Sciatica

The term sciatica describes the symptoms of leg pain and possibly tingling, numbness or weakness that travels from the low back through the buttock and down the large sciatic nerve in the back of the leg. The vast majority of people who experience sciatica get better with time (usually a few weeks or months) and find pain relief with non-surgical treatment. For others, however, sciatica can be severe and debilitating.

The clinical diagnosis of sciatica is referred to as a "radiculopathy", which means simply that a disc has protruded from its normal position in the vertebral column and is putting pressure on the radicular nerve (nerve root) in the lower back, which forms part of the sciatic nerve.

An important thing to understand is that sciatica is a symptom of a problem—of something compressing or irritating the nerve roots that comprise the sciatic nerve—rather than a medical diagnosis or medical disorder in an of itself. This is an important distinction because it is the underlying diagnosis (vs. the symptoms of sciatica) that often needs to be treated in order to relieve sciatic nerve pain. Common causes of sciatica are a lumbar herniated disc, spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease or spondylolisthesis.

Source:Spine Health

Yesterday I went to see my doctor about the pain I've been having in my hip and lower back. I've had that pain in my left hip for quite a while now but this past week the pain seemed to have spread to my lower back.

The thing with this pain is that after a period of sitting (like in front of my pc!) it hurts like hell when I get up! Everything feels stiff and sore!

My doctor sent me for x-rays on my lower back, and has scheduled me for physical therapy. He thinks what I have is sciatica.

I have a class to attend on Thursday prior to the physical therapy sessions. Looking forward to those physical therapy sessions! I can just hear myself crying in pain! Haha.