Yoga for Sciatica with Dr. Risa Ravitz
Sciatica seems to be one of those things that NO ONE wants to talk about. BUT, the moment you do, more people open up about shared experiences than I have ever seen with any other existing condition. Why do all of us suffer in silence? Chronic pain is not a joke. It is a crippling condition. It harms your body, mind and soul. By keeping it to yourself, and suffering in isolation, you are hurting yourself even more. The stress of that alone is harmful: creating more and more inflammation, thus making the problem worse and worse.
I had suggested doing yoga for sciatica for MANY of the fitness and health outlets I write for. And, ALL of them said no. Sciatica isn’t a sexy topic, and it isn’t “click bait”. So, when the idea of building my own app became a reality, I KNEW I needed to commit to researching sciatica. AND: team up with doctors and experts who treat patients with this condition on a daily basis, to create routines that could offer SOME relief. And, more importantly: hope that relief is possible. Because, it IS.
So, so, SO proud to announce the release of CrossFlowRx: Chair Yoga for Sciatica as our first CrossFlow Yoga video for… you guessed it, SCIATICA! We are so honored to have collaborated with the amazing Dr. Risa Ravitz.
Dr. Ravitz is board certified by the American Academy of Psychiatry and Neurology and the American Board of Pain Medicine. Her practice, http://www.modernmigrainemd.com/ is dedicated to all diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system (remember, it is the sciatic NERVE that causes the crippling pain of sciatica). Dr. Ravitz believes patients should play an active role in their healing, and so do WE, which is why she is the perfect collaborator for these videos.
Her holistic approach includes diagnosis, pharmacotherapy when needed, physical therapy, trigger point injections, and diet and lifestyle adjustments (read: YOGA, among other things!) to help patients return to healthy active pain free lives.
Our first video together has a two minute doctor intro with Dr. Ravitz, and a fifteen minute chair yoga routine with moves specifically targeted at reducing sciatic pain. You will open your body in all of the right places to get your blood flowing, oxygen moving, and calm your sciatic nerve. Breathing and opening the body reduces inflammation. Inflammation causes sciatica (in conjunction with many other culprits). If you can reduce your inflammation, and open the spots that may be the source of your sciatica, you will find massive relief. Deep breaths, LISTEN to your body, and enjoy a seriously pain-reduced life!
Moves included in our video (please note: these are BASIC instructions, for details, please watch our CrossFlowRx: Chair Yoga for Sciatica on the CrossFlow Yoga app):
Side stretch:
One arm on the arm of the chair, the other arm reaches up and over for 5-10 deep breaths.
Easy twist:
Holding the back and arm of the chair. Inhales lengthen spine, exhales twist your body around it (think of wringing yourself out like a sponge) for 5-10 deep breaths.
Hip opener:
Place your ankle / flexed foot on the opposite thigh for 5-10 deep breaths.
Cat/ cow in chair:
Hands on thighs or knees, arching and rounding the back with DEEP breaths. 10 slow, mindful reps are recommended. Inhaling on arching, and exhaling on rounding.
Back arch over chair:
Take hands behind head (on a sturdy chair only), and lean back over the back of the chair.
Note from Heidi: after a car accident when I was 18 left me with “permanent neck damage”, and doctors were afraid of paralysis, I went to all of my PT, and complained of lower back pain repeatedly. My complaints were dismissed, and I was told that the pain was all coming from my neck injuries. Cut to my 20-something self walking in Times Square, and collapsing from what I could only describe as a “rip roaring, searing pain”. My husband walked into our apartment later to find me on the floor, in the fetal position, sweating (I was always freezing, I rarely sweat). One MRI later showed that I had, in fact, broken two vertebrae in my lumbar spine, that hadn’t healed properly, and the scar tissue had gotten so big that it finally touched the sciatic nerve.
The poses in this video were some of the ones that I used to alleviate sciatic pain, with the approval of my spinal surgeon (who thankfully helped me avoid surgery), and my PT, of course. This video is not a replacement for medical care, but with the approval of Dr. Risa Ravitz, the amazing doctor currently helping me navigate the nerve pain and damage in my neck from that long ago car accident, it is our hope that this can and will provide you with RELIEF.
A note from Dr. Risa Ravitz: This is NOT intended to be a substitute for medical advice. Always consult a physician for specific health questions and for AN INDIVIDUALIZED diagnosis, evaluation and treatment plan.
For more on Dr. Ravitz, please check out her instagram: @migrainedoctor.
