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Fiona Chow

Hong Kong leader John Lee Ka-chiu is suffering from a bout of sciatica, a common degenerative condition that mostly affects middle-aged people who might be unaware of its seriousness at first, until the pain worsens and affects their mobility.
The Chief Executive’s Office revealed that Lee had sciatica after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for lawmakers on Thursday, and a walking cane was spotted nearby.
His condition raised awareness of the at-times excruciating ailment, which is caused by irritation of the lumbar nerves, which are located in the lower back.
Symptoms include nerve pain along the spine and lower back region, which can shoot down the lower limb with associated numbness.
The Post has talked to orthopaedic specialists to find out more about sciatica and how it can affect sufferers.

1. How bad is Lee’s condition?
During the 1½-hour Legco swearing-in ceremony, Lee was occasionally unable to stand fully upright. He required extra support and put his left hand on a side table. A walking cane was placed beside him, but he did not use it to enter or leave the Legco chamber.
He was seen walking normally during a subsequent photo-taking session.
Dr Law Sheung-wai, assistant dean of the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s faculty of medicine, said the pain from sciatica could affect patients’ movement but those who had less severe conditions could still walk and stand.
“Typically, patients suffering from sciatica need to bend down from time to time to release the pressure, or hold on to something like the chief executive did, to relieve the pain,” he said.
Law, also a clinical professional consultant in the university’s department of orthopaedics and traumatology, said some patients could not walk for long distances or might appear to cramp – a symptom called “intermittent claudication”.
2. How serious can sciatica be?
Law said typically patients’ backs and legs started to feel slightly uncomfortable but they did not pay much attention unless it affected their walking.
He described it as similar to “boiling a frog in hot water”, meaning patients were used to the discomfort and would let the condition worsen – until one day the pain shot down from their back to their legs.
Law said some were eventually diagnosed with intervertebral disc herniation, or a “slipped disc”, where the jellylike substance of a disc in the spine pushed through a tear of the outer wall and compressed the lumbar nerve.
In the most serious cases, patients are unable to walk or get out of bed. Some might suffer from incontinence or even be left paralysed, Law added.
Law said some patients suffering from moderate pain could still manage to walk and take breaks in between, but others would require invasive treatment immediately.
3. Who does it typically affect?
Dr Dennis Chan Chi-chiu, an orthopaedics and traumatology consultant at Adventist Hospital (Tsuen Wan), said the pain could occur at all ages, depending on whether one’s joints were at a higher stress level.
Overweight people and manual labourers who put repeated stress on their lower backs are among those at risk.
“It can happen to anyone, but there are some risks here, also with age, as we get older, our discs kind of degenerate. [Discs] lose some of the water content, and it causes dehydration of the discs,” Chan said.
Law said people aged above 50 were prone to lumbar degeneration, which posed a greater risk of intervertebral disc herniation. He added that office workers could also suffer from sciatica due to prolonged sitting and bad posture.

4. How common is sciatica?
Both doctors said the condition was “very common” among patients visiting their clinics.
Law said, despite having no data on an exact figure for Hong Kong’s population, half of the patients who attended orthopaedics clinics in public hospitals were referred for follow-up action on sciatica.
“It is indeed very common in the ageing population,” he said. “As we age, we cannot escape from degeneration. It is just a matter of degree.”
Chan said about 10 per cent of patients were treated for sciatica-related pain in the private hospital where he works.
“Most of the patients come in when the pain is persistent and it’s affecting their activities,” he said.
5. What treatments are available?
The specialists said most patients received non-operative treatment, including physiotherapy and medication.
Law said he also incorporated acupuncture in the treatment plan for his patients, as it had been proven effective.
He reminded office workers to stretch more often as one of the preventive measures.
According to Chan’s experience, 70 per cent of patients felt relief within a month. By about three months, their condition should have improved.
He said sciatica often returned but it should be “preventable” if patients paid more attention to protecting their spines and reducing pressure on their back and joints.
“So in the long term we should have some training in our core muscles, what we call the paraspinal muscles … it kind of protects our joints in the spine and it should decrease the rate of recurrence,” Chan said.


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Hong Kong’s John Lee has sciatica. Here’s what you need to know about the condition

Typically, patients’ backs and legs start to feel slightly uncomfortable at first. Photo: Getty Images

Chief Executive John Lee has a side table beside him for support. Photo: Sam Tsang

John Lee walks normally for a photo-op with lawmakers. Photo: Sam Tsang

Hong Kong’s John Lee suffering from sciatica, Chief Executive’s Office says

Chief Executive John Lee delivers a speech during the swearing-in ceremony. Photo: Elson Li

A side table is placed next to John Lee during the ceremony. Photo: Sam Tsang

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Post talks to orthopaedic specialists to find out more about common ailment that can cause excruciating pain


Post talks to orthopaedic specialists to find out more about common ailment that can cause excruciating pain.


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.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Post talks to orthopaedic specialists to find out more about common ailment that can cause excruciating pain

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}1. How bad is Lee’s condition?

Post talks to orthopaedic specialists to find out more about common ailment that can cause excruciating pain

1. How bad is Lee’s condition?