Sciatica pain is the last thing you want during pregnancy.

Sciatica pain can occur at any time in your pregnancy.  But it generally happens as your uterus grows and the baby presses against a nerve called the sciatic nerve that links your legs to the spinal cord.  The pain can be dull and achy or sharp and forceful. It often begins in the buttock or lower back and can sometimes speed down the back of your leg and into your calf muscle or the heel of your foot.  It can be debilitating.

So, you want to know how can you relieve the painful symptoms? And more importantly, without taking OTC medication? Here’s some tips that I found helped me.

I saw it first hand.  I was lying on the floor in my fifth month of pregnancy, don’t ask me why, but I was. Maybe I was exercising.  I can’t remember.  But the pain clutched onto my left buttock and would not let go.  It hurt so badly that I could not get up.  I couldn’t even roll over onto my hands and knees.  Mind you, I had a toddler in the house with me at the time.  I was so scared.  I thought, how am I ever going to get up?  I lay there for awhile, trying to figure my way out of this dilemma. Thankfully, the pain started to subside and I could bite through it long enough to stand up. I wondered, how many women suffer through this kind of pain?  Then, I had friends say they had the same thing happen to them.  (Okay, maybe they weren’t on the floor, stuck like I was, but they endured the same pain where they could barely walk.)

As my pregnant belly grew, I started to waddle.  Not just because of the weight I was carrying, but because of the pain I was having in my buttock and leg. These are just a few remedies that I found helped me.    

Helping with the pain

• Rest as much as possible - if you feel the pain, seriously, sit down
• Place a heating pad or warm water bottle on the painful area (don’t forget to wrap the water bottle in a cloth to keep from getting burned)
• Nice and easy leg and pelvic stretches twice a day can do the trick (don’t over stretch and never stretch your stomach or arch your back)

I hope these simple tips can help you with the pain like it did for me.  Look for my next article on safe stretching for pregnant women.

More in the series on Pregnancy Pains

1. Leg Cramps
   
2. Labor Pain
3. Nausea

Sources:

Dr. Spock, Sciatica During Pregnancy, retrieved October 5, 2008 from http://www.drspock.com/article/0,1510,4411,00.html

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