What a pain in the butt!  Literally.

I have experienced the piriformis syndrome myself. I had been doing an exercise boot camp.   My body loved the intense workouts.   I was probably two months in to the boot camp.   One Sunday morning I woke up with hot shooting pain down both legs.   It was excruciating.   I had no idea what it was or what caused it.  A trip to the emergency room netted me some muscle relaxers but did nothing to alleviate the issue.   The doctor suggested massage.  Ok – I’m always good for getting a massage so I booked an appointment.  The two massage appointments I had did not address the issue.   The third appointment with another LMT (licensed massage therapist)  did the trick.

It was explained to me that my intense exercise routines had caused bilateral tightening of the piriformis muscles.   Those muscles were so tight that they had actually pinched the sciatic nerves resulting in the extreme pain in the butt and down the legs.  The LMT was able to release the muscles and calm the sciatic nerves.   What a relief that was.   When I feel those muscles tightening again, I have exercises to do to prohibit getting into the piriformis syndrome again.

The piriformis muscle (one on each side) is a deep hip rotator under gluteus maximus.   All the hip rotation from walking, hiking, steps, etc. can tighten piriformis.  Piriformis syndrome can be acute onset or a slowly building awareness of a tight butt.    If you have experienced similar symptoms make a massage appointment and we’ll check it out.