[Clinical diagnosis of sciatica]

Sciatica is diagnosed on purely clinical grounds. The initial clinical examination provides the main elements for an aetiological diagnosis. It makes it possible in certain cases to take urgent decisions: to prescribe imaging methods or specific treatments. When examining patients suffering from sciatica, the clinician must aim at gathering elements of answers to the following questions: Is the diagnosis of sciatica ascertained? Is it a common vertebral disc sciatica? Is surgery urgently required? What is the personal and medico-social context?