Question
I am suffering from Sciatica from 8th Feb 2013. My age is 57. I felt severe pain in my back and left leg running down to pain in calf and little inflammation in foot during first 4 days and after that it decreased but still I feel pain in leg and back and especially in left calf. I feel severe pain after arising from my bed and after 2 hours I get some relief. I want to ask you Sir that are those symptoms mentioned above of Sciatica or some other problem? And one thing here to mention that my pain becomes severe due to warming. And can I take a bath or can I perform ablution? Is there any bad effect of ablution( cleaning the foot with water ). Is there any bad effect of applying water on the left leg as I have pain in my back and left leg.

Answer
Dear Mohammad,

I am sorry about the leg pain.  This definitely could the "sciatica", as you say.  Sciatica is pain in the leg resulting from nerve irritation or compression, usually occuring in the lumbar spine, but at times in the muscles of the buttocks.  I find that it is usually the former, and not the latter.

In order to diagnose this condition correctly, an MRI of the lumbar spine should be performed. It will show the intervertebral discs, and help you to know which, if any, are degenerating and/or bluging/herniating, and applying pressure to the spinal cord or to the nerve roots as they exit the spinal cord.

The act of bathing or washing might requires some positioning that could aggravate your pain. The water and bathing itself will not have an affect, one way or the other, on the leg pain.  In other words, water is not going to make things worse, but if you are bending over to wash your feet, this could put stress on the lower back and increase your back pain and leg pain, if in deed you are truly suffering from sciatic neuralgia resulting from lumbar disc herniation.

There are other conditions that can cause leg pain, such as circulation issues in the leg.

The most important thing is to get to a good doctor for evaluation and treatment of the condition, otherwise we are only speculating as to the cause of your symptoms.

Good Luck,

Keith Biggs, DC