Sciatica is when your having pain down the leg. There are several causes of the sciatic pain and it is important to determine what the root cause is. One cause that can be easily treated is Piriformis syndrome.
Piriformis syndrome is when the muscle Piriformis in your glute gets tight or irritated and it contacts/irritates the sciatic nerve. The Piriformis attaches the tailbone/sacrum to the great trochanter of the femur. The sciatic nerve pierces through the Piriformis muscle in an estimated 8-10% of the population.
Since the sciatic nerve and the Piriformis muscle are so close together it is easy to u deist and that if the Piriformis gets tight and inflamed it could easily irritate the nerve and give you referred pain down the leg.
The best way to stretch the Piriformis muscle are variations of the figure 4 stretch. The favorite amongst most sports medicine doctors like Dr. Elliott is to get down into a common yoga pose called pigeon pose. Getting down into pigeon pose can be challenging and may increase symptoms temporarily but it should feel better a couple minutes after completing the stretch. After completing the stretch you should feel a decrease in sciatic pain if the root cause is in fact the Piriformis.
As always it is important to see you chiropractor to rule out other more serious causes of sciatica and leg pain.