Piriformis syndrome please help

"No human is limited."

- Eliud Kipchoge

Yeah apparently neither is piriformis syndrome

It's not a cure, but the following may help.

Roll on a tennis ball and let it sink in to the sweet spot. Use a lacrosse ball or some other alternative if you think that is better. Keep one in your car while driving. Also, fold a towel and place it under your butt while driving. Cars are made to fit obese people and leave many with their knees higher than their waist while driving. This weird angle exasperates the piriformis/sciatic problem, at least it did for me. I fought it for years and even had a release because my sciatic nerve passed through the middle of the piriformis. That is not highly unusual but it was rubbing and grinding the nerve for me.

DMSO "may" help also. It helped some for me but it was not a cure.

Unfortunately, there is no quick fix. Have gone through several episodes of this over the years, with some more severe than others. Have tried everything in the book including Physical Therapy.

Usually, like most things in life worrying about it too much makes it worse and the less preoccupation with the annoyance and the addition of patience seems to be the best solution. It will eventually go away, but not quickly..

With that being said, I would try the following:

Alter your daily sitting patterns.

Take a few days off, then ease back into running.

Sounds counterintuitive, but sometimes increasing mileage at a slower pace helps.

Ice the inflamed area at night before bed for several days.

Good Luck,

Fellow Piriformis Syndrome Sufferer

this hurts a lot wrote:

I've had problems with piriformis syndrome for the past few weeks and it won't go away. It hurts all the time (even if I'm sitting) and the faster I run the worse it is. I've tried rolling out/stretching/icing and none of it helps (icing helps for a few minutes but once I stop icing it hurts again).

I have no idea what else to do but it's making running really hard and I hate it, if anyone knows a better way to get rid of it please tell me.

I had good luck with a percussion massager (Hypervolt). Limiting sitting time by using a standing desk at work also helped. It took about 4 months to go away. I don’t think there is a quick fix.

Going on a year for me. Going to go get shots to see if that helps.

Make sure you don't have jeans with a metal button in the hurt area. This is what was setting off mine.

I agree with changing your seating patterns.

I'd try not to sit for long periods of time. Even if you get up for a few seconds and walk a few steps it's better than nothing.

Do clamshell exercises.

I never knew about the seat thing, I'll definitely see if that helps, thank you

So increasing mileage actually helps more than maintaining as long as it's gradual?

Yikes good luck, I hope it gets better for you

this hurts a lot wrote:

So increasing mileage actually helps more than maintaining as long as it's gradual?

I found the more exercises and weight related things I did, the more it seemed to ease whatever spot was being overstressed. If I was doing 3 sets of squats, 5 worked better....... It did not cure it but helped along with the keeping seating at 90 degrees (knees level or below hips), increasing mileage a little, more hills than usual, using a ball for active release, and DMSO before/after harder runs, Pretty much anything to change the pattern that got me in a bad way.

I battled it for months and months in 2018.. came on suddenly ... Would train a bit on trails and got massages and did the lacrosse ball .. everything.. I had signed up for a trail relay .. my legs were 8-10-12 for 30 miles total over the course of say 18 hours .. the last leg I could barely walk after.. the next day I was 100%... I guess the morale of the story is .. it seems to appear and then disappear suddenly ./

Not an expert but I had problems with piriformis making my right sciatic nerve complain.

I had problems to the day I managed to land with my foot below my body and NOT reach forward. Landing slightly in front of my body stressed the glutes and hamstrings such that the nerve tensed up.

I am problem free since then,for many years. I can make it return any day by changing my running form back to the old stuff for a couple of days.

Consider this at least.

The one major thing I changed was to use zero drop barefoot shoes where I get the proper feedback that I land properly.

I've had this before. If it hurts, DONT run on it! Rest. Go to a physical therapist OR there are many great videos on You Tube, put out by physical therapists, on how to treat it and rehab.

Are you POSITIVE it is piriformis syndrome?

I'm only asking this because what I thought was piriformis syndrome for me a while back turned out to be sciatica, and my pelvis was tilted. This caused pressure and immense pain on the piriformis/glute area and hurt on any impact. This was caused by a back injury that I thought went away 6 months prior to injury but it turned out it had just shifted everything.

It's an easy fix and decent recovery time if so, don't hesitate to get it checked out by multiple doctors.

Mine was back to 100% in 3 weeks after chiropractic adjustment and bike rehab.

My best recommendation would be doing 2-4 sets of 10 glute bridges every day and icing after all exercise. Other glute exercises can be found on youtube obviously but try to strengthen the whole region, chances are there are inactive muscles in the hurting area even if it's not piriformis syndrome.