Piriformis Syndrome - a literal pain in the butt

rebben23 wrote: »

Has anyone had experience with this? I don't have my follow-up appointment until next week, and I am wondering if anyone has some tips/tricks on alleviating the pain until then. I've been icing every few hours and popping extra-strength pain relievers, but I'm still incredibly uncomfortable sitting, walking, etc.

I've used a foam roller and a lacrosse/tennis ball to massage the areas of most intense pain and it helps a bit. I've also done a lot of acupuncture and massage therapy to help.

The exercised I used was to sit in a chair, cross leg on side the pain is at across other let where ankle is over the knee, and then bend forward as far as you can. I would do this several times a day. I feel for you.

Physical therapy, good butt rubbins, rest, stretching.

GiddyupTim wrote: »

You'll get it better in no time.

That's very optimistic of you. I'll pass that on to my hubby who has been dealing with it for 5+ years (after an injury).

Sorry if I overstated it. I didn't think it was probably very politic to be negative and douse someone's spirits.

Since it will likely only take 1 visit to learn the few things to do (at least I hope they don't call you back to watch you do stretches) - think of activities you do that use your glute/lower back muscles, and have them confirm good form on them.

The stretch mentioned by someone above with ankle on opposite knee you hopefully found searching, knee down is mainly glute stretch, which is likely tight too and useful, knee up is piriformis along with a forward/side angle arm stretch out.

Sort of like the achilles stretch can help the plantar tightness, though not even connected and pulling opposite directions.

From experience, be a little concerned if they have a wall stack of maybe 16 different stretches/exercises to do for any issues on the body - and your issue is just grabbed off the shelf. If it is - ask why yours is so common an issue.
There should be enough investigation that they figure out what other muscles have been made tight because of this and need stretching too, and what may have caused this that requires changes. Could take several sheets of common stuff with your specifics highlighted.

Acupuncture really helped me when I had to deal with this. It's funny getting the butt and area done but it really helped me! Heat pads were put on after too. Stretching too but I had to do acupuncture!

I also believe stretching and a foam roller helps. Also, you might want to try a yoga class. Most instructors are very knowledgeable with which poses can help with tightness and injuries. I've been doing yoga for a few years now. It's made a big difference for me.

Yes, been struggling with this since last year. It's so frustrating!

I went to PT for a few months in the beginning of the year and honestly didn't see a large improvement with just that. What did really help was going to the chiropractor regularly for adjustments. My chiro also using something called a DMS (deep muscle stimulator, I believe) prior to adjustments and also used a TENS unit on my piriformis too. The TENS unit worked wonders. My chiro also has massage therapists on staff and include that in the treatment plan so glute massages really helped a lot too.

LOTS of stretching helps. The stretch that works the best for me is to stand in front of something you can get a hold of (counter, pole, door jamb, etc) and, for example if you want to stretch the right piriformis, stand on your left leg and cross your right ankle over your left knee and then while holding on the aforementioned counter, etc, sink down into a kind of squat. This gives you a really deep stretch to the piriformis and really helped loosen it during times it was really spasming and locking up.