Back pain can be a weird ailment.  You can have a bad back and the pain is in the legs.  By a bad back I mean there’s a problem with the spine that’s been identified as the cause of your problems.  But back pain can actually be more like butt pain, leg pain or even foot pain. That’s because the sciatica nerve runs from the spine to the toes.  Anywhere the nerve gets pinched, it’s going to send shooting pain down the length of the nerve.  It’s like an electrical cord that’s been plugged into the wall.

Many times surgery seems to be the best option when pain is running down both of your legs.  That indicates a problem in the lower back that starts in the spine which can be a bulging disc for example.  The important thing to remember is that you have to give the spine time to heal using other treatments before you can decide if the last resort surgery is justified.  It would be terrible to go through surgery on the spine only to find out you didn’t need it.