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My Sciatica Is Acting Up: 5 Myths About Sciatica

My sciatica is acting up again....

Or is it? The fact is most patients don't know what sciatica really is. Even more interesting, many in the health care field misuse the term daily.

Our longest nerve in the body, the sciatic nerve travels from the lower back and buttocks into the legs. It is very common for people to have problems with the sciatic nerve, including sciatica. However, many people are unaware and misinformed as to what sciatica actually is.

Let's set the record straight on some common myths about sciatica.

Myth #1: Sciatica is a medical condition.

The truth:…

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Featured

 Think you have sciatica? It’s not as common as people assume, says physical therapy expert

U of A researcher recommends exercise over painkillers for treating the painful nerve condition.

Articles of Interest

A Guide to Sciatica Treatment for Patients

By far the least common cause of sciatica is an intervertebral disc herniation pressing on the roots of the sciatic nerve in the low back. As with piriformis syndrome, the symptoms may be caused by muscular dysfunction.

Get relief from your sciatica pain

Sciatica, one of the most common forms of back pain, has come to be an overused term identifying many types of back pain, veering from its original meaning. Not all back pain is sciatica, but sciatica can be a form of back pain. And while consultation from a medical professional is the best course of action, there are a few things that you can try at home to limit the pain.

Oral Steroids May Be Ineffective Against Sciatica Back Pain

Prednisone, a drug commonly prescribed to treat acute sciatica — the back and leg pain caused by a herniated disk — is almost completely ineffective against the condition, a randomized trial has found.

Our Towns; My Summer Of Sciatica, A Royal Pain

NOTHING quite underscores the driving force of suburban life like sciatica. The sciatic nerve runs down the leg like an expressway, and just as a fender-bender in Jericho can ruin traffic along the Long Island Expressway to Ronkonkoma, the nerve in distress can turn life's little annoyances into true misery.

Piriformis Syndome: A Pain in the Back

Even though you back is flawless, the piriformis muscle in the buttock may tighten, go into spasm and entrap the sciatica nerve, causing the same symptoms and misery that come with herniated discs.

What You Need to Know About Sciatica

Sciatica (pronounced sigh-at-eh-kah) is not a medical diagnosis in and of itself—it is a symptom of an underlying medical condition. Common lower back problems that can cause sciatica symptoms include a lumbar herniated disc, degenerative disc disease, spondylolisthesis, or spinal stenosis.

Resources

7 Things Only People With Sciatica Understand

Here's the opposite of a fun fact: 8 out of 10 of us will be laid low by back pain at some point in our lives, according to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. However, there's back pain, and then there's back pain, as anyone who has experienced the agony of sciatica can tell you. Here's how to better understand what those who suffer from this condition are really going through—and how to cope if you're the unlucky one.

The Sciatica Authority

Welcome to The Sciatica Authority, the most comprehensive encyclopedia of back, buttocks, leg and foot pain information on the internet. This web community is a completely free health resource run by a combined effort of doctors and patients working together to provide advocacy and education services. Sciatica is certainly one of the most misunderstood of all pain problems, not only by patients, by unfortunately, by doctors too.

Hey Ron! - Sciatica Can Suck It

Bottom line: I want to be mobile. If I’m ever the guy who has to use a cane or crutches or one of those wheel things I’ll be bugging out, because I don’t know how to be old. I don’t know what that is.

NHS

Sciatica is the name given to any sort of pain that is caused by irritation or compression of the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in your body. It runs from the back of your pelvis, through your buttocks, and all the way down both legs, ending at your feet.