Ultimate Guide to Sciatica During Pregnancy: Everything To Know

Updated 4/17/23

What is sciatica?

Have you ever felt a tingling, pins and needles feeling down the back of your leg? Or maybe a burning sensation from your buttocks down your leg? A shooting pain down the back of the leg? It could be sciatica.

Sciatica is the medical term for irritation, of the sciatic nerve. This irritation of the sciatic nerve can be caused by pinching, compression, inflammation of the nerve or surrounding structures.

The sciatic nerve is a big long nerve which comes out of the lower back, goes down the buttocks and down the back of the leg and branches off in the lower leg to multiple nerves.

Sciatica can be felt in different areas depending on where the nerve is being irritated. This is part of the difference between sciatica and piriformis syndrome. With sciatica more than one leg can be affected. With piriformis syndrome, it is more common that only one leg is affected with numbness, tingling or a burning sensation.

Simply because the sciatic nerve is irritated does not mean there is a disc herniation or spine injury. This is a worry many people have because it is common to hear people with disc issues to have nerve pain.

Symptoms from sciatica or any nerve pain (irritation) are often described as tingling, pins and needles, burning, shooting or similar to the feeling when “your foot falls asleep.”

Sciatica during pregnancy has the same symptoms as sciatica at other times. During pregnancy sciatica may be more common due to a change in posture and puts pressure on the nerve.

What causes sciatica to flare-up?

Sciatica is triggered by irritation of the nerve. Internally this typically means something is touching or pushing on the nerve. One case could be something in the way where the sciatic nerve comes out of the spine, disc herniation/bulge or narrowing of the spinal canal are possible. Most often the case is a tight muscle which presses on the nerve and causes nerve sensations to be felt.

During our daily life our movements can trigger sciatica and make it flare up. Common causes of flare ups in sciatica are: putting on shoes, bending forward to pick something up off the ground, sitting or driving “too long.”

During pregnancy sciatica may flare up due to the positions we move, sit and spend time in from all of the body changes. This can be from where baby is positioned in pregnant women's bodies. It can be from the pregnancy weight gain that naturally happens. Sciatica during pregnancy can also be caused by muscles working harder from maintaining positions during pregnancy to maintain center of gravity.

Is it more likely that pregnancy is causing my sciatica nerve pain or an injury?

 The only cause of sciatic nerve pain from pregnancy is due to the pressure at the lower back and often the piriformis muscle from decreased stability of the pelvis and changes in the mechanics of how a mom stands and moves. Sciatic nerve pain is typically not caused by injury. Most often it is related to how we stand, sit, move and the way our muscles are working or overworking. 

What can make sciatica worse?

Stretching the hamstring muscle behind the back of the leg is the number one thing that can make sciatica worse. Stretching the hamstring muscle causes the sciatic nerve to be at the fullest extension point, making symptoms feel worse.

Unfortunately, sitting to drive and bending forward when showering can also cause similar symptoms as we bend forward at the waist or have an outstretched leg for these activities.

To help avoid flaring up sciatic nerve symptoms while showering it helps to bend your leg and lift it to you to wash your foot and lower leg. By avoiding bending forward at the trunk the sciatic nerve is not compressed further.

Does walking help relieve sciatica?

Walking can help sciatica in many cases. Walking on even ground has been shown to decrease inflammation of the sciatic nerve for many people. Avoid walking uphill with sciatica to avoid a flare up of symptoms. Walking is a great way for natural anti inflammatory relief of sciatica pain in the body.

Simply because walking can help some sciatica cases does not mean it will help all cases. If someone has piriformis syndrome rather than sciatica, walking may further irritate symptoms.

The distance or how long to walk to improve sciatica symptoms may depend on your pain level and the amount of activity your body is used to. For a very active person, a longer distance is likely more tolerated. However, if symptoms are severe, walking around the house may feel like enough.

An example plan for walking with sciatica:

Day 1:

Walk 5 minutes on level ground at a slow speed

Day 2:

Walk 7 minutes on level ground at a slow speed

Day 3:

Walk 9 minutes on level ground at a slow speed

Day 4:

Walk 5 minutes on level ground at a slightly faster speed

Day 5:

Walk 10 minutes at a comfortable speed

How do you relieve sciatic nerve pain during pregnancy?

Sciatic nerve pain during pregnancy can be relieved with stretching, modifications to posture and balancing the body. Exactly what works to relieve sciatic nerve pain during pregnancy is not always the same for each person.

The changes to the body during pregnancy lead to a change in how a mom walks, stands, sits and moves. These changes of weight shifting forward and counter-balancing back can lead to muscle tightness and backaches that for some turn into sciatic nerve irritation, also known as sciatica.

Since no two people are alike the ways in which sciatic nerve pain is relieved can be different.

However, there are some common themes.

Stretching in a variety of positions and variety of directions of movement can help. Rhythmic movements are often found relaxing to overworked muscles that are tired from carrying all of the extra weight of the expanded uterus and baby.

 Start your journey to ease sciatica with the free pregnancy series

How long does sciatica last?

The length of time sciatica lasts depends on if the true source or cause is addressed.

Identifying the true cause does not require imaging. That is only a picture of a moment of time. What a big relief for women who are pregnant and can't get imaging done safely. The great news is it actually isn't needed.

Figuring out the cause of sciatica is the key to relief. Many of our habits, the way we sit, the way we stand, the way we move often aggravate the symptoms and keep them lingering longer. Experts often help problem solve this for others, like physical therapists.

Let's problem-solve a bit together to help you make good decisions for at-home relief.

Does your body feel more comfortable sitting on a higher chair? Like a tall stool? A lower seat? A kids step stool?

Do you feel more comfortable with a pillow behind your back when you sit to allow your pelvis and back to be in better alignment? Have you shoved a sweatshirt, towel or something else behind your back when sitting to help before?

These are the little experiments and self-tests that help to determine what makes a difference to sciatica. Treatment can be done in-person with a skilled physical therapist. However, the treatment has a limited time frame of relief until these small habits are identified and changed according to what the body wants most.

A physical therapist can take you through a series of movements that may relieve pressure off of the sciatic nerve in a few places based on how your body responds to specific movements. You can do this same set of self-discovery and self-reset with a specific mobility plan and sequence.

Some individual's sciatica can last a few days, for others it can be aggravated on and off for years. The average amount of time sciatica lasts for people is 3 weeks. It all depends on when habits are changed and when the true cause of sciatica is discovered.

Sciatica can be overcome. People do it every day. Get the answers you need for the relief you seek.

You can start with the Sleep Soundly program, a 3 day challenge to ease tension and relax your body.