Sciatic Nerve Glide
Sciatic Nerve Glide
Muscle Group Stretched: n/a
* I’ve categorized this under “hamstrings” and “calves” because it can help with hamstring and calf flexibility, but it’s not actually a muscle stretch
Muscle Group Strengthened: n/a
Type of Stretch: Nerve Mobilization
Difficulty: All Levels
Suggested Prerequisites: none
This is not a stretch (nor should it feel like one!). BUT it can still help increase our hamstring and/or calf flexibility for students who have nerve tension in their sciatic nerve (here’s how to test if that’s you). Normally our nerves are meant to slide back and forth through our soft tissue. Unlike our muscles, nerves aren’t meant to stretch. So if something prevents the nerve some sliding, it is instead tugged into tension, which it resists by contracting our muscles in the stretch reflex to protect itself. For more information, check out this blog post.
Nerve mobilizations like this nerve glide can help make sure our nerve is moving appropriately before we “challenge” our legs with deeper stretches.
How To
Obligatory disclaimer: Nerve mobilizations should be gentle! More is not better! Don’t do more than 10-20 of these per leg, per day. Increasing the volume, or pushing the intensity can injure your nerves. If you have a condition that affects your nerves (ex. herniated disc, sciatica), consult your healthcare provider before adding nerve mobilizations to your training.
Step 1
Start lying on your back with both knees bent. Bring your hands to the back of your right thigh for support.
Step 2
Keeping your tight ankle pointed, start to lift the right foot up towards the ceiling (as if you were going to kick your leg straight), but only lift the leg until you feel the beginning of a stretching sensation (or any tingling in your foot or discomfort in your back) - as soon as you feel the onset of a stretch, that’s going to be your stopping point (remember, the goal of this drill isn’t to deeply stretch our legs, it’s to help our nerves slide and glide!).
Step 3
Flex the foot and bend the knee as you lower it to the floor.
Step 4
Repeat, pointing the toes as you lift the foot (only lifting as high as you can without feeling a stretching sensation), then flex the foot as you lower.
Repeat for 10 reps total, then switch legs.
