Sciatica &
Nerve Pain
Sharp, burning, electric pain from your lower back down your leg. Sciatica has a cause — and a solution.
Sciatica — Nerve Pain from the Lower Back
Nerve pain that originates in the spine and travels into the leg — often sharp, burning, or electric in character.
Sciatica is a symptom, not a diagnosis. It means a nerve is being compressed somewhere along its path. Finding and treating the cause — not just the pain — is what resolves it.
Overview
Sciatica is one of the most searched spine complaints in Pune — and one of the most misunderstood. The term describes pain that travels along the sciatic nerve from the lower back into the leg, most commonly caused by a herniated disc or slip disc pressing on a nerve root in the lumbar spine. It is a symptom, not a stand-alone diagnosis.
What Causes It?
The most common cause is a disc herniation (slip disc) compressing a lumbar nerve root. Spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, and occasionally a tumour or cyst can also compress the sciatic nerve or its contributing roots. In rare cases, the sciatic nerve is compressed outside the spine — piriformis syndrome is one such example.
What Does It Feel Like?
Typically: a sharp, shooting, burning, or electric pain that starts in the lower back or buttock and travels down one leg — often to the foot. Numbness and tingling in the leg or foot are common. Prolonged sitting, sneezing, or coughing often worsen it. Some patients describe their leg as feeling "dead" or disconnected.
How Is It Diagnosed?
Clinical examination — including the straight leg raise test and neurological assessment — identifies which nerve root is affected. MRI confirms the structural cause. Where MRI is unclear or multiple levels are involved, a Selective Nerve Root Block (SNRB) can precisely identify the culprit nerve.
Non-Surgical Treatment
Structured physiotherapy addressing the underlying cause — not just the leg pain — is the first treatment. Anti-inflammatory medications reduce nerve swelling during acute episodes. Nerve root steroid injections can provide significant temporary relief and are sometimes used to manage pain while the disc heals naturally.
When Is Surgery Considered?
Surgery is considered when the pain is severe and unresponsive to conservative care, when neurological deficits are progressive, or when there are red flag symptoms — weakness, loss of bladder or bowel control. Microdiscectomy for sciatica caused by disc herniation has a high success rate and a well-established recovery profile.
Sciatica that is caused by a disc herniation has an excellent response to microdiscectomy — most patients experience significant leg pain relief within days of surgery.
Recovery
Most patients are mobile within 24 hours of microdiscectomy and discharged within two to three days. Physiotherapy begins two to four weeks after surgery. Return to desk work is generally possible within four to six weeks. Return to physical work or sport takes three to six months, guided by clinical progress.
Ready to understand
your options?
A consultation will give you a clear diagnosis and a plan — conservative or surgical, whatever applies to your situation.