Olivia Wilson, a vivid reader of our blog, sent me a mail asking a question: “is a recumbent bike good for sciatica?”
I can personally vouch for the miserable experience of having sciatica pain because it happened to my mom. Certainly, You can’t see your whereabouts in any suffering so neither is Olivia. She might be undergoing the long-awaited prescription process and wanted to be back in her daily routine life.
A recumbent bike mainly works on the glutes and abdominal muscles. Altogether, these muscles provide support to your back for the function of mobility. As in the case of sciatica pain, you need to work on strengthing these muscles. Coincidentally, a recumbent bike alternatively works on strengthening both glutes and abdominal muscles which in the end helps in tearing off the sciatic pain from your body.
Let me reveal the hidden advantages of a recumbent bike for sciatic pain. What are they? Read on to know more about it.
You Might Also like to Read: How Many Calories Burned on Recumbent Bike? We Covered this in our last article.
Why does Sciatica pain occur?
Name Sciatica pain comes from the sciatica nerve. Yes, it is a long nerve that starts from the lower spine, passes through the pelvis, and goes down to your leg. Due to excessive weight over the backbone or putting sudden jerks on the sciatic nerve, your herniated disc may pinch the nerve, resulting in severe pain over your back down to your leg.
Thus, it is known as sciatica pain. To understand more about the causes and symptoms of sciatica, there is an authentic blog by mayo clinic on this subject.
How is a Recumbent Bike Good for Sciatica Pain?
Before generalizing your grasp over any apparatus, it is important to understand its main function. Such as how it can be impactful on your life. Is it worth it or not?
As in the case of Olivia above, I can sense her feelings that how she might be going through this tougher time. She couldn’t be able to walk easily and she could not sit for longer. There is a possibility that she is suffering from continual leg pain, which is a stumbling block for most people.
When a person comes across sciatic pain in their life, there are some internal body changes occur that lead to complicating the situation even more.
Your sciatic nerve might not be getting enough oxygen as it would have been suppressed. Because the blood doesn’t flow from the defective area and blocked the supply of oxygen. Along with that, it also makes your surrounding muscles more stiffer and rigid, making it of utmost difficulty to move them back and forth.
How Does Recumbent Bike Provide a Solution?
For that special reason, the recumbent bike is made up for.
The recumbent bike has two main components that need to be looked at. The comfortable and soft seats, slightly tilted, give you the feeling of sitting on a recliner sofa, have a larger surface area than upright bikes, and give you backrest support when you have a back injury.
Another main component is its peddles. The peddles of a recumbent bike activate those muscles which are needed to be recovered in time of back injuries like lower back pain or sciatica pain.
It mainly works on your glute, hamstrings, and abdomen muscles. They supply stored energy to your lower body parts, as well as your spine, and have a large network of blood vessels that supply oxygen to the organs, and support your internal frame.
Concludingly, when you peddle harder and harder on the recumbent bike by increasing its resistance, it activates your glute and abdominal muscles.
By activating these muscles, it increases the flow of blood to pass from the defecting area for increasing the exposure to oxygen. It also makes your muscles more flexible and alleviate pain.
Let’s have a look at the advantages of a recumbent bike for sciatica pain:
- A person with sciatic pain can use the assistance of a recumbent backrest to give some relief to his back. And it is recommended that you use it for 30 minutes only in case of sciatic pain. As it would have been strictly forbidden by the doctors not to complicate your back’s condition by doing heavy exercises for prolonged periods.
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- Paramount contemplate is, don’t take long rest. You need to do some exercises along with this journey. If you don’t do it, the muscles will become more rigid and stiff. In consequence, the recumbent bike is a better option to consider. When you use it for the first time, it will feel very forceful, but don’t allow this resistance to overwhelm you. If you don’t adopt these exercises, the recurrence of sciatica will be increased.
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- Your need to maintain the position of your back which is very important. On the recumbent bike, you don’t sit in a normal position, which is very painful for the sciatic patient, rather you sit in the tilted position that is more cozy and enjoyable.
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- You can’t sit for longer if you have sciatica pain. Since the sciatica nerve started from the lower spine and passes through your pelvis area. As you exert pressure over the pelvis bone, the herniated disc will squeeze the sciatica nerve, even more, resulting in more pain. Consequently, the recumbent bike seat is made of soft foams and reliable materials, and you can easily peddle it for 45 to 60 minutes without feeling any discomfort in your pelvis.
Some Prerequisite Steps Before Exercise
It is not recommended to jump start on your recumbent bike. Prior to any exercise, you must do some warmups. But in case of back injury or sciatica pain, the warm-ups are not stretching or pulling but rather some simple prerequisites.
Whenever you experience an injury in your body, the blood vessels in that specific region are constricted, preventing blood flow. In that case, it is advised by prominent physiotherapists that use heat therapy. You can do it at your home by heating any piece of cloth and towel.
The heat helps to dilate the blood vessels and increases the chance of blood flow and softens the tissues as well. It helps you to decrease stiffness in your muscles and decreases the oxygen depletion from the defective area.
In addition to that, the intake of protein-rich nutrients for better nourishment so the elasticity and mobility of muscles can be increased.
Final Thought
According to a survey, 40% of the US population experience sciatica pain in their life.
This high proportion of suffering dictates the living standard of our population. Injuries are becoming more common because of lack of exercise, bad posture, unhealthy diet, and so on.
We’ve seen above that a recumbent bike provides the chance to decrease the rigidity and stiffness of your leg, lower back, and abdominal muscles and helps you to increase blood flow by dilating your blood vessels. As a result, the recurrence of sciatica dwindles.
I hope you and Olivia have found the answer you were looking for on this blog. Let me know in the comments what were your experience with sciatica pain.
Thanks For Visiting!
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