I want to ask about which methods or tests are appropriate for differentiating different causes for sciatic nerve pain when the cause is not obvious (i.e. not trauma from direct impact).

On the one hand, it does relate to the condition I'm experiencing myself: I feel my Orthopedic specialist is, shall we say, under-enthusiastic about diagnosing the cause or even describing the possible causes to me. On the other hand, I'm not asking "why do *I* have sciatica".

Now, I've read this answer:

[Are differential diagnosis questions on topic?](https://medicalsciences.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/84/are-differential-diagnosis-questions-on-topic)

which suggests that perhaps over-generalizing is not a good idea; but - over-personalizing isn't either. So, how should I proceed?

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**Edit:** Eventually asked this question:

[How to differentially diagnose continuing sciatic pain given this existing information?](https://medicalsciences.stackexchange.com/questions/19391/how-to-differentially-diagnose-continuing-sciatic-pain-given-this-existing-infor)