Sciatica backache is only part of the total tormenting experience suffered by many patients and is actually not even part of the actual symptom set of true sciatic nerve pain. Sciatica is well known for a diverse symptomology, including pain, tingling, numbness and weakness in the buttocks, legs and feet, but is also typically accompanied by low back ache in most patients.
However, lower back pain, while a common shared symptom, is not an expression of real sciatica. This is because the sciatic nerve does not serve the neurological needs of the lower back in any way. The sciatic nerve is composed from nerve roots which are involved in causing some varieties of lower back pain, but the actual sciatic nerve itself does not extend up high enough to play any role by itself.
It is for this reason that there is truly no such thing as sciatica back pain, even though this is purely a technicality of nomenclature. This essay will explain why sciatica and lower back ache are not identical conditions.
Sciatica Backache Locations
Most actual back pain associated with sciatica occurs at the lumbo-sacral junction of L5/S1 or lower. Many patients endure symptoms at this level primarily, while others suffer debilitating and posture-destroying pain right above the cleft of the buttocks. Still others have their worst pain lower, near the coccyx. Back pain which occurs higher than L5 may certainly include sciatica symptoms, but these conditions are rarer.
Back ache strikes every sufferer differently, with some enduring a chronic achiness, while others are completely crippled by intense waves of spasm.
Personally, I fought off both of these pain patterns during the decades I suffered with sciatica and ferocious lower back pain. Recurrent acute pain was the rule for many years, followed by a transition to less intense, but ever-present chronic symptoms later on.
Sciatica Back Pain Expressions
Sciatica back pain may be the main symptomatic expression or a secondary burden to bear. In my case, the back pain was the worst imaginable, while the leg and foot symptoms were less brutal. However, I talk to many of you who endure the opposite pattern, with the leg pain being unbearable and the back pain being non-existent or at least not overly debilitating.
Back spasm can occur in the worst cases of sciatica back pain, as I well know. This was the true torture of living with my pain, especially for the first 10 years. I endured several instances of sciatica muscle spasms which literally crippled me for weeks at a time.
Sciatica Backache Suffering
I know what it is like to suffer with tormenting combination pain. I know how frustrating it can be to visit doctor after doctor without realizing any semblance of relief. I lived this nightmare for much of my life and paid for the displeasure of it out of my own pocket. Speaking of adding insult to injury.
Anyway, there is hope for those who will stay focused and objective. You must realize that some cases of chronic sciatica are misdiagnosed and are not sourced by the plethora of structural scapegoats diagnosed by medical doctors.
Do the research for yourself. You will soon see that the symptoms expected from a diagnosis rarely match the actual ones experienced by any given patient. The Cartesian philosophy of medicine has doomed most patients by blaming all ills on anatomical coincidences. It is a shame.
Understand also that although sciatica and lower back pain might exist concurrently, they are not inherently linked to the same source process, although they certainly may be. Some patients demonstrate several explanatory reasons why sciatica and low back ache might exist.
Never assume a common or separate causation, but always seek objective evaluation by a neurological professional for best treatment results.
