Thirty sessions.
Twelve minutes each.
Symptoms moving up, not down.

Five phases, 180 different movements, no repeats — from finding your direction of ease to heavy lifting and hop testing. Written for sciatica and nerve-root leg pain, spinal stenosis and neurogenic claudication, and deep gluteal nerve irritation. This is NOT the lower-back programme: nerve pain follows different rules.

Before you start — the one you must not skip

GO TO HOSPITAL NOW, do not wait and do not train, with any of these: numbness in the groin, buttocks or inner thighs — the area that would touch a saddle; any new difficulty passing urine, or leaking urine or bowels; loss of sensation when wiping; new numbness or weakness in BOTH legs; or sudden loss of sexual sensation. Together these can mean cauda equina syndrome, and the difference between a good and a permanent outcome is measured in hours.

Also urgent, same day: new foot drop or a foot that slaps when you walk; leg weakness that is getting worse; fever with back pain; pain after a significant fall; or unexplained night pain with weight loss.

The pain rule here is different. For nerve pain the direction matters more than the intensity. Leg symptoms moving UP toward your back — even if the back hurts a bit more — means the movement is working. Symptoms moving further DOWN the leg means stop, whatever it feels like at the time.

Session 1 is a test. You try arching and you try bending, and you use whichever one draws the symptoms up. For many disc-related problems that is arching. For spinal stenosis — leg pain on walking that eases when you sit or lean on a trolley — it is usually bending. Do not assume; test.

Glides, not stretches. Nerve tissue is slid gently to the first tingle and brought straight back. Hard stretching of an irritated nerve makes it worse.

Track three numbers weekly: how high the straight leg raises before symptoms, how far you can walk, and how long you can sit. They tell you more than how the day felt.

Kit: a chair, a wall, a step, a towel, a pillow and a loaded backpack or two water jugs.

Phase 1Calm the nerve

AFind your direction of ease.Session one is a test as much as a workout: try arching and try bending, and find which one draws the leg symptoms up toward your back. BSlide the nerve. Never stretch it. Watch the leg.The sciatic slider is the core drill of this phase — one end slackens as the other tightens, so the nerve moves without being pulled. CLittle. Often. All day long.Frequency beats intensity for an irritable nerve — and the first spine control work begins. DTest the leg. Every week. Write it down.The straight-leg raise as a weekly measure, plus the first hip and trunk work. EStand up. Move hips. Spare the back.Standing work, the hip hinge pattern and the first real hip strengthening. FSix sessions in. Symptoms moving up, not down.Phase 1 check-in: the straight-leg raise, the walking distance and the first test of the muscles the nerve feeds.

Phase 2Nerve mobility and control

GSlide further. Hold steadier. Watch the leg.Phase 2 opens with bigger sliders and the trunk control that lets the spine move without provoking the nerve. HMove every way. Then hold still. Both are skills.Spine mobility in all directions, matched with the bracing that protects it under load. IThe hip behind the buttock pain. Not always the spine.Deep gluteal work — because buttock and leg pain does not always start at the back. JTension it. Gently. Only now.Once symptoms centralise reliably, the nerve is ready for gentle tensioning — the last of its tolerance. KSit longer. Stand longer. Break it sooner.Building position tolerance on purpose — the thing that actually decides how a day goes. LTwelve in. Higher raise. Longer walk.Phase 2 check-in: nerve sensitivity, walking and sitting tolerance, and the leg strength tested.

Phase 3Rebuild the leg

MThe calf goes first. Rebuild it.Phase 3 opens on the muscles a compressed nerve weakens — calf, glute and the front of the shin. NFind the weak one. Train it hardest. Test it weekly.Quadriceps, hamstring and hip all tested and loaded — whichever is behind gets the most work. OOne leg. Level hips. Balance back.Single-leg strength and the position sense the nerve blunted — both rebuilt together. PStronger back. Not a stiffer one. Big difference.Trunk and back extensor strength — built to tolerate load, not to hold one position. QWalk further. Stand longer. Sit through it.Tolerance day: the three positions that decide a normal life, each trained as a measurable number. REighteen in. Test both legs. Find the gap.Phase 3 check-in: the strength of every muscle the nerve feeds, side by side.

Phase 4Load and hinge

SLifting is not the enemy. Unprepared lifting is.Phase 4 opens on the hinge under load — the pattern that protects the spine in every lift you will ever do. TOff the floor. Close to the body. Every time.The deadlift pattern rebuilt from a raised start, plus the split-stance strength behind it. USit through it. Stand through it. Drive through it.The three positions of a working day, each loaded and each measured. VBend on purpose. Under control. Load it slowly.Flexion trained deliberately — the movement most people with sciatica avoid for ever. WHeavy. Close. Braced.The heaviest loading of the programme, with the trunk holding everything still. XTwenty-four in. Lifting again. Sitting again.Phase 4 check-in: the lift, the carry, the sit and the walk — all measured against phase 2.

Phase 5Return to life

YWalk an hour. Sit through a film. Carry the shopping.Phase 5 opens on real-life tolerance — the three things people actually want back. ZBend fast. Twist safely. Lift awkwardly.Real life is not symmetrical — this session rehearses the awkward lifts that catch people out. AAImpact. Only on a leg that passed the tests.The first impact of the programme — earned by the calf that can now do its reps. ABThe car. The flight. The desk.The three sustained positions that flare a nerve — each rehearsed with the break built in. ACHeaviest. Longest. Still climbing.The hardest session: heavy lifting, long walking and the leg tested at speed. ADThirty sessions. Symptoms up. Numbers up.Graduation: nerve sensitivity, walking, sitting, calf strength and hop symmetry — every number side by side.