Patient questions · Sciatica
How do I know if I have sciatica?
Answered by Dr. Q
Move Better · Portland, OR & Vancouver, WA · Updated July 2026
Sciatica is nerve pain that travels down one leg — sharp, electric, or burning, often with numbness or tingling — not a dull ache that stays in your back. That's how you know it's sciatica. But the question that actually matters is why the nerve is getting irritated for you, and why this leg. Two people with the same scan can have completely different reasons, specific to how each of them loads and moves.
Ask us anything about your sciatica — in your own words. Type a question, or tap one of the ideas below.
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Answers come from Move Better's own approach. This is guidance, not a diagnosis — nothing here replaces a look in person.
What sciatica actually is — and isn’t
“Sciatica” isn’t a diagnosis. It’s a symptom — a sign that the sciatic nerve, or one of the nerve roots that feeds it, is being irritated somewhere along its path. The nerve can be compressed or sensitized at several different points between the low back and the leg. The pattern we’re listening for: pain that travels down the leg, often sharp, electric, or burning, sometimes with a numb or tingling band. When it drops below the knee, the nerve is almost always part of the story. A dull ache that stays in the low back or buttock, without that traveling quality, is a different conversation entirely.
What sciatica is not is a root cause. It’s the nerve telling you something is putting pressure on it — and that something has a specific reason in your body.
There’s logic to why it happened where it happened
Most people assume it’s a disc, and sometimes that’s part of the picture. But the more useful question is why that spot, and why now. In our clinic, when someone comes in with this kind of pain, the first thing we do is watch them move — because there has to be some logic as to why this happened in the first place, and why it showed up where it did. The reason is almost never random. It’s found in how a person loads and moves, and watching that in person is what starts to reveal it.
Why one leg, and not the other
The asymmetry is worth sitting with. It’s almost always one leg, one side — and that’s information. Something about the way you load, stand, sit, or move is concentrating on that side rather than distributing through the whole system. What that something is varies from person to person, which is exactly why two people with the same imaging can need completely different approaches.
If any of this is accompanied by progressive numbness or weakness, or changes in bladder or bowel function, that warrants prompt in-person care. For everything else, the only way to know what’s driving yours is to be seen moving. That’s where the answer lives.
This is general education, not a diagnosis. If you have severe or rapidly worsening symptoms — or any loss of bladder or bowel control — seek medical care right away. Otherwise, the fastest way to know what's driving your pain is to have someone watch you move.