I can't make an educated comment on treatment. What I can say is, with (ouch!) 14 years experience, sciatic backpain KILLS - not physically, mentally. I cannot function when my back goes out, I would eat babies (my own, if I have one) I would drown continents to make it stop. And then of course regret it (this is how torture works - also, vivisection). "All we can do is give him pain relief" - on a massively painful part of his nervous system that is trapped, and screaming? Oh honey, let me take you home with a Black & Decker drill, and your own sweet kneecaps, and you might learn a thing or two about treatment priorities. Sorry to be so brutal, but I only woke up to a lot of issues when I realised what real pain was, and it isn't funny or kinky or brave, it is beyond those defensive definitions.