Sciatica Treatment in Norwest & Dural
The Short Version
Sciatica is nerve pain, not muscle pain, and it behaves differently. The pain runs down the leg, often past the knee, and usually comes with pins and needles, numbness or a heavy dead feeling. Most cases settle without surgery, and the disc itself often shrinks on its own over months. It is slower than ordinary back pain, and six to twelve weeks is normal rather than a bad sign. Get assessed urgently if you have numbness around the groin or saddle area, weakness in the leg that is getting worse, or any change to bladder or bowel control.
The Sciatica We See Most
The usual version is someone six or eight weeks in who has been told to rest, has stopped training, is sleeping badly, and is starting to wonder whether this is permanent. The leg pain has become the whole problem and the back barely rates a mention. They have often had one scan, one course of anti inflammatories, and no plan. The second version is someone two or three days in who has been told they have a slipped disc and is terrified of moving. That fear does more damage over the next month than the disc does.
Do You Need a Scan?
Usually not in the first six weeks, and a scan often makes the decision harder rather than easier. Disc changes show up on the scans of people with no pain at all, and become more common with every decade of age. A scan will almost always find something. Whether that something is causing your pain is a clinical question, not a radiology one. We would send you for imaging if you have red flag signs, progressive weakness, numbness or reflex loss that is getting worse rather than better, a history of significant trauma, cancer or long term corticosteroid use, if you have had a genuine trial of treatment and are not responding the way we would expect, or if surgery is genuinely being considered.
Whether you need imaging is something we work out with you at the appointment, based on what your leg’s doing and what we find when we examine you. Your practitioner will talk you through whether a scan would change anything, and organise it if it would.
When You Should Be Seen Urgently
There is one group of symptoms that needs the emergency department the same day, and a few others we want to know about early. If any of these fit, tell us when you book.
Go to emergency today, not to us, if you’ve got numbness or a strange sensation around the groin, genitals, buttocks or inner thighs. If you’re having trouble starting or stopping urination, or you’ve lost control of your bladder or bowels. Or if you’ve got weakness in both legs, or one leg that’s getting worse by the hour rather than the day.
That combination can mean cauda equina syndrome. It’s rare, but it’s a surgical emergency and how fast you’re treated changes the outcome. If you’re not sure, get checked.
Book in with us soon, and tell us when you book, if you’ve got a foot that’s dragging or catching, or you can’t lift the front of your foot. If the leg weakness is clearly getting worse week on week rather than better. If there’s fever, unexplained weight loss, or you’ve had cancer. Or if the pain came on after a significant fall or crash.
If none of that sounds like you, you’re in the right place, and the rest of this page is what we’d do about it.
What Is Actually Driving It
Sciatica describes a symptom rather than a diagnosis. It means a nerve root is irritated. These are the six things that decide how it behaves and how long it takes.
Where the nerve is being irritated
How irritable the nerve currently is
Sitting, and how much of it you do
What you believe is happening
Sitting for long stretches without changing position
Backing off everything instead of finding what helps
How We Actually Treat It
Sciatica needs a different approach from ordinary back pain, and the biggest single mistake is treating it like it’s the same thing.
Early on the nerve is irritable and the job is to stop provoking it while keeping you moving. That usually means finding the positions and movements that ease the leg pain and doing more of those, rather than pushing into everything. Sitting is often the worst thing, and small changes there make a disproportionate difference.
The marker we watch isn’t how much it hurts, it’s where. Pain that’s retreating up the leg towards the back is improving, even if the intensity hasn’t dropped much yet. Pain travelling further down means we’ve pushed too hard. That single distinction is more useful than any pain score.
Then the rebuild, same as any back. Progressive loading through the hips, trunk and back, built up over months.
The thing most people aren’t told is that herniated discs shrink on their own, and the bigger, angrier looking ones are the most likely to. That’s the opposite of what most people assume when they read their scan report, and it’s the single most reassuring fact about this condition.
What Recovery Actually Looks Like
Weeks one to two. The nerve is irritable and this is the worst of it. The aim is to find the positions that settle the leg and stay as mobile as you can without stirring it up.
Weeks two to six. Most people see the pain start retreating up the leg. That’s the signal that matters. Intensity often lags behind location, so don’t judge it purely on how much it hurts.
Weeks six to twelve. Leg symptoms usually settle substantially in this window. Six to twelve weeks is a normal timeframe for sciatica, not a sign something’s gone wrong. Numbness and pins and needles can take longer again and often trail the pain by weeks.
Beyond twelve weeks. The rebuild, and the part that decides whether it comes back.
Two honest notes. It’s rarely a straight line, and a flare doesn’t mean you’ve undone it. And a minority of people don’t follow this pattern and need a different conversation, including sometimes a surgical one.
What Else It Could Be
Not all leg pain is sciatica, and the difference changes the plan.
True nerve root pain. Pain travelling below the knee in a defined strip, usually with pins and needles, numbness or weakness. This is what sciatica actually means.
Referred pain from the back. Aching into the buttock and thigh but not past the knee, and without the nerve symptoms. Behaves like back pain and settles faster.
Gluteal or hip related pain. Deep buttock pain that people call sciatica. Worth separating, because loading the back won’t fix it.
Spinal stenosis. More common over sixty. Leg pain and heaviness that comes on with walking and eases when you sit or lean forward on a trolley. Different pattern, different plan.
If what you’ve got doesn’t fit the usual pattern, telling us at the first appointment is more use than any scan.
Related pages: Lower Back Pain, Hip Pain.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does sciatica take to get better? Longer than ordinary back pain. Six to twelve weeks is a normal timeframe, and that's not a sign anything's gone wrong. What we watch is the pain retreating up the leg rather than the intensity dropping, because location improves before severity does.
Will I need surgery? Most people don't. Herniated discs shrink on their own surprisingly often, and a systematic review found regression rates of 70 percent for extruded discs and 96 percent for sequestrated ones. Surgery matters where there's progressive weakness, cauda equina signs, or pain that hasn't responded after a genuine trial of treatment.
Is it a slipped disc? Discs don't slip. They can bulge, protrude or herniate, and one can absolutely irritate a nerve root. But the phrase makes people frightened to move, and fear of moving does more damage over a month than most discs do.
Should I rest until it settles? No. A day or two at the acute stage is fine. Beyond that, resting makes it slower. What changes is which movements you do, not whether you move.
Why is sitting the worst? Sitting loads the lower back discs more than standing does, and it puts the nerve in a position it doesn't like. It's one of the highest yield things to change early, and usually the easiest.
Do I need a referral to book? No. You can book directly with any of our chiropractors or physiotherapists. If you've got a GP care plan or you're claiming through a fund, bring the paperwork and we'll work with it.
Who Treats This at Strive
Sciatica is treated at both clinics by our chiropractors and physiotherapists. Nerve pain needs the assessment done properly at the first visit, because how irritable the nerve is decides everything that follows.
Tammy Ong
Women’s Health Physiotherapist
Rehabilitation Pilates Instructor
Tammy helps women and active individuals recover from injury, improve movement, and return to the activities they love.
Warren Zhou
Chiropractor, competitive powerlifter, and trail runner who treats athletes from the gym floor to the platform to the start line.
Tegan Webster
Chiropractor
Providing evidence-based care to help patients achieve their health goals.
Richard Kan
Sports Chiropractor
Strength and Conditioning Coach
Helping athletes and active individuals recover, perform, and stay injury-free.
Rawan Haydar
Physiotherapist
Passionate about personalised care that supports recovery and long-term wellbeing.
Jess Larder
Physiotherapist
Passionate about rehabilitation, movement, and helping people achieve their goals.
Getting Here
We treat sciatica at both our Norwest and Dural clinics.
Norwest
301/10 Century Circuit NORWEST NSW 2153
Inside Norwest Central Building Complex - 8 - 12 Century Circuit
Entry doors next to Zaatar and Zucchero Cafe
Operating Hours
Mon - Fri 8am - 6pm
Sat 8am - 12pm
Sun CLOSED
Ready to Sort Your Sciatica Out?
We treat sciatica for patients from across The Hills, including Dural, Round Corner, Kenthurst, Glenhaven, Castle Hill, Kellyville, Baulkham Hills, Cherrybrook and Bella Vista, at our Norwest and Dural clinics, and in Canberra at Giralang.