What Causes Shooting Pain That Goes Down One Leg?

Sharp, shooting pain that extends from your lower back, through the buttock, and down one leg is most often caused by lumbar radiculopathy affecting the sciatic nerve. You may know the symptoms of this condition as sciatica.

Spinal manipulation through Active Care Chiropractic & Rehabilitation often speeds recovery from sciatica symptoms for our patients. Chiropractic care encourages blood flow and release of nerve compression, two key targets that support sciatic nerve healing.

Despite the intensity of sciatica pain, it’s a condition that naturally resolves itself in a majority of cases, though treatment with Zachary Dillow DC and his team can speed your recovery. Let’s take a closer look at the sciatic nerve and shooting pain.

The sciatic nerves

The longest and largest nerves in your body, the sciatic nerves combine several nerve roots exiting the spinal cord and extend down each leg to your feet. Sciatica symptoms begin when a sciatic nerve becomes compressed or irritated, usually by surrounding tissue that’s distorted or overgrown.

Sciatica usually only affects one side at a time, though it’s possible that both nerves can be affected simultaneously in certain situations. Herniated discs and a narrowing of nerve passageways (stenosis) are the most frequent causes of sciatic nerve compression.

Referred pain

When a sciatic nerve becomes irritated, there’s often pain at the point of compression. The electrical pain that shoots down your leg is a phenomenon called referred pain. It’s caused by the same compression or irritation even though you feel symptoms well below the nerve injury.

Sometimes, these referred symptoms aren’t pain, but instead they present as numbness or tingling. Often, referred symptoms extend on the outside of the thigh, reaching as far as the knee, though it’s possible to have symptoms that reach your feet.

Autonomic and motor nerves

Numbness, pain, and tingling are all symptoms connected to sensory nerves. Nerves also have two other forms. Autonomic nerves control systems in your body that trigger activities that are automatic, like your heartbeat and respiration, while motor nerves transmit signals to tell muscles when to contract and relax to move various parts of your body.

It’s possible for sciatica to affect these nerves too. You might feel weakness or poor coordination if motor nerves are involved.

When you lose urinary or bowel control in conjunction with other sciatica symptoms, you have a medical emergency because a bundle of nerves called the cauda equina may be affected. Without treatment, compression of the cauda equina could become permanent.

Though sciatica symptoms tend to resolve themselves, it’s often a good idea to seek treatment to rule out other, potentially harmful conditions that can also cause shooting pain in one leg, including:

Diabetic neuropathy: nerve damage associated with high blood sugar levels
Peripheral artery disease: narrowing of arteries in the leg
Peripheral vascular disease: narrowing or spasms in arteries, veins, or lymphatic vessels

Other, rare conditions like cystic adventitial disease and popliteal artery entrapment can also cause similar pain.

Visit the nearest location of Active Care Chiropractic & Rehabilitation to fully explore the causes behind your shooting leg pain. We’ll build a custom treatment plan that focuses on your unique conditions. Call or click to book an appointment now.