Most episodes of sciatica leg pain settle.

If it does not do so within a reasonable period of time, or if the symptoms are unacceptable, it is reasonable to consider treatment.

What constitutes a reasonable period of time, and what are unacceptably severe symptoms, are of course subjective matters and will vary from one person to another.

If improvement is going to occur it will usually be evident within the first six weeks and the patient should be showing good signs of recovery by three months.

Not everybody can wait this length of time for symptoms to settle.

If this is the case, or if symptoms have failed to show the expected improvement, nerve root block and/or microdiscectomy may be appropriate.

There are other causes for leg pain, such as spinal stenosis. Please see spinal decompression for further information.