Symptom checker
Sciatica Symptom Checker
Sciatica is a description of a symptom, not a diagnosis, and plenty of leg pain that gets called sciatica is not coming from a spinal nerve at all. The useful questions are how far down the leg it travels, whether the pattern matches a single nerve root, and whether anything outside the spine explains it better. This checker works through all three.
Free symptom checker, built by spine surgeons
Answer questions about your symptoms and add your MRI, CT or X-ray report if you have one. You get a written summary of what your answers point toward, and what to ask about next.
Start the free assessmentWhat the assessment asks you
- How far down the leg the pain travels, and whether it passes the knee.
- Which part of the foot or toes is affected, which points at a specific nerve root.
- Whether coughing, sneezing or sitting makes it worse.
- Any weakness lifting the foot, pushing off, or climbing stairs.
- What a lumbar MRI report says, if you have one.
Conditions this can point to
Each guide below is written by a spine surgeon and sets out what the condition is, how it is assessed, and the warning signs it carries.
- Lower Back
Lumbar Disc Herniation
When part of a disc in the lower back displaces and presses on a nerve root, causing sciatica: pain, numbness, or weakness down the leg.
- Lower Back
Lumbar Radiculopathy
A pinched or inflamed nerve root in the lower back that sends sharp, burning, or electric pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness down the leg.
- Lower Back
Lumbar Foraminal Stenosis
A narrowing of the bony exit channel through which a lumbar nerve root leaves the spine, causing sharp, radiating leg pain, numbness, and sometimes weakness.
- Lower Back
Lumbar Lateral Recess Stenosis
A focal narrowing of the subarticular zone of the lumbar spine that compresses a traversing nerve root, producing leg pain, numbness, and sometimes weakness along a specific dermatomal pattern.
- Lower Back
Isthmic Spondylolisthesis
A forward slip of one lumbar vertebra onto the one below, caused by a stress fracture in the small bony bridge at the back of the spine.
- Pelvis
SI Joint Pain as a Spine Mimic
Pain from the SI joint, where your pelvis meets the base of your spine, is commonly mistaken for a lumbar disc or nerve problem.
- General
Hip Osteoarthritis as a Spine Mimic
Hip osteoarthritis frequently mimics lumbar spine conditions by producing groin, thigh, and buttock pain that overlaps with spinal nerve-root territories, making accurate diagnosis essential before any treatment is started.
- General
Peripheral Neuropathy as a Spine Mimic
A disorder of the peripheral nerves that produces numbness, tingling, burning pain, and weakness resembling a spinal pinched nerve or cord compression.
Common questions
- How do I know if it is really sciatica?
- Genuine nerve root pain usually travels in a band down the leg, often below the knee, and tends to come with numbness or tingling in a specific patch of the foot or toes. Pain that stops at the buttock or outer thigh, or that has no numbness with it, is more often the sacroiliac joint, the hip, or referred pain from the back itself. The checker asks how far the pain goes and what it reaches, which is what separates them.
- What is the difference between sciatica and a pinched nerve?
- They usually describe the same thing from different angles. Sciatica is the symptom, meaning pain running down the sciatic nerve distribution. A pinched nerve, or radiculopathy, is the mechanism, meaning a nerve root is being compressed or irritated where it leaves the spine. Sciatica is one of the ways a pinched lumbar nerve announces itself.
- When is sciatica an emergency?
- Sciatica affecting both legs at once, numbness around the groin or inner thighs, or any new difficulty controlling your bladder or bowel needs emergency assessment the same day rather than an appointment. A foot that has suddenly become hard to lift also needs urgent review.
- Can sciatica go away on its own?
- Often yes. A large share of disc-related sciatica improves over weeks to a few months without surgery. What changes that calculation is weakness that is worsening, pain that is not responding at all, or the emergency signs above, which is why tracking the direction of travel matters as much as the pain score.
Want to read through the possibilities instead of answering questions? The sciatica differential guide compares the spinal causes side by side with the conditions that mimic them.
This symptom checker is general education, not medical advice, and it cannot diagnose you. It cannot account for your examination findings or your full history. Use it to prepare for an appointment with a qualified clinician, not to replace one. If you have any of the warning signs listed on this page, seek urgent care now.