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. It's rarely just "a disc" — it's how you're loading, and where, specific to you.
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
“Sciatica” isn’t a diagnosis — it’s a symptom. It means something is irritating the sciatic nerve or one of its roots. That something is what we’re actually after. Most of the time it isn’t the disc everyone worries about; it’s how you’re loading your low back and hip over the course of a day.
How we tell it apart — and find your reason
When someone comes in convinced they have sciatica, the first thing I do is watch them move. Pain that travels below the knee points to the nerve; a numb or tingling band is the nerve talking; and if bending forward reliably lights it up while standing eases it, that’s a pattern we can work with. Those tell us the nerve is involved — but why it’s your leg, and what’s loading it, is what watching you move answers.
Why one leg, and not the other
Here’s the part worth sitting with: it’s almost always one leg. That asymmetry is information — something about how you load, stand, or move is concentrating on one side. Rest tends to backfire, because the nerve likes movement that opens its space. We find the directions that calm it, get you moving, then change the pattern that put the pressure on your side in the first place.
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.