Why Your Lower Back Pain Radiates Into Your Leg (Sciatica Explained) | Brooklyn NYC

Lower back pain traveling into your leg? Learn why sciatica happens and how physical therapy and acupuncture in Brooklyn NYC can relieve nerve pain without injections or surgery.

Why Your Lower Back Pain Radiates Into Your Leg (Sciatica Explained) | Brooklyn NYC

Lower back pain traveling into your leg? Learn why sciatica happens and how physical therapy and acupuncture in Brooklyn NYC can relieve nerve pain without injections or surgery.


What Is Sciatica?

Sciatica is not just back pain—it is nerve pain caused by irritation or compression of the sciatic nerve, which originates in the lower spine and travels down the leg.

Unlike muscle pain, sciatica follows a specific nerve pathway, often affecting one side of the body.


Why Pain Travels Down the Leg

The sciatic nerve is formed by nerve roots exiting the lumbar spine (L4–S3). When one of these roots is compressed—most commonly by a herniated disc or spinal narrowing—the brain interprets pain along the entire nerve path.