Adele tells Las Vegas audience she has been suffering from “really bad sciatica”

During the New Year’s Eve show of her ongoing Las Vegas residency, Adele told her audience she has been experiencing sciatica, a condition which can cause pains down one or both legs from the lower back.

As Cosmopolitan reports, while walking from one side of stage to the other at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace on December 31, the singer addressed the crowd, saying: “I have to waddle these days as I have really bad sciatica.”

Sciatica occurs when the body’s sciatic nerve – which begins at one’s spinal cord, runs through their hips and buttocks and then branches down each leg – is irritated. It is a symptom that can be caused by several conditions, such as a herniated spinal disc.

According to Healthline, sciatica “involves a sensation that can manifest itself as a moderate to severe pain in your back, buttocks, and legs”. Sufferers may also “feel weakness, burning or sharp pain, or numbness in these areas”.

Adele has discussed her issues with back pain in the past. “I slipped my first disc when I was 15 from sneezing. I was in bed and I sneezed and my fifth one flew out,” she told The Face in 2021. “In January, I slipped my sixth one, my L6. And then where I had a C‑section, my core was useless.

“I’ve been in pain with my back for, like, half of my life, really,” she continued. “It flares up, normally due to stress or from a stupid bit of posture. But where I got my tummy strong, down at the bottom, which I never had before, my back don’t play up as much.”

Adele’s ‘Weekends With Adele’ Vegas 32-date residency began on November 18, and is set to run until late March. Stormzy was present in the audience on opening night, and praised it as “amazing” and “probably the best show” he had ever seen. “In terms of the intimacy of it. It was very like… you’re in there but it’s like a small theatre but it’s fucking Adele,” he continued.

During one of the concerts last month, Adele discussed returning to therapy after going a few years without regular sessions. “I am doing it because I just want to make sure I’m topping myself up every week to make sure I can give you everything,” she told her audience.

Adele is up for seven awards at this year’s Grammys, which will take place next month at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena. Categories the singer is nominated for include Album of the Year (for last year’s ’30’) and Song of the Year (for its lead single, ‘Easy On Me’).