Is There a Sciatic Nerve on Both Sides of the Body?

The sciatic nerve starts in the lower back and runs all the way down the back of the leg. You have a sciatic nerve on both sides of your body.

Purpose

• The sciatic nerves are responsible for supplying motor (movement) and sensory (feeling) information to the legs.

Background

• The sciatic nerves are the thickest and longest nerves in the body. Each sciatic nerve is actually two nerves (tibial and common peroneal) wrapped in a common sheath.

Nerve Route

• The sciatic nerves leave the lower back through the sciatic notch, run beneath the gluteus maximus muscle and enter the back of the thigh just to the inside of the hip joint. The nerves run down the back of the leg and as it reaches the knee area split into the tibial and common peroneal nerves, which continue to the foot.

Sciatica

• Sciatica is pain, weakness, numbness or tingling in the leg caused by injury or compression of the sciatic nerve.

Sciatica Causes

• Common causes of sciatica include piriformis syndrome (compression of the nerve by piriformis muscle in the buttocks), slipped disk, degenerative disk disease, spinal stenosis, injury or fracture of the pelvis and tumors, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center.