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What is sciatica?
Sciatica is leg pain brought about by a squeezed nerve in the lower back. Despite the fact that the throbs start in nerve roots situated on either side of the lower spine, they then course through the sciatic nerve, which runs the length of every leg starting from the buttock to the foot. The leg distress, called radiculopathy, "is often more awful than the back pain," says William A. Abdu, MD, medicinal chief of the Spine Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Normally felt in one leg, the sensation "can be excruciating," says Birgit Ruppert, a physical advisor at the Spine Center. "A few people compare i