hi, thank-you for providing the brief history of you. A thorough neuromuscular assessment is advised. As mentioned by you the pain was in the left side of the lower back and left side leg (frontal and medical aspect) and not the back side. You doubt it is sciatica? well sciatica is a symptom where the pain. travels the course of the sciatic nerve. And sciatica is not a obvious condition but rather it is a symptom. Also, as your pain is having radiating in nature with burning sensation it could be lumbar radiculopathy. In this condition, there will be compression of the nerve in the lumbar spine due to lumbar disc degenerative pathology. Also, an MRI will be performed to confirm the diagnosis by correlating the MRI reports with the clinical symptoms. usually the upper level of the lumbar spine like - L1, L2 , L3 gives pain in the inner aspect of the thigh - this is just an example to understand that which nerve will be pinched to give symptoms. The treatment will be guided based on the diagnosis. With medication and physcial therapy the symptoms subside and the overall health improves. in my clinical practice we call this kind of condition as lumbar radiculopathy and with the combination of medication and physical therapy cases respond well. You may be advised by a physical therapist to undergo - Therapeutic ultrasound therapy, TENS therapy and exercises on a later stages. All together this will help you spine become stronger and the active life style is achieved. Regards Jay Indravadan Patel