Brief Answer:
may not always be related to serious spinal diseas

Detailed Answer:
HI, thanks for using healthcare magic

It does not always imply that there is serious spinal injury.

Sciatica is pain in the buttocks and legs that occurs along the path of the sciatic nerves.

Sciatic and most of lower back pain that occurs with aging is usually related to changes in the intervertebral discs. These are discs that are found between the vertebra (bones in the back).

These discs are made up of an outer ring called the annulus fibrosus and an inner area called the nucleous pulposus.These are made up of primarily water. They help to support the body's load and help to distribute the forces throughout the body.

Due to very small tears that occur over time and also loss of the water in these intervertebral disc, they cannot work as well and bones undergo changes due to the impact of weight and force on them.
The bones may become closer as the disc become narrower.

This causes the nerves to be slightly compressed. One of the nerves that may be compressed is the sciatic nerve.
This compression can result in sciatica symptoms. Sciatica and low back pain are common problems.

Other causes of sciatica are:(1)slipped discs
(2)bone disease such as pagets
(3)infection in the spine
(4)acute injury in the spine


The main aspect of treatment is physical therapy and medication. Physical therapy can be both passive and active

Passive would include the heat and ice you are currently doing though there are other types such as traction, electric muscle stimulation, manual stimulation of the spine.

Active therapy would be the exercises. Your doctor should be able to refer you to a physical therapist that can go through exercises that would help.

Medications- the pain killers you are using, you should know that ibuprofen can be taken 1200 to 3200 daily, this means that you can go up to 800mg 3 times a day if needed
This should be taken with meals to avoid irritation of the stomach.

There are also other medications if this is not enough.

Summary: (1) does not always imply serious spinal disease. May be related to spinal changes to discs and bones that occur with age
(2)may be treated with physical therapy and medications

I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions

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