Going up the stairs builds leg/hip strength.
Why this matters:
You activate your entire lower body without stressing your spine when going up stairs. The average stair is about 6-8 inches, which is high enough to add some resistance to your legs, but also low enough to prevent too much motion at the spine. There’s no load on your back with the stairs, so if your sciatica pain is caused by your back, then this is a relatively safe activity for you.
Walking up stairs adds resistance, which allows your muscles to get stronger. This means that they can stabilize and generate movement at the hips. All of the necessary things to prevent extra flare ups.
Action steps:
Start with 10 steps.
If you don’t have stairs in your house, that’s ok. Try to find an area that has steps, and complete only 10 of them.
If you’re already walking the stairs, add 10 more.
Make sure that you drive through your heel so that you can get the butt muscles working. Also, keep your hips centered over your foot, and don’t let that hip push out towards the side (avoiding the “hip check”)
