CASE STUDY \u00b7 SCIATICA
The runner whose sciatica was a nerve, not a tight muscle.
Sharp pain down the leg while training for a marathon, that stretching only made worse. The assessment found why, and got him back to training.
Nathaniel S.
Where They Started
Nathaniel came in with sharp pain running from the glute down the leg towards the ankle, plus a nagging ache around the base of the spine and the side of the lower back. He was building towards a marathon and the pain was derailing the training. He had tried the usual stretching, and it was not holding.
The Assessment
This was the key moment. The leg pain was nerve pain, not a tight muscle. It reproduced on a straight leg raise and did not change after hands-on soft tissue work, which told us it was radicular, coming from the nerve, not the hamstring. Stretching into it was the wrong move, because the deep hamstring and knee-to-chest positions he had been using are the very positions that provoke the nerve. Underneath it, the real drivers were how his pelvis and feet were loading: a flat foot pattern tilting the pelvis and stressing the lower back and the nerve.
Tension Release
We stopped stretching into the nerve and switched to calming and gliding it: gentle nerve flossing, spine-friendly movement, and short frequent walks. Everything was tracked day by day, because with a nerve the direction of travel matters more than the raw pain score.
Strength Rebuild
Alongside that we corrected the root cause, the pelvis and foot loading pattern, with arch and glute control work, and kept a sensible insole in place for the running build.
Where They Are Now
The sciatica has settled. Nathaniel is out of the sharp leg pain and back to structured training, now using maintenance treatment to keep the pelvis and foot pattern in check while he prepares for his half marathon in September.
What Is Next
Ongoing maintenance and load management through the half marathon build, so the nerve stays quiet as the mileage climbs.
“I came in a few weeks ago with an impingement on my sciatic nerve while training for a half marathon, and Alex was excellent from the start. He worked through and released a lot of tight muscles, which made an immediate difference. What really stood out was the full recovery program he provided afterwards. It was clear, practical, and tailored to getting me back to running safely. Thanks to his help, I'm now back in training and feeling much stronger. I can't recommend Alex enough.”
Nathaniel S., five star Google review
