Akademik

Sciatic nerve

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. The name "sciatic" came via Latin from the Greek "ischiadikos" which means "subject to trouble in the hips or loins."

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sciatic nerve n either of the pair of largest nerves in the body that arise one on each side from the sacral plexus and that pass out of the pelvis through the greater sciatic foramen and down the back of the thigh to its lower third where division into the tibial and common peroneal nerves occurs

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the major nerve of the leg and the nerve with the largest diameter. It runs down behind the thigh from the lower end of the spine; above the knee joint it divides into two main branches, the tibial and common peroneal nerves, which are distributed to the muscles and skin of the lower leg.

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nervus ischiadicus.

Medical dictionary. 2011.