Stop Stretching Your Sciatic Nerve! (Yoga Anatomy Lesson)

WATCH THE LOW BACK PAIN & SCIATICA MASTERCLASS: . . ❌ Paschimottanasana is NOT a hamstrings stretch! It’s a sciatic nerve (and spinal cord) tensioner! . . ❗️Stop stretching your sciatic nerve! Yoga poses are commonly geared towards hypermobility and this is a great example of how a lack of anatomical understand leads to unintended side effects. Now, there is actually a therapeutic use for nerve tensioners and nerve gliders, but that’s not what yoga people are doing! They are just taking their stretches to the MAX, and don’t understand that this “stretching sensation“ is actually coming from stretching NERVES, not muscles! . . 👩⚕️ Besides, since nerve tensioners have a tendency to irritate nerves and when done excessively or forcefully they can lead to “sciatica“-like symptoms, we really should leave the prescription of such exercises to the chiros and physical therapists out there. . . 🧠 IN BOTH POSES ABOVE, the pelvic angle is EXACTLY the same. The knees are straight. THerefore the length of the hamstrings is the same. Because of this, when you bow down to touch the head to the knees, and grab your toes and pull them to your face, you are NOT putting additional stretch on the hamstrings! You are just stretching your spinal cord and sciatic nerves! . . ❗️If you feel extra stretch sensations when you bow your head or grab your feet/toes, or if you think you’re stretching your hamstrings but you feel it in your feet, calves, back, spine, or head, or if the stretching sensation feels warm, hot, tingling, shooting, electric, or similar, then you are NOT stretching a muscle, you’re stretching a NERVE. . . ANOTHER VIDEO YOU MAY LIKE: HOW TO DO SCIATIC NERVE FLOSSING | Yoga For Sciatica