
/sciatic_nerve_pain-7f550cf645d74f7a83efab35146772a3.jpg)

Research suggests sciatica resolves spontaneously (without treatment) for most people, but others experience chronic (long-lasting) sciatica that may require medical intervention, such as physical therapy, spinal injections (for pain), and surgery.

It most often affects people who are in their forties or fifties. Up to 40 percent of adults in the United States experience sciatica at some point in their life. The terms sciatica and lumbar radiculopathy are sometimes used synonymously, though sciatica may also be referred to as lumbosacral radicular syndrome, nerve root pain, and nerve root entrapment. Sciatica is a common manifestation of lumbar (or lumbosacral) radiculopathy, which refers to any disorder affecting the nerve roots in the lower back, often including the sciatic nerve. It refers most commonly to nerve pain along the path of the sciatic nerve - the longest and thickest nerve in the human body, extending from the back of the pelvis down through the back of the thighs to just below the knees. Sciatica is not a medical condition on its own, but rather a nonspecific term used to describe a variety of leg or back symptoms as a result of a medical problem, according to an article published in March 2015 in The New England Journal of Medicine.
