Description
•
The term “sciatica” describes the symptoms of sciatic nerve pain radiating down the
posterior leg.
(
42
)
It has also been used to describe paresthesia from the low back to
below the knee or referred to the posterior thigh, calf, and foot. Sciatica is commonly
attributed only to lumbosacral radicular pain.
(
1
,
2
)
However, sciatica implies either
radicular or referred lower extremity pain/paresthesia that involves a lesion of sciatic
nerve root(s) or anywhere along the sciatic nerve itself
•
Sciatica is strongly associated with low back pain (LBP), which has multiple causes
including spinalpathogenesis.
(
31
)
Most commonly affected are the
L4-5,
L5-S1
and
L3-4
nerve levels
(
42
)
•
There is consensus that treatment of sciatica should be conservative in the first 6 to 8
weeks after onset because most new cases resolve in the short term