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Just when I thought 2020 couldn't get any crazier, my body betrayed me (or gave me a wakeup call, depending on how you look at it!). As it turns out, sitting at home all day for work — particularly if you're sitting on a piece furniture without enough back support — can lead to sciatic pain or sciatica, a super painful condition affecting the low back, hip, glute, and leg, typically on one side. The combination of working from my couch and my Pilates studio being closed has not been ideal for my spine.
Because I hadn't experienced a traumatic injury (like a herniated disc), I wanted to try some home remedies to get sciatica relief as quickly as possible. Just a note: if you think you have sciatica or have experienced an injury, it's best to call your physician before trying anything on your own. The spine is nothing to mess with!
It's important to remember too that no at-home measure is a "cure" for sciatica. That said, the pain relief tips and tools I've rounded up here helped so much that my sciatic nerve problems all but disappeared in the span of a week (and have very aggressively reminded me to stand up and walk around more during work days). If you've also been on the couch Zooming the day away and have found yourself with insane back, hip, butt, and leg pain on one side, check out some of these tips to give yourself a bit of a reprieve from the physical torture that is sciatic pain. Good luck!