What Is Sciatica and How Does the Sciatic Nerve Cause It?
The term sciatica refers to pain that is emanating from the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is actually a conglomeration of numerous nerve roots that meet up after coming off from the remnant of the spinal cord. After the first lumbar level, the spinal cord ends and is referred to as the dural sac. It still looks like the spinal cord, but at that point it basically contains nerve filaments and emits a nerve root on each side at each level of the spine. There are five lumbar vertebrae in a normal spine. At each of these levels a nerve root comes out on each side and is named according to that level. If a nerve root comes out at the fourth lumbar vertebra level, it’s called L4. At the fifth lumbar level, it’s called L5. Below the five lumbar vertebrae lies the sacrum. The sacrum is one bony anatomic element, however there are holes throughout the sacrum where nerve roots come out as well. The first sacral nerve root is called S1. The sciatic nerve, as mentioned, is a nerve that combines
