..literally. I wondered what folks might make of this. I started to get this faint burning in my right calf about four months ago. It's come and gone a few times then i got a numbness/burning in the other calf. About two weeks ago i noticed a deep ache in both buttocks when sitting down, particularly bad on one side. When i sit down i get a crampy aching burning feeling down the back of my thighs as well as the backside ache. I wake up in the morning with lower back pain but after applying a hot compress it wears off the rest of the day. I thought i must have sciatica. I googles treatment for this and saw some excercises. First day i did some hamstring stretches the numbness in my calves literally went and hasn't some back but the rest of the problems are not improving, ibuprofen works to some effect. Doctor prescribed me Naproxen but i stopped taking it after two days as it didn't bring any pain relief. He doesn't think i have sciatica as such as it's bilateral. He thinks i've injured my back causing muscular inflamation which is aggravating the sciatic nerve. However, i really don't have any pain in my back. Any thoughts. Thanks for your time.

Huh? He doesn't think you have sciatica, but he thinks you've aggravated your sciatic nerve? Umm... Okay....

I get how you thought it might be sciatic; I was thinking the same thing as I was reading.

Nerves can be funny that way; they can telegraph pain some distance from where the actual injury/strain/whathaveyou is.

Did he happen to offer any suggestions besides Naproxen?

I can think of a few things, but they all involve taking care of yourself, not straining anything, and "wait & see"ing... Then call him back when you're not getting any better. Maybe others have some better ideas.

Doc

--there may be an injury or inflammation of the lumbosacral plexus, which brings together fibers from the nerve roots from the lower lumbar and the sacral areas before these nerves re-branch out to form the sciatic nerve and others:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gray828.png

If there's a problem here, one may feel symptoms down the legs, but also in the butt or along the pelvis (the S2/S3 roots feed the pudendal nerve that runs along the edge of the butt and the nerves that branch to the genitals).

You have it on both sides? Or just one?

I have been struggling with sciatica off and on for several years.

First thing is to rule out causes in the back/spine. The pain doesn't always manifest in the back even if that's where it's coming from, apparently. Have you had an MRI?

Then, there are things that can go wrong in the lumbo-sacral area, mis-alignment of the pelvis and/or hips, or muscle or myofascial tension in the lumbar area, hips, hamstrings, and calves. Super fun, huh?

What kind of doctor are you seeing? I have seen everything from a chiropractor to a spinal surgeon to a pain specialist to a back and neck specialist to a physiatrist. So far, the physiatrist has been most helpful for me.