I have had sciatic pain from a genetic condition where my spine attaches to my sacrum with cartilage rather than bone. Cartilage can flex and when it did I had compression on nerves and intense pain. A Chiropractor got me right and the pain went away. He gave me an exercise called Williams Flexion which also helped. That was back in 1975. Since then my back seems to have calcified the joint and fused itself. In any event I recall being told that the bent forward position on a bike (a motorcycle for me at the time) helped stretch the spine. In recent years I've read a lot of good things about inversion tables and I just bought one this past week. Trying to forestall any issues. I would check out info on inversion tables. It might be something that works well. FWIW, I have lost 2" in height over time and my fear that compression would put stress on my spine and nerves was what motivated me to buy the inversion table.