Sciatica/pain down the leg

The sciatic (sigh-AT-ik) nerve provides sensation and controls the muscles of your lower back and legs. Sciatica is compressive pain, or nerve related pain, that occurs when those nerve roots are irritated or pinched. A herniated disc is the most common cause of sciatica (sigh-AT-ik-uh), but even carrying a wallet in your back pocket can attribute to the condition. One of the earliest signs of pressure on a nerve root can be numbness in the low back and thigh. You may also have accompanying low back, buttock, and hip pain, sometimes extending below the knee to the foot, and you may feel more comfortable standing than sitting. Straining, stooping, coughing, and sneezing can make the pain worse. Also, the muscles that the nerve controls may become weak and your reflexes may disappear. This happens because the pressure on your nerve roots interferes with the signals from your brain to your muscles, so there's no signal going from the brain to the muscle to tell it to contract. Your doctor may order X-rays to help determine the correct cause and best treatment.