Sciatica
- Sciatica Overview
- Sciatica Causes
- Sciatica Symptoms
- When to Seek Medical Care
- Exams and Tests
- Sciatica Treatment
- Self-Care at Home
- Medications
- Surgery
- Other Therapy
- Next Steps
- Follow-up
- Prevention
- Outlook
- Synonyms and Keywords
- Authors and Editors
- Viewer Comments: Sciatica - Describe Your Experience
The Problem Isn't Always Where It Hurts...Sciatica
Author: William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR
Editor: Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD
In evaluating patients in the office, we doctors must always keep a very open mind. For example, when a patient says that their problem is located in a certain area, they may use laymen's terminology that is technically inaccurate, they may have forgotten certain characteristics of the condition because of lack of sleep or pain, or the problem may feel like it comes from a certain location yet it may actually be coming from an area of the body far from where it is perceived. This last situation is commonly the case when a person has sciatica.
Sciatica is pain resulting from irritation of the sciatic nerve. Sciatica pain is typically felt from the low back to behind the thigh and radiating down below the knee. The sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in the body and begins from nerve roots in the lumbar spinal cord in the low back and extends through the buttock area to send nerve endings down the lower limb.
Sciatica Overview
Sciatica (pronounced sigh-AT-ih-ka) is low back pain combined
with a pain through the buttock and down one leg. The pain usually goes past the
knee and may go farther to the foot. Sometimes, weakness in the leg muscles occurs with sciatica.
- The sciatic nerves are the largest nerves in the body
and are about the size of your little finger. They come out of the
column low in the back and then go behind the hip joint, down the buttock, and down the back of the leg to the foot.
- Sciatica is different from other forms of low back
pain because there are 2 sciatic nerves, and the pain is usually on 1 side.
- The pain is usually a shooting pain, like electricity. It can also burn like fire or tingle much like the feeling when your leg "goes to sleep." The pain can range from slightly annoying to totally unbearable. Some people have pain in one part of the leg and numbness in another part of the same leg.
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Sciatica
Slipped Disk Overview
The disks are protective shock-absorbing pads between the bones of the spine. Although they do not actually "slip," a disk may split or rupture. This can cause the disk to fail, allowing the gel (which is part of the disk) to escape into the surrounding tissue. The leaking jellylike substance can place pressure on the spinal cord or on a single nerve fiber and cause symptoms of pain either around the damaged disk or anywhere along the area controlled by that nerve.
The layman's term "slipped disk" is, therefore, a misnomer and actually refers to a condition whereby portions of an abnormal, injured, or degenerated disk have protruded against nerve tissues. This condition is also known as a herniated, ruptured, prolapsed, or more commonly, slipped disk. The most frequently affected area is in the low back, but actually any disk can rupture, including those in the neck.
Picture of herniated disk between L4 and L5
Read What Your Physician is Reading on eMedicine
Lumbar (Intervertebral) Disk Disorders »
Lumbar disk disease is a frequent source of low back pain.
