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Sciatica pain from spinal stenosis or from herniated disc?

Hello,
almost a month ago I felt a sharp pain in my lower back and bum that goes down my leg to just up before the knee.

The first days, the pain was so intense that I couldn't stand up for more than mere seconds and it was really difficult to walk. After a week I was able to walk but I still had problems standing up for long periods. Now I can walk with very little or no pain and I can stay standing up for longer periods, but the pain has not completely gone.

Searching the internet I found that sciatica is caused by many reasons, two of them are the spinal stenosis and a herniated disc. I read about the symptoms from the one and the other cause, but I am confused because I have some symptoms from each cause and not the others...

The situation is that:

I feel very little or no pain when I am sitting on the chair. I feel more pain when I am standing up. When I walk, I maybe feel some pain when I start walking but it eases as I keep walking. I feel pain when I am leaning backwards but I don't feel pain when I am leaning forward. When I am sleeping I feel more pain (lying down) than when I am sitting or walking.

I found many exercises on the web for curing sciatica, but they are different for stenosis and for herniated disc, exercises such as lying on stomach hyperextension, dead man hangs from pullup bar etc. but I am not sure which of them to do.

I know that a visit to the doctor would help clear thing up, but unfortunately, it's not possible in my current situation...

So, if it is possible to offer me a helping hand, please do.

Best Regards
Greg
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20803600 tn?1546262537
There is really no way to guess. It could be either. Herniation that pushes on a nerve root can cause the same symptoms as sciatica, which is an inflammation of the sciatic nerve. An MRI would rule in or out herniation and any nerve compression.
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