Piriformis Syndrome Exercises (videos): Helping a Pain in the Butt

My hip hurts. That’s how I kept describing this ache near the top of my rump, until my Physical Therapist, Stu from Elevate PT, finally said it’s your glutes and probably your Piriformis muscle.

Wait, did he just say I have a literal pain in the ass??

Indeed and it’s an all too common issue.

Even though the piriformis is a small muscle, it can have a big impact on our daily lives. Addressing this problem, and seeking a safe solution is key to overcoming it.

In this article, I’ll be sharing with you some useful exercises to help alleviate that pain in the butt you’re experiencing, making sure to be safe in the process.

What is the Piriformis?

To understand what Piriformis Syndrome is and whether what you’re experiencing truly is that we need to first look at what the piriformis is.

The piriformis is a small muscle in your glutes that’s flat and band-like. It starts from near the top of your hip joint in the buttocks (specifically from the sacrum) and travels down to the top of your thigh bone.

This is also why issues related to piriformis can be described as pain that you feel in your hip or bum.

The piriformis assists us with lower body movement since it stabilizes our hip joint and lifts and rotates our thighs away from the body.

In this way, it enables us to walk, shift our weight from one foot to another, and even balance ourselves.

What is Piriformis Syndrome?

Piriformis Syndrome occurs when the piriformis muscle presses on the sciatic nerve, and thus causes pain.

Our sciatic nerve is a thick and long nerve that passes alongside or goes through the piriformis muscle. It then goes down the back of our legs and eventually branches off into smaller nerves ending in our feet.

Muscle spasms in the piriformis can, therefore, result in nerve compression in the sciatic nerve. This is also known as sciatica, aka that shooting nerve pain down your leg.

Issues with a Tight Piriformis

Like I mentioned above, the piriformis muscle assists us in lower body movements.

But more than this, having a healthy piriformis muscle and doing the exercises I’ve mentioned down below it can help ease the pain you might have in your knee, ankle or plantar fasciitis.

Having a tight piriformis puts extra strain on the inside and the outside joint of our knee joints – by making the inside weak, and the outside too tight. This leads to an unstable knee joint, putting additional strain on your ankles as well.

These stretches allow us to relieve tight piriformis muscle and hamstrings, relieving the additional strain. It makes sure we can walk (and run) with the correct form, in turn helping to alleviate injuries.

5 Step Approach to Handling Piriformis Syndrome

Now that you know what the piriformis muscle is and how it affects your body, let’s look at the 5-step approach to handling piriformis syndrome.

Step 1: Is it your piriformis muscle causing pain?

First thing’s first – we need to make sure the pain you’re feeling is a result of your piriformis muscle or if it’s something else.

According to Danny Singles, PT, DPT, MA, “This one in particular is important to check in with a skilled medical professional who has experience with runners and running athletes so they can help you tease out what is actually going on with your pain. This is a common “popular diagnosis” because runners often overuse these areas with running too hard and with prolonged sedentary poor posture.”

Another cause of pain in this region could be sciatica caused by a herniated disc, lumbar or other nerve issues. That’s why it’s important to get the correct diagnosis first from a trained professional, especially if you suspect a herniated disc.

The most common symptoms of piriformis syndrome are:

deep pain in your bum (only on one side)
pain that radiates down the back of the thighs and leg (can go all the way to the calf sometimes)
numbness, pins and needles sensation, or tingling in the glute and back of the leg
pain when sitting
pain when walking up stairs or inclines
a seemingly decreased range of motion in the hip joint

If any of these symptoms are ringing a bell to you, get checked by a trained professional that will perform a physical examination using a variety of movements to check for pain in the piriformis muscle.

In case a herniated disc is suspected, an MRI may be performed to rule it out before you get diagnosed with piriformis syndrome. Better to be safe, than sorry!

Your healthcare provider will also let you know whether you require further medical treatment or physical therapy.

If you get diagnosed with piriformis syndrome and require some physical therapy, don’t fret – this article lays down useful exercises to help alleviate the pain from it.

Causes in runners?

If you’re a runner experiencing piriformis syndrome, none of these will surprise you:

Overuse. (doing too much too soon or too much intensity)
Tight hips.
Muscle weakness.

In other words, you better be doing all the hip strengthening and glute exercises I recommend to keep it at bay.

Step 2: Seeking Treatment

Now that you’ve gotten diagnosed with piriformis syndrome, it’s time to get your piriformis to release and then move on to doing consistent exercises at home to create strength and prevent it from coming back.

Some of these are do-it-yourself and some require a little assistance.

Dry needling– I’ve seen this work for a lot of people
Chiropractic care– if a nerve is pinched this is necessary to relieve it
At-home stretching and strengthening exercises (see below)
Using a massage ball to do deep tissue work in the glute

At home tools for Piriformis treatment:

While it’s great to hit up your sports chiropractor for an adjustment, doing some of these things at home consistently will make a big difference and few tools under $20 are all you need.

⏩ My favorite PT ball for getting in to that glute

⏩Mini resistance bands for hip work

BONUS TOOL:

If you really want to invest in your long term recovery, I’ve been using massage guns and found that it’s helping to provide a little more muscle relaxation.

The vibration helps to distract pain signals, which is also key for healing! It’s half the price of other massage guns, with all the same features!!

Step 3: Exercises to Alleviate Piriformis Syndrome Pain

The next step is to perform exercises that will help alleviate the pain caused by piriformis syndrome to help relieve the symptoms and the condition over time.

Do these exercises on whichever side is experiencing the pain, that is the affected leg. I am going to say right for consistency.

Aim for at least three days per week, though you could benefit from daily piriformis stretch exercises.

90/90 Stretch

I feel like this one is a double bonus because you’re also working on hip mobility! She does such an amazing job of explaining the exact positions that I will let her video be your guide.

Lying Piriformis Stretch

It’s easy to confuse this with a figure four stretch you may have done before and is so often shown as a way to stretch your piriformis, but it’s not quite hitting the muscle the way we want.

Lying on your back, drawn your right knee to your chest then with light pressure pull your knee and ankle towards the left shoulder. You won’t actual roll to the side or notice a huge amount of movement.

I wanted another video to help explain this is NOT the figure four stretch and well these guys are seriously so cute and clearly extraordinarily knowledgeable. The first exercise is the one I mention, but the others are great too.

Side Leg Lifts

Lay on your left side with hips stacked and legs straight. Raise and lower your right leg with your foot flexed and pointed forward.

Get your leggings out and go Jane Fonda if it helps.

Supported Hamstring stretch

With your right foot straight in front of you on a bench or a second step, flex the foot towards you. Slow lean slightly forward in to the stretch and hold for 30 seconds.

You can repeat this throughout the day and for a little more, do it as the 3D method friends at Finish Line Physical Therapy in NYC provided “to hit the muscle from all angles.”

How Do These Exercises Reduce Pain Caused by Piriformis Syndrome?

If you perform these exercises correctly and consistently, they will make your piriformis muscle more flexible.

In turn, this makes it less likely for your piriformis muscle to irritate the sciatic nerve that runs just underneath it and relieve sciatic pain.

Step 4: Inflammation Reduction

You know I’m not a fan of runners and pain relievers, they cause you to do too much or damage the liver. Instead my focus is on how we can reduce inflammation to help the body heal.

Inflammation is how your body knows there is something that needs to be resolved, so trying to mash it down with pain relievers doesn’t always get us where we want to go.

What I have found to work are a few really easy to implement tools. Here’s more information on them:

CBD for recovery (helping breakdown all your questions about CBD)
Turmeric capsules for inflammation
Eating anti-inflammatory foods

Step 5: Making Sure Not to Overdo It

The last step is one of caution – don’t overdo it. Listen to your body and feel how it’s reacting to the stretches I mentioned above.

Like any other form of physical exercise, stop if it starts hurting. You’re not looking to irritate your sciatic nerve even further; our aim is to do stretches that relax the piriformis and make it more flexible.

If you feel more tightness and pain, watch the videos again and read my instructions again too – check to see if you have the correct form, and go slow.

Prevention is always better than cure. So even if you’re not entirely suffering from piriformis syndrome, these exercises will help prevent it from occurring in the first place!