Sciatica: easing the pain that runs down your leg

Sciatica is not a diagnosis in itself - it is a symptom. It describes pain that follows the sciatic nerve, the longest nerve in the body, from the lower back through the hip and down the leg.

Often the nerve is irritated where it exits the spine, sometimes by a disc, sometimes by tight muscles deep in the hip. Long sitting and a stiff lower back make it worse.

Two things matter for sciatica: making space in the spine and releasing the deep hip muscles. Decompression in straps does the first; slow, supported stretches do the second.

The work is never forced. You move within comfort, and over a series of sessions the irritation often calms.