If you experience pain in your hip, back, or even radiating down your leg—your piriformis may be to blame. This muscle lies deep to your glute muscles, running diagonally from your sacrum to the top of your femur. Like all muscles, it can become tight and sore when held in certain positions for extended periods of time, causing pain and immobility. In fact, the piriformis lies over the sciatic nerve, so when this muscle is irritated, you may experience symptoms similar to sciatic pain (the radiating leg pain we mentioned earlier). Our modern sitting lifestyles make us predisposed to having a tight piriformis, as it can become injured by prolonged sitting and sleeping in one position. Even certain physical activities make us vulnerable to injuring our piriformis, such as running, playing soccer, and performing weighted hip thrusts and squats.
While some of these factors may be unavoidable, there are steps we can take to keep our piriformis relaxed and healthy.
1. Combine sitting and standing while at work. If you work behind a screen all day, make adjustments with either a standing desk or a computer stand so that you can spend more time on your feet. Even if you only spend half of your work day standing, it will go a long way to helping your mobility!
2. Be mindful of your sleeping position. If you sleep in the fetal position, for example, certain muscles are being held in a shortened and contracted position through the night. Think back to when you woke up with a kink in your neck—ouch! This can happen in other areas of your body as well, but it may not be as obvious. Try sleeping on one side your body with only a slight bend in your legs, and your spine straight.
3. Stretch! If you do nothing else, warm up and get stretching. The best stretch for the piriformis is Pigeon Pose in yoga and it can be done seated, prone (face down), or laying on your back (even in bed!). To do the prone version, you can begin in downward dog (on your hands and feet), and bring your right foot towards your left hand, and your right knee towards your right hand. Settle onto the floor, feeling a deep stretch. You can stay upright or bring your head towards the floor. Inhale to come back into downward dog, and repeat on the opposite side.
Committing to these lifestyle changes should make substantial improvements to the health of your piriformis overtime. Working with a massage therapist can also bring tremendous relief, especially if you are suffering from sciatic pain.
Maureen, RMT, 200hr Yoga Instructor
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