Sciatica exercises · Chapel Hill
Sciatica exercises haven’t helped? Your symptoms should guide the next step.
A stretch labeled “for sciatica” may not fit your situation. We start with where your symptoms travel, what changes them, and how you respond to treatment.
Clinical insights from Dr. Derek Nielsen, PT, DPT, owner of Royal Pain Physical Therapy.
Notice more than where the leg pain starts.
These details give us a clearer starting point for your assessment:
- Symptoms travel into your buttock, leg, or foot.
- Sitting feels different from standing or walking.
- Bending or a particular stretch changes your leg symptoms.
- Pain, tingling, or numbness interrupts exercise or everyday activities.
These symptoms don’t tell you exactly what’s causing the problem, but they give us more to investigate.
At Royal Pain, we assess your symptoms, movement, and possible nerve involvement. We check how treatment affects those symptoms to guide what to try next, rather than give everyone the same sciatica routine.
The same symptom doesn’t mean the same problem.
Two people with sciatica can respond differently to the same movement. An exercise that feels helpful to one person may not suit another. Your assessment and response help us choose a starting point for your situation.
At Royal Pain, we assess first to understand what your problem needs—then check your response to guide treatment toward lasting relief.
How Royal Pain finds your starting point.
Your symptoms, movement, and treatment response guide the plan—including what you can do on your own for pain relief.
Assess first.
At Royal Pain, we examine the movement that hurts and use a hands-on assessment to look for what may be contributing to your pain.
Treat and recheck.
We treat what we believe is contributing, then repeat the painful movement to check whether your symptoms improve. Your response guides what we do next.
Build on the response.
We use what helps to guide your treatment and show you what to do at home—so you can build on the relief and address what’s contributing to your pain.
A closer look at sciatica.
Explore Royal Pain’s approach to sciatica, including questions about herniated discs, disc degeneration, and lumbar spinal stenosis.
Sciatica care at Royal Pain
Not ready to book an appointment yet?
Get a free copy of Pain Is a Royal Nuisance and discover a process for addressing what may be keeping you in pain—without relying on medication or surgery.
Understand your options before deciding.
Talk with Dr. Nielsen about your sciatica, what you’ve tried, and where he would start based on your symptoms.