Learn about the symptoms of sciatica

Sciatica has more than one symptom that can afflict a person with multiple causes that lead to its occurrence. In the following article, we learn about the risk factors and signs that predict the occurrence of sciatica.

Sciatica symptoms

Sciatica is one of the diseases that directly affect the nerve, specifically the sciatic nerve, and it causes inflammation and pressure that causes severe pain in this part, and the sciatic nerve starts from the last part of the spinal cord and passes through the buttocks and thighs until it reaches the palms of the feet, so it is the longest and thickest nerve in the human body.

Mostly, sciatica begins in middle age, about from the thirties until the fifties of human life, and pregnant women are the most susceptible to infection due to the extra load and pressure that occurs on the sciatic nerve, and doctors explained that the causes of the occurrence of true sciatica are few, but the name is given to describe the pain that affects the spine.

Symptoms and signs of sciatica

The sciatic nerve, which is affected by sciatica, is the thickest in the body. It is similar in width to a finger and starts from the lower back and reaches to the toes. It has some symptoms, including:

• The patient may feel pain in the lower back.
• The pain ranges from mild to severe.
• Sciatica can start as a sudden shock that feels like burning or tingling.
• The pain reaches the leg and increases when sitting for long periods, sneezing, or coughing.
• The patient begins to feel severe pain in one of the buttocks.
• Sciatica patients experience weakness in the affected leg muscles.

The most serious symptoms of sciatica

Other symptoms can affect the patient and appear in cases of severe sciatica, including:

• An increase in the temperature of the affected part, especially the lower back.
• The appearance of signs of redness and swelling in the spine.
• Feeling of tingling or burning in the thighs.
• The sciatica patient has difficulty urinating.
• Symptoms can include loss of bladder control and bowel disorders.

Symptoms of sciatica in the left leg

Sciatica can occur in both halves of the body or only one half, and it causes general weakness for the patient, and symptoms appear in the left leg as follows:

• Symptoms appear with pain in the last part of the back vertebrae.
• Sciatica patients suffer from tingling and burning sensations in the leg.
• Sudden bouts of pain, especially after sitting for a long time.
• The pain begins to radiate from the hip down into the leg, impeding movement.

Symptoms of sciatica in the right leg

There is more than one way to treat sciatica, including surgery, but the pain can often be treated within weeks of starting treatment, and to get to know better the symptoms of sciatica in the right foot, we explain it to you as follows:

• A sciatica patient experiences severe pain at the end of the spine.
• The pain extends from the back to the buttocks and thigh and reaches the affected toes.
• The pain can feel like throbbing or stabbing pains in the right leg.
• The pain becomes more intense with persistence in one position for a while, and the person may experience numbness.
• In extreme cases, a person can develop cauda equina syndrome, which is the loss of bladder control.

Causes and risk factors for sciatica

No research confirmed that women suffer more from sciatica than men, but most people suffer from this disease at the age of 30 to 50 years of age, and there are more than one factor that may help a person suffer from sciatica, including:

• Spondylolisthesis

There are discs between the vertebrae in the spine that act as cushions to reduce pressure on the vertebrae and absorb shocks to protect the spine, and slippage can occur in one of the discs as a result of weakness, especially at the end of the spine, which causes pressure on the sciatic nerve, causing sciatica for a period of up to 6 weeks.

• Spinal stenosis

This narrowing of the nerve passages through which the spinal cord runs down the spine occurs as a result of swelling or enlargement of the ligaments, which puts pressure on the sciatic nerve, causing sciatica, and most of the time these symptoms appear in the elderly as a result of changes affecting the joints at this age.

• Piriformis syndrome (pseudo-sciatica)

The pear muscle is one of the muscles of the buttocks and starts from the end of the spinal cord in the lower back to the upper part of the thigh and is located directly above the sciatic nerve, and if inflammation occurs in the muscle, its pain resembles the pain caused by sciatica, so it is called false sciatica.

• Spinal tumors

It is considered one of the rare causes of sciatica, which are tumors that appear on the spinal cord or the sciatic nerve itself, causing pressure on the nerve, and resulting in severe sciatic nerve pain.

• Other reasons

There is more than one other reason that can affect the sciatic nerve, including aging diseases, obesity, diabetes, smoking, and sometimes jobs that require sitting for long periods, such as driving.