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Sciatica

Overview

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Symptoms of sciatica include shooting pain that starts in your lower back or bottom and runs down the back of your leg, often to your foot and toes.

If you have sciatica, carrying on with your normal activities, doing back exercises and using heat packs on the painful areas can help.

Common treatments for sciatica include exercises and stretches. Other treatments like injections or surgery may help if it does not get better.

You get sciatica when something presses or rubs on the sciatic nerve. The most common cause is a slipped disc in your spine.

Sciatica is pain caused by an irritated nerve. It usually affects one side, starting from the lower back or bottom and spreading down one leg.

Page last reviewed: 08/09/2020
Next review due: 08/09/2023