Since time immemorial, there have been medical conditions that are associated with different groups of people. Conditions that affected children only, teenagers only, the elderly only, women only or even men only. The medical conditions affected selected groups only due to the differences in physiology among the groups. Apart from these segmented health conditions, there are others that do not discriminate among the groups; they affect everyone regardless of the differences in physiology. An example of these conditions is Sciatica, a medical condition of the spinal cord.
Sciatica is a condition associated with sciatic nerve pain, pain that originates in the spinal cord and flows through the lower back into the back of the leg. It gives the leg sharp pin like pain and sometimes numbness. The pain and or numbness may last for a very short time or for an abnormally long time. This depends on the severity of the condition.
Although it is a condition that can affect anyone, it is prevalent among people with a family history of the condition and people who spend a lot of their time standing still or seated.
The characteristics of the condition include one or more of these symptoms; tingling or burning pain along the leg. Numbness or weakness of the leg; it becomes very difficult to move the leg until the pain disappears. Sharp pain on the leg that makes it hard to stand or walk, one is forced to stay still in the position they were in before the condition. Constant ache in one of the legs or buttocks, the pain does not occur in two legs at the same time. Any pain on both legs is another condition different from Sciatica. There are different forms of the condition and the different forms come with different combinations of symptoms. Combinations of the symptoms also vary with the severity of the condition.
It has been a common and dangerous phenomenon of people ignoring this medical condition. Very few people seek medical condition when faced with it. They believe it to be a normal occurrence that does not have any serious effect. When not cured, Sciatica can have very serious effects. Since the condition originates from the irritation of the lumbar nerve, which is the largest nerve, continuous irritation or compression can lead to serious infection on the nerve make it unable to perform its function in the body.