I have put this up to help friends and family get rid of lower back and sciatic pain. These pages were given to me as part of a physical therapy program for a serious back pain situation. Parts needed are a big ball, small ball, and some exercise rubber bands, all easily found. You may say it hurts too much to do the exercises. If so, get to a doctor and do whatever it takes to temporarily get out of pain so you can begin. This might be pain pills, epidural injections, inversion hanging, chiropractic, acupuncture, orthotics, traction devices, and so on. Understand that Doctor stuff is only temporary pain relief. There are about 120 different muscles that erect the spine and create distance between the lower vertebrae, and these are the ones that have to be strong to stay out of pain. Daily life doesn't use many of these muscles unfortunately.

The first sequence is easy and should be done five times a week for a couple weeks. After that dive into the second sequence and do that every night until the pain is gone. It took me four weeks to feel improvement, and three months to be completely pain free. Your mileage will vary. Residual numbness and tingling will persist for up to a year. This is nerve damage healing and it takes awhile. Note that the acute pain stays away as long as one continues with the second sequence at least once per week. The big-ball exercises are difficult. Practice until balance is achieved. It ain't easy, but then back surgery isn't either..... Also, as part of the second sequence do enough situps (some form of ab crunch) to get a burn going each night you do the exercises. Research shows that the erector muscles build mass and strength many times faster than the other muscle groups. Good news. The same research indicates that, once out of pain, an exercise sequence can be done as little as once per week in order to stay out of pain.

There are two exercises missing from the sheets below. 1) The pelvic lift. Lying with back flat on the floor and knees bent, rotate pelvis up a bit, just until tailbone is off the ground, keeping back, shoulders, and head flat on the ground. Hold for 20 seconds. 2) While on the floor in this same position, put the small ball between knees and close the knees together compressing the ball for 20 seconds. Alternate between the pelvic lift and the ball crunch since they are both from the same position.

Walk often. Also, walk backwards for a few minutes each day. I don't know why this helps, but it's part of the program. Do not use your back to lift *anything* until out of pain. Learn how to do daily activities without using your back, like getting out of bed properly etc. Stay with it and you too will be free of back/sciatic pain. Feel free to print these pages to have at your side until the sequences are memorized. With a little creative thought, one can modify the exercises in sequence #2 so they can be done without adjunctive equipment while away from home, like on vacation etc. Best of luck on this and believe me, I don't feel your pain anymore (smile). Note: Hit the "all" button to see all 13 pages. There are fine tuning notes below some of the pages. As a personal observation, my back and sciatic pain begins to return after three weeks of not doing the exercises. A pain free back is a life long commitment. The golden years are here.