Sciatica usually improves on its own in a few weeks to a few months. What helps: staying as active as pain allows (bed rest makes it worse), gentle back and buttock stretches, heat or ice for 15 to 20 minutes, anti-inflammatories if safe for you, and sitting as little as possible.
Walking is usually the most comfortable exercise. See a doctor if severe pain is not improving after a couple of weeks, and go to the emergency department immediately for leg or foot weakness, numbness around the genitals or buttocks, or loss of bladder or bowel control - those signal nerve damage that cannot wait. Pymander is a free AI doctor, 24/7 by text, and can help you sort sciatica from other leg pain.
What to do
Common questions
What helps sciatica pain?
Sciatica - pain shooting from the lower back or buttock down the leg, from an irritated or compressed sciatic nerve - usually gets better on its own in a few weeks to a few months. What helps while it heals: stay as active as the pain allows, because bed rest makes it worse, not better; gentle stretches for the lower back, buttock, and hamstrings (a physiotherapist or good exercise sheet beats guessing); heat or ice packs on the low back and buttock for 15 to 20 minutes; and anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen if you can take them safely. Sit as little as possible - sitting loads the disc that usually causes it - and when you must sit, use a lumbar support and get up often. Walking, counterintuitively, is usually the most comfortable exercise. See a doctor promptly if pain is severe and not improving after a couple of weeks of self-care, and go to the emergency department immediately if you develop weakness in the leg or foot, numbness around the genitals or buttocks, or loss of bladder or bowel control - those signal nerve damage that cannot wait. Pymander is a free AI doctor, 24/7 by text, that can help you sort sciatica from other back-leg pain.