Many people say "sciatica" for any back pain, but the two are not the same. Telling them apart helps you choose the right approach and know when to get checked.
What is the difference?
Ordinary low back pain stays mainly in the lower back, sometimes spreading to the buttock. It is often described as a dull ache or tightness and usually changes with posture and movement.
Sciatica is pain that travels from the lower back or buttock down the back of the thigh, often below the knee, along the path of the sciatic nerve. It is often sharp, burning or electric, and may come with tingling, numbness or weakness in the leg or foot. It frequently affects one side only.
Common triggers
- A bulging or herniated disc pressing on a nerve root.
- Narrowing of the spinal canal, more common with age.
- Tight deep buttock muscles irritating the nerve.
- Prolonged sitting, awkward lifting, or a sudden increase in activity.
Signs that point to sciatica
- Pain or tingling that reaches below the knee.
- Leg pain that is worse than the back pain.
- Pain that increases with sitting, coughing or sneezing.
- A feeling of pins and needles or weakness in the foot or toes.
What can help
Most sciatica improves over weeks with the right approach. Staying gently active, avoiding long unbroken sitting, and using positions that ease the leg symptoms usually help. A physiotherapist can identify which movements calm the nerve and which aggravate it, then guide nerve mobility work, core and hip strengthening, and posture changes. Treatment is matched to your examination findings, not applied the same way to everyone.
Get medical help urgently if
- You have numbness around the groin or buttocks, or trouble controlling urine or stool.
- Leg weakness is getting worse, or your foot drags.
- Pain follows an accident, or comes with fever or unexplained weight loss.
Next step
If your leg symptoms last more than a couple of weeks, or keep returning, book an assessment. At VPARC in Kamachha, Varanasi, Dr. Prashant Punj (PT) examines the spine, hips and nerve function before suggesting a plan.