Most sciatica improves without surgery. Treatment combines staying reasonably active rather than resting in bed, medication appropriate to nerve pain, physical therapy, and time. Injections and surgery are considered for cases that do not settle or involve progressive weakness.
Most sciatica improves without surgery. Treatment combines staying reasonably active rather than resting in bed, medication appropriate to nerve pain, physical therapy, and time. Injections and surgery are considered for cases that do not settle or involve progressive weakness.
Prolonged bed rest was standard advice for decades and is now understood to slow recovery rather than speed it. The aim is to stay as active as the pain reasonably allows, avoiding movements that clearly aggravate it while continuing to move. Physical therapy provides structure, addressing mobility, core and hip strength, and the movement habits that maintain the problem. Most people improve substantially over weeks to a few months, and knowing that in advance makes the early period considerably easier to tolerate.
Ordinary analgesics and anti-inflammatories help some people, particularly early. Medications used specifically for nerve pain are often more useful for the radiating component, and are started low and increased gradually because side effects otherwise end the trial before benefit appears. Ask what to do about a missed dose, since several should not be stopped abruptly. Medication controls symptoms while recovery happens rather than repairing the nerve, and it works best as part of a plan.
Epidural steroid injection is considered where pain is severe and not settling, and can provide a window in which rehabilitation becomes possible. Surgery is considered for progressive weakness, for pain that has failed adequate conservative treatment, or urgently for cauda equina syndrome. This practice performs no surgery and no interventional pain procedures, so those are arranged with the appropriate service while neurological assessment and management continue here.
Clinical Neurology Specialists has been physician-owned since 1998, when Leo Germin, M.D., FAANEM founded it. Five board-certified neurologists and four advanced practice providers see patients at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices, each with its own AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratory.
Clinical Neurology Specialists is an adult outpatient neurology practice for patients 18 and older. The practice performs no surgery and operates no imaging suite, infusion suite or interventional pain programme, and provides no emergency or inpatient care.
Physician-reviewed. Reviewed by the physicians of Clinical Neurology Specialists — board-certified neurologists, AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratories, physician-owned since 1998. Reviewed 1 August 2026. This article is general education for adults 18 and older and is not a substitute for a consultation.
Sources and further reading: MedlinePlus: peripheral nerve disorders; MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine; American Academy of Neurology.
Adults 18 and older, at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices. Call 702-804-1212 or request an appointment online.