Show Notes
Your sciatica keeps coming back because you've been treating the symptom, not the injury in your lower back that's driving it.
If your sciatica has dragged on for months or years — short-term relief, then another flare, then relief again — this session explains why, and how to speed it up. Sciatica isn't the diagnosis; it's a symptom. The pain, numbness, burning and tingling down your buttock and leg are generated by an injury in the lower lumbar spine, most often a herniated or bulging disc (a slipped disc) at L4/L5 or L5/S1. Treat the injury and the symptom resolves with it; keep chasing the symptom and you go round in circles.
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You'll learn the difference between true sciatica and the far more common "sciatic-type" symptoms (and why it doesn't change what you do), why the five exercises people are handed for sciatica — the piriformis stretch, nerve flossing, child's pose, knee hugs and rocking — all repeatedly bend the very segment that's injured, and the missing piece almost nobody addresses: how you injured it in the first place. Mike also explains why a "minor" disc bulge on an MRI can still cause severe sciatica — the scan is taken lying down, under a fraction of the load your spine carries when you sit or stand — and why your squat and hip hinge, not how you feel, are the real measure of recovery. The thread throughout: stop irritating it, learn to protect a neutral spine, then rebuild its capacity to bear load.
🔑 Key Topics Covered 🎯 Sciatica is a symptom, not the cause: the pain, numbness and tingling down your leg are generated by an injury in the lower lumbar spine — usually a herniated or bulging disc at L4/L5 or L5/S1. Treat the injury and the symptom resolves with it. 🚫 Why the common sciatica stretches keep you stuck: the piriformis stretch, nerve flossing, child's pose and knee hugs all repeatedly bend the very segment that's injured. They can feel good for a moment, but they ride roughshod over the actual problem. 🩻 Why a "minor" disc bulge can still cause severe sciatica: an MRI is taken lying down, under about a quarter of the load your spine carries standing — and even more when you sit. Treat the person, not just the scan. 🔁 The flare-up cycle, and why quick relief traps you: the people who feel better fastest are the most likely to stop, flare again, and slip into years of escalating episodes. Your squat and hip hinge — not how you feel — show whether you're actually recovering.
Chapters 00:00 Sciatica: why recovery takes so long 01:00 What sciatica actually is 04:00 Why the common sciatica stretches don't work 06:00 Why stretches feel good but keep you stuck 10:00 How you injured it — and why it's strained, not "out of place" 16:00 Why sciatica drags on for years 18:00 Why the towel stretch feels strange — and tight hamstrings 20:00 Can stress and worry make sciatica worse? 22:00 Loading up: the squat, the hip hinge and the barbell 29:00 Mixing sport and rehab without getting caught out 32:00 Should you stop rehab if it flares you up? 35:00 Why "resting it" makes you weaker everywhere 39:00 What "recovered" really means — and why quick relief traps you 46:00 Plateaus, hip mobility and overtraining 49:00 Why a "minor" disc bulge can still cause severe sciatica 57:00 Hip limits (FAI) and the two biggest rehab traps 1:00:00 Closing questions: leg training and progressing load
#Sciatica #SciaticaRelief #BackInShape #HerniatedDisc #SlippedDisc #SciaticPain #BackPainRelief #SpinalRehab
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Spinal stenosis isn't a diagnosis — it's a description of a narrowed space, and chasing the space instead of what's narrowing it is what keeps people stuck doing knee hugs and child's pose for years.
Sciatica isn't a diagnosis — it's a symptom description, and chasing the pain in your leg instead of the injury in your lower back is what keeps it coming back. If you've been told you have sciatica, a trapped nerve or a pinched nerve, this session explains why that description is incomplete. The pain running down your buttock, thigh, calf or foot is generated by an injury higher up — usually a herniated disc, a disc bulge or spondylolisthesis irritating the nerve roots where they leave the spine — so stretching, massaging or icing the leg itself never touches the actual problem. 🎓 Join the Back In Shape Program: https://backinshapeprogram.com We explain why thinking in terms of "sciatic-type pain" rather than one strict diagnosis helps you trace symptoms back to their real source, why piriformis syndrome is usually muscle guarding rather than the cause, and why relief from an injection, a nerve block or nerve flossing is never the same as healing. We cover why going by how you feel day to day keeps people stuck in the same loop, why sitting can put more strain through an injured lower back than a careful, controlled squat, and why exercises like elephant walks, nerve glides and generic mobility routines are not rehabilitation. The common thread throughout: build the capacity of the injured lower back itself, rather than chasing the symptoms it's sending down your leg.
Your lower back rehabilitation works in three distinct stages, and the first one — protecting the injury — can start working within minutes, not months. Whether you're dealing with a slipped disc, a disc bulge, spondylolisthesis or sciatica, the exact term on your scan matters far less than you've been told. This session breaks down the three stages your rehabilitation has to go through to heal a lower back injury, using a real case from the comments to show why the same disc bulge can be a bigger problem for one person than another.
Walking feels like exercise for your lower back, but if you're relying on it to rehabilitate a herniated disc or recover from surgery, it's doing far less than you think.
Lower back pain at night from a disc bulge, herniated disc or stenosis often comes down to congestion building while you're still, which is why getting up and walking around can settle it.