Sciatica
What is it?
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Sciatica is an umbrella term used to describe leg symptoms that arise from the back.
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There are many different causes of sciatica.
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Symptoms may come on suddenly and be constant or intermittent.
Typical Symptoms/features
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Leg pain on one or both legs.
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Tingling, pins and needles or numbness in the leg or foot.
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May have weakness in the calf or muscles around the ankle.
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Symptoms may come and go or be constant.
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Pain can be worse on coughing or sneezing.
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Symptoms often worse with staying in one position too long or bending.
Management
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Activity modification
- When you first start noticing pain, it may help to reduce your activity for a short amount of time to allow the pain to settle.
- However, there is strong evidence that says keeping active and slowly returning to your normal levels of activity can actually help the pain to settle quicker.
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Ice or heat
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Pain relief
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Physiotherapy including range of movement exercises and a graded strengthening programme.
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Orthopaedic options- In more severe and/or prolonged cases, orthopaedic opinion may be indicated to help with leg symptoms.
Do I need imaging?
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Imaging (X-rays or scans) is not routinely required to diagnose sciatic pain.
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Scans correlate poorly with symptoms. Most people without low back pain have changes on scans and x-rays which do not cause any pain at all.
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However, MRI may be appropriate if symptoms do not improve with conservative measures and surgery is being considered.
