Sciatica Bothersomeness Index

Sciatica bothersomeness index, as the name suggests, is an index based on patients reporting of symptoms which reflects the trouble patient is going through with his/her sciatica symptoms. Sciatica as we know is radiating pain in the lower limb due to compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve roots or lumbar nerve roots.

Contained in the syndrome pain may be accompanied with lumbar  fixation, reflex abnormalities motor and sensory disturbances.

In about 90% of cases sciatica is caused by a herniated disc with nerve  root compression.

Sciatica Bothersomeness index includes self-reported ratings of symptom intensity of

1. Leg pain
2. Numbness or tingling in the leg, foot or groin
3. Weakness in the leg/foot
4. Back or leg pain while sitting

Each symptom item is rated on a scale from 0 to 6, with 0 being not bothersome, 3 somewhat bothersome and 6 extremely bothersome.

Questionnaire

]The questionnaire that patient receives looks like following image. P

On a 0–6 point scale, please rate the following symptoms according to how bothersome they were in the past week. These symptoms are

1. Leg Pain

2. Numbness or tingling in leg, foot or groin

Sciatica bothersomeness index

3. Weakness in leg or foot , for example difficulty in lifting of foot.

4. Back or leg pain while sitting

 Uses of Sciatica Bothersomeness Index

The index has been used to find the status of the patient discomfort. It has also been used to assess the outcome of the treatment, whether operative or non operative, in group of patients.

This also provides us tools to compare effectiveness of different treatments  i.e. operative non operative given for disc herniation that leads to sciatica.