###Human: My sciatica is heavy after a minor herniated disc L4 or L5. Why? ###Assistant: Hello. As it is a year old injury now I will suggest doing some physical test like McKenzie maneuver to see if the radiating symptoms stops and the pain gets centralize to the lower back. The McKenzie maneuver is simple, and you can read about it and practice it. Now I think there is still a muscle weakness which is leading to nerve root entrapment like the lateral spinal muscles, paraspinal muscles, hip muscles, etc. I advice to not use cold therapy as it is aggravating the pain symptoms. Do proper exercise which will regain the strength in the muscles and avoid nerve root entrapment. In most cases, the pain is caused due to more of the muscle weakness, and it is common in most cases to have received the symptoms back. Doing proper exercise with proper guidance can resolve the matter.