When patients experience shooting pains in the buttocks or legs, many mistake it for a pulled muscle or location-specific injury. However, this pain may be the symptom of a much larger issue occurring in the spine. Whether it’s pain, numbness, or weakness in the legs, these symptoms are often diagnosed as sciatica. When I speak to patients, there is often confusion about what sciatica means and how it can be treated. Today, I’m explaining the condition, what causes the pain, who is at risk, and a few simple treatment options. What is sciatica? To be clear, sciatica is actually a catch-all term that describes symptoms such as leg pain, tingling, numbness or weakness that originates in the lower back and travels through the buttock and down into the leg. Therefore, sciatica is not a medical condition that can be treated on its own. Rather, it is a symptom of an underlying medical condition. Who is at risk? While sciatic pain can occur at any stage in life, men and women between the ages of 30 and 50 are most likely to experience it.  Those with arthritis, diabetes, and high BMIs are also more likely to suffer from sciatica. Pregnant women