Sciatica or not?

Three weeks ago, I did some high-intensity circuit training and got muscle spasm in the right-side glute muscle (probably gluteus medium). That night I had significant pain in the front right hip that prevented me from sleeping. The next I went to see a doctor, got X-ray, and a sciatica diagnosis. Then I started limping and I couldn’t walk on the heel of the right foot (a lighter version of foot drop). I went to see a physical therapist and after evaluation, I was told I don’t have sciatica but a pinched/irritated nerve between L4-L5 doesn’t send signals to some muscles, such as gluteus medium and tibialis, resulting in muscle weakness. I was told it would take 4-6 months to recover. The interesting fact is that besides the pain the first night, I haven’t had any pain since.

Then I did MRI of the spine and the orthopedic doctor questioned that the issues are coming from the spine. He qualified the symptoms as “confusing”. He gave me some piriformis muscle stretches and suggested I do an epidural spine injection to see it will evaluate the symptoms. He also suggested I see a neurologist and if I’m cleared, do an MRI hip scan.

I do see signs of progress and walking is now easier. But if this is not coming from the spine, what other condition can produce these symptoms?