What is sciatica?
Sciatica is a term used to describe pain which radiates from the low back or buttock into the leg. It is so called because pain is generally felt along the course of the sciatic nerve.
The sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in the human body. The sciatic nerve originates from several nerves in your lower back, much like small streams coming together to form a river. These nerves extend from the lumbar (lower) spine and come together between the muscles of each buttock to form the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve then travels down each leg before dividing into smaller branches. The sciatic nerve carries movement signals down to the muscles of the leg and sends pain, temperature, and other sensory signals up to the brain. Symptoms of “sciatica” radiate along the same path.
What are the symptoms of sciatica?
The typical first symptom is pain that radiates from the lower back or buttock down one leg. The pain feels as if it is coming from the sciatic nerve in the buttocks region because of its location, but the pain most frequently originates from an irritated nerve in the lower spine.
Generally, symptoms include:
• Dull, aching, shooting or "burning" pain that starts in your lower back and/or buttock and radiates down one of your legs. Back pain accompanied by leg pain is the key symptom that suggests you have sciatica rather than another type of back pain.
• Neurological symptoms such as numbness, tingling, intense hot/cold sensations, electrical sensations, or others.
• Muscle weakness.
• Altered reflexes.
Symptoms may worsen with certain motions such as bending or twisting the low back or raising the painful leg. Symptoms may also worsen with coughing, sneezing, or straining (for example, lifting or having a bowel movement).