THE QATSPY® The Quapaw Aviation Tactical Sportswear & Performance, Your Outfitter Company
By Charles W. Boatright
Maintaining Health/Fitness for Independence– The 3 Must Do Exercises to Maintain Your Fitness/Address Sciatic Nerve and Mobility Issues
Flying aerial patrol for 33- years as a Grid Engineer with Entergy Mississippi Transmission in both fixed and rotorwing aircraft and sitting for hours between fuel stops places a stress on the discs and nerve in your Lumbar area. This is where the Sciatic Nerve exits the spinal column and continues down the back of your leg, calf, and into the bottom of your feet.
Two Years before I retired, I started developing numbness and discomfort in the back of my legs, calves, and feet, almost to a point of affecting my balance and mobility. Flying and working line work with discomfort and balance issues aren’t something you want to have occur, when you’re 80- feet off the ground hanging off a pole or walking across a crossarm.
I didn’t want to think that I put 30-some-odd years into working line work to just retire at age 57 and not enjoy what I worked so hard to accomplish now at age 65. I now own a sportswear and performance company where we provide the U.S. Military issued leather and nylon flight jackets. I’m wearing our new addition G-1 Flying Tiger Leather Flight Jacket, shown below:
Just before I retired at age 57, I added three particular new exercises to my regular workout routine that I do every day. One is a rowing element using elastic resistant tubing, the second is an AB Roller element, and the third is probably the most helpful therapy of all for the sciatic nerve issue. This is the Hanging Leg lift exercise, these are shown below in my home gym.
These three exercises are better than putting inserts into your shoes to relieve nerve and muscle issues and discomfort. I tried everything medically possible to treat my sciatic nerve issue, but these three simple exercises have significantly improved my sciatic nerve issue more than any other approach that I tried, to a point where I don’t have issues any longer with my sciatic nerve using these three (3) simple exercises.
The hanging Leg Lift is significantly better than sit-ups. Because in sit-ups, you’re placing large amounts of stress on the lower back discs, where you are actually replicating the same problem that you are trying to solve. The other benefit with all three of these exercises is that you’re building your abdominal muscles and that will help prevent further back issues.
NOTE: Don’t jump up, but instead, just raise your legs up at the hips and bend the knees with a steady motion, the slower the better, while you’re performing a modified pull-up. I leave my boots on for additional resistance when I’m doing my three exercises other than during my normal workout period.
Stronger abdominal muscles mean stronger back muscles, with more mobility and with less back problems, especially for those of us over 50. There is a side benefit of improving your abdominal muscles. In all of these photographs of me on the tarmac, in my gym, and in particular in the photograph below, where I’m doing an AB Challenge in our hangar at age 65, I have developed strong and fit AB Muscles.
I did the AB Challenge on January 07th, 2023, after I did a photoshoot for our Rough Riders Sportswear Collection at our airport. This collection includes our U.S. Military-issued leather and nylon flight jackets and other sportswear collections that have that Indiana Jones style and look. Use the Link below to shop online:
