Picture this. You're sitting at your desk, in front of your TV, driving, or trying to walk. At first you’re perfectly fine. As a few minutes pass, you start to notice a deep ache in your butt and/or numbness in your toes. You’re able to ignore it, but it continues to increase. Sometimes it even builds into cramping in the butt, back of the leg, calves, and/or feet.
Would you think most people go to a doctor or chiropractor? Well, not really. The truth is most people stop or modify whatever they were doing before they start considering going to a doctor chiropractor.
And many times this condition is mislabeled as sciatica. It is actually Piriformis Syndrome.
What is the piriformis?
The piriformis is a muscle of the hip and glutes that helps to rotate, stabilize your hips/pelvis. The muscle connects from an area on the base of your spine, aka sacrum, to your thigh bone, aka Femur. There are actually several different shapes that a piriformis muscle takes in the body.
Solid muscle with sciatic nerve passing under the muscle
Split muscle with sciatic nerve passing through the branches
Solid muscle with one hole in the middle with sciatic nerve passing through the hole
What are the signs and symptoms of piriformis syndrome?
Glute pain
Tight hamstrings
Difficulty going from sitting to standing
Pain/numbness/tingling after sitting for any length of time in the butt and/or down the leg
Pain/numbness/tingling while active running, cycling, lifting, or walking
Severe cases can have
Cramping in the butt, feet, calves, and back of the thigh
Discoloration of the toes and feet.
Muscle loss
How does it happen?
Piriformis syndrome occurs when the muscle gets damaged, irritated, or tight and reflexively creates symptoms in the sciatic nerve. This can result from changes with the SI joint, activation of the gluteal muscles, or irritation of the hamstring muscles.
Important to note: this is not just a trigger point in the piriformis or irritation of the sciatic nerve at the piriformis only. Piriformis Syndrome is a combination of issues.
How do we treat it?
Find the cause of the problems.
SI joint fixation
Deconditioned gluteal muscles
Hypermobility of the pelvis
Hamstring vs hip adductor imbalance
Etc.
Develop a plan of action that matches your lifestyle
Correct the issue
Strengthen your body
Maintain overall wellness
Why it needs to be fixed ASAP…
If you or someone you know has piriformis syndrome the answer is simple. Get back to enjoying the things you love doing!
The medical reason is that if left untreated, this condition can rapidly progress to a loss of muscle, pain in other parts of the body due to injury, decrease in sports performance.
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