It starts in your lower back or buttock and runs down the back of your leg, sometimes all the way to your foot. Sitting in a matatu makes it worse. Your leg tingles or feels heavy by evening. This is sciatica, and it's one of the most common reasons people walk into our Westlands clinic.

What is sciatica?

Sciatica isn't a disease on its own. It's the name for pain caused by an irritated nerve in your lower back, the sciatic nerve. Most often a disc bulge, or stiff and tight tissue around the spine, presses on the nerve. Long hours of sitting, lifting heavy things the wrong way and weak back and hip muscles all add to it.

Signs it may be sciatica

Pain that travels below your knee
Tingling, pins and needles or numbness in your leg or foot
Pain that gets worse when you sit, cough or sneeze
One leg affected much more than the other

Not sure if it's sciatica or a pulled muscle? Read Pain at the Back of Your Leg: Pulled Hamstring or Sciatica?

The good news

Most people with sciatica get better without surgery. Lying in bed for days usually slows recovery. Gentle, guided movement helps the nerve calm down faster.

How we treat sciatica at Katasi Physiotherapy

We first find where the nerve is being irritated. Then we use hands-on treatment to loosen stiff joints and tight muscles, gentle nerve exercises, dry needling where it helps, and a short home plan to strengthen your back and hips. We also look at how you sit at work and in the car, so the pain doesn't keep coming back.

When to go to hospital straight away

Go to emergency if you lose control of your bladder or bowels, feel numb around your private parts or inner thighs, or your leg is getting weaker quickly.

Book your session in Westlands

If leg pain is stopping you from sitting, sleeping or working, don't wait for it to get worse. Visit Katasi Physiotherapy at Kerai Office, Mogotio Road off Muthithi Road, Westlands. Call or WhatsApp 0705 717 353 to book. We're open Monday to Friday 7am–6pm and Saturday 8am–4pm.

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