From Anne Asher,
Your Guide to Back & Neck Pain.
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Definition:

A pinched nerve is a nerve with pressure applied to it. In the spine, a pinched nerve is usually caused by a herniated disk pressing on it.

Symptoms of a pinched nerve are:

• weakness
• tenderness
• prickly sensation
• stabbing sensation
• burning sensation

Pinched nerves in the spine tend to happen in the neck and low back as these are the areas that do the most moving, and often refer pain down the leg or arm. Pinched nerves can be brought on by hard physical work and injury.

Sciatica is a symptom, characterized by pain down one leg, and brought about when the largest nerve in the body, the sciatic nerve, is irritated.