Exercises & physio for sciatica and slipped disc- should it be causing more pain at the beginning?

[Jupiter12390]

Mumsnet

Trying to cut long story short

Injured baxk months ago, severe lower back pain which slowly went but developed into sciatica

Has 1st physio appointment last week ans have been doing tje exercise 2x a day like he said

Should it be causing more pain to begin with? All my pain was down my left side etc from sciatica and not much in my lower back, but now i am noticing a lot of lower back pain again. Is this normal ? Is it possibly from the new exercises/stretches ?

I don't think any exercises should be giving you back pain. What are the exercises? He may not have shown you how to protect your back when you are doing them, or they may be the wrong exercises for you.
For a lot of exercises, you need to tense your core muscles to protect your back before (say) lifting your leg.
Breathe in, tighten abs and glutes, start the move while breathing slowly out.
If you are lying in your back on the floor, your back shouldn't be arched. You shouldn't be able to push your fingers into the gap under the small of your back. If you can, put a small rolled up towel or small cushion under your head.
The best "exercise" I had for sciatica is lying on my back with my legs up and my calves resting on a coffee table. Takes all the strain off your back.
Then get yourself off to a good Pilates instructor for long term improvement.

Hi, I'm three weeks into my physio for a slipped disc. It did get worse for the first ten days but it's easing now. The sciatica itself is a little better too.