modify or avoid the aggravating factor, that is, sit. Now, I’m not suggesting that you don’t sit at all during the day, but rather that you try sitting in a more upright chair, say with a rolled-up towel for lower back support. In addition to this, I would also recommend that you spend no more than a maximum of 15-20 minutes sitting without a break, i.e. getting up from your chair.

Moving on to encourage relaxation factors, and once again using the example above, I suggest you try taking a short walk several times throughout the day. This can be anywhere from a few minutes to 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the severity of your pain. The important thing is that your back likes this activity and that is why it is important to provide it, since it will be providing you with the optimal conditions for it to heal itself.

N.B. You can get too much of a good thing, so don’t walk just for the sake of it. For example, if your lower back pain is relieved after walking for 5 minutes, but worsens after 10 minutes, feel free to walk for 5 minutes, but not much longer (otherwise you’re just interfering with the healing process again). .

With regard to aggravating and mitigating factors, it is important to be as specific as possible. So, using the example I just gave, walking for 5 minutes is a relaxing factor, but walking for 10 minutes is an aggravating factor.

The main principle is little and often throughout the day. Linking the above two together, the logical thing to do with regards to sitting down, is every 15 minutes or so, stand up and walk around the living room. By taking the above principle into account, you will result in less stress on the structures responsible for your low back pain and thus give your body a chance to heal itself. As the healing takes place, the structures responsible for your pain will get stronger, and if they get stronger, you will find that you can start doing more and more.

A positive cycle will now result, whereby encouraging the relieving factors will promote more healing, which in turn will make your lower back stronger and therefore aggravated less easily. Less aggravated means more healing will take place and therefore you can become more active and your back will become stronger… and so on.

Sounds too simple?

Well, no doubt I’ve simplified things a bit just to make a point. However, it’s not too difficult either as the underlying principle is the same. The most important aspect is to first analyze your daily activities, and then divide them into aggravating and relaxing. Once you have established this, start by temporarily avoiding/modifying the aggravating activities and encouraging the facilitating ones. By doing this, your low back pain or sciatica will begin to ease and you will be able to become more active.

At this stage, it will be important to consider addressing any muscle imbalances that are present (as there almost certainly are). A simple but effective exercise program to strengthen weak muscles and stretch tight ones will soon allow you to perform those functional activities that are difficult for you right now without pain…