Sciatica: What is it? 

Because referred pain and neurogenic pain respond to different treatments, neither should be lumped into the one category of “sciatic pain”.  Sciatica is not an accurate diagnosis because it only leads to confusion about the location and origin of the pain. Referred pain and neurogenic pain are much more useful and modern terms which apply to all areas of the body and give information about the cause of the pain. This modernization of the medical language is important especially when dealing with antiquated words like “sciatica” that have been proven unhelpful.