Sciatica

Sciatica pain causes pain in the back, in the leg, in the calf and down into the foot, originating from the sciatic nerve. The triggering pain can have many causes.

What is sciatica?

Do you experience pain in your back, in your buttock, and it radiates out into your calf? Perhaps it hurts to move and sit down? These symptoms are classic sciatica pain, and they are named after the nerve from which the pain originates, namely the sciatic nerve. 

The pain occurs because the sciatic nerve is affected somewhere along its course from the lower back, through the buttock, down into the leg and all the way out into the foot. This is why the location of pain varies. The symptoms can be caused by all forms of pressure and traction on the nerve.

Symptoms of sciatica pain

• Tight musculature in the buttock
• Damage to a disc in the lower back
• Calcification in the vertebrae
• Inflammatory conditions or a tumour – the latter is rare, however

In approximately 90 per cent of cases, the pain is caused by the nerve being affected by pressure from a disc in the lower back. Or by the nerve being compressed as it passes through the deep gluteal musculature.

Treatment of sciatica and lumbago

Treatment is directed at the underlying cause and will most often consist of targeted physiotherapy.

It is crucial to establish the correct diagnosis in order to determine an appropriate treatment strategy.

• Bechterew’s disease and psoriatic arthritis
• Inflammation of vertebrae and discs
• Disc prolapse
• Osteoarthritis
• Spondylolisthesis

Our rheumatologists offer rapid and precise diagnosis of spinal disorders with symptoms such as back pain possibly with radiating pain to the legs (sciatica) or neck pain possibly with radiation to the arms.