Why is my recovery after radial head replacement surgery slow, even though I am doing physiotherapy?

Sciatica is classically described as shooting pain that travels from the buttock down to the leg and can be associated with altered sensation or strength in the leg depending on the underlying cause. The reason this develops is because the sciatic nerve, is irritated somewhere along its pathway and hence you experience either pain or sensory changes. The commonest reason for sciatica is due to irritation from the spine, either from a bulging or prolapsed disc, or from nerve root irritation from facet joint swelling. This then causes the pain.

Thank you for your email and I am sorry to hear about your ongoing pain symptoms. This can be an issue after surgery even if it does resolve the disc issue/symptoms that you were experiencing. The only way to resolve pain is to assess you and consider the pain generators in the back - unfortunately there can be many. It could be residual pain from degenerative discs, facet joints, nerve irritation, muscular tightness, scar tissue formation and so on.