Nerve, sciatic
The largest nerve in the body, the sciatic nerve begins from nerve roots in the lumbar part of the spinal cord (in the low back) and extends through the buttock area to send nerve endings down to the legs.
Pain resulting from irritation of the sciatic nerve is called sciatica. The pain is typically felt at the back of the thigh. While sciatica is most commonly a result of a disc herniation directly pressing on the nerve, any cause of irritation or inflammation of this nerve can reproduce the symptoms of sciatica.
Picture of a herniated lumbar disc, a common cause of sciatica
The name “sciatic” came via Latin from the Greek “ischiadikos” which means “subject to trouble in the hips or loins.”
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to supply a muscle called the lateral rectus muscle that moves the eye outward. Paralysis of the abducens nerve causes inward turning of the eye (internal strabismus) leading to double vision. All 12 cranial nerves, the abducens nerve included, emerge from or enter the skull (the cranium), as opposed to the spinal nerves which emerge […]
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