Video Transcript: Learn Nerve Glide Exercises to Alleviate Back Pain and Sciatica Pt. 1

Hi! Dr. Orit Hickman here from Pain Science Physical Therapy.

I thought I would put together a really quick video for you showing my favorite four exercises for back pain. Oftentimes, chronic back pain continues for a myriad of reasons, one of which being nerve sensitivity. And so, the nerves in the low back, sacrum, or si region, sciatic nerves, or thermal nerves, which travel down the front and the sides of the legs, can get really sensitive. And, the things that nerves really like is they really like blood flow, they really like to have enough movement to move, and they also like to have enough space. And so, if you can provide them with good blood flow and good movement and make sure that there’s enough space for them, they get really happy. Oftentimes, nerves that have been sensitive for a really long time do not like stretching. So, the more that you stretch the nerves, the less blood flow that they get and the more irritable that they get. 

So, the exercises that I’m going to show you are four movements or nerve glides that I found to be very, very effective at helping back pain. So, you want to find a spot that you feel really comfortable laying down in. You could even do this in your bed. So, you don’t have to get down to the floor to do these exercises. And, they’re really not about big movements. You want to move within ranges of motion that you feel really comfortable moving. So, the first exercise is laying on you back. And, I’m going to look at the camera, but while you’re doing these exercises, you can look up at the ceiling or any place that you feel comfortable. So, what you’re going to do is you're going to lay on your back and your feet and your knees can be together. And, what you’re going to do is you’re just going to rock your legs side to side, and you only go as far as you feel comfortable going. And, you try to do about five or ten repetitions. So, I’m going to go ahead and do about four of these. And then, depending on what feels comfortable, okay, you can do this with your knees bent. It’s more lengthening or moving of the nerves if you do these with one leg straight out. If you have one leg that has nerve pain in it, then you can choose to do these exercises on the opposite leg. It will still move the nerves in the leg that hurts. 

So, I’m going to do these exercises on the right leg so that you can see what it is I’m doing. So, I’m just going to hold behind my knee. You can also hold behind your thigh, whichever feels comfortable. Or, you can use a towel. And, I’m just going to do a gentle pumping action, and it’s really, really light. You don’t want to crank your knee into the chest. We used to believe that that’s what you needed to do to make nerves happy, but we found that really gentle movements are really all that they need. So, you just do about four or five of those just like that, and that’s exercise number two. 

So, the first one is rocking the side to side, five to ten repetitions. Second exercise is gentle knee to chest. The third exercise is I’m actually going to bring the knee a little bit across my body. Now, I’m not going to move a very big distance. This is a very small motion, so this isn’t a stretch. And, that this isn’t — I’m trying — I’m not trying to stretch my whole back out. I’m just trying to get a little bit of movement in the lower hip region, and it’s very, very gentle. I don’t have to pull that knee up towards my opposite shoulder. Again, it’s a gentle movement across the body, five or ten repetitions. So, that’s exercise number three.

And, the fourth exercise is a gentle leg straightening exercise. Now, when you do this, you want to keep your foot relaxed. What you don’t want to do is crank your knee straight and crank your foot up towards the ceiling so your heel is pushing, pushing, pushing. That’s going to feel like it’s a lot of pull behind the knee, behind the leg. And, you may think, “I’m getting a good hamstring stretch.” But, what you’re probably doing is just really pulling on the nerves that travel down into the low back. That’s not what we’re trying to achieve here. We’re just trying to get some movement. So, just up and down, five to ten repetitions, really, really gentle. And, that’s it. 

And, these four exercises are really my go-to exercises for when my back is bugging me, which is a lot. And, I love giving these exercises to patients. They’re gentle. They’re effective. You can do this as many times throughout the day as you feel comfortable and as you need to. And again, they’re really gentle, so keep it gentle.

And, let me know how it goes. If you thought this was a good video and helpful, definitely I’d love a thumbs-up. You can click that link down below. And, I hope you guys have a great day! Thanks.