The search for the meaning of a symptom: an historical view of Sciatica

Abstract

Aim

To examine the historical development of understanding of lower limb manifestations of low back pain.

Methods

The literature was reviewed using the term ‘Sciatica’ on databases Pubmed, Embase, TRIP, CINAHL, Amed, and other resources.

Results

Although clinical descriptions of what must have been sciatica can be found as far back as Hippocrates, the possibility of a neural origin of much leg pain, and the reality of referred pain from the back eluded medical understanding until at least the eighteenth century.

Keywords:

• Diagnosis
• Medical history
• Sciatica