Sciatica is caused due to irritation of the nerve root on either side of the lower back. This irritation is commonly caused due to disk herniation or osteophyte formation. Since most of the causes are due to degenerative spine disease, the degeneration of spine does have some genetic component, so indirectly sciatica can have a genetic or hereditary component, but there are many more factors associated with sciatica which are not genetic-related and it may be difficult to define how much genetics can play a role in sciatica.