I just want to talk to you about the piriformis muscle and how it relates to sciatic pain. So what is sciatic pain
Typically that’s a nerve pain that starts in the low back that travels to typically one side through the glute, into the hamstrings.
In some people, it will travel all the way down to their feet.
So how does that relate to the piriformis muscle? The piriformis muscle actually starts in the side of the sacrum and travels over into the femoral head right into the hip here. The sciatic nerve actually runs under this muscle and in 17% of the population, it’ll actually run through the muscle.
So what we’ve been seeing here in the last, about a year, with everyone working from home, and the more places that are closing down, we’re doing a lot more sitting and not enough moving. And so as we sit that actually causes the muscle to shorten and puts pressure on this nerve. So one great thing to do, obviously, is the chiropractic adjustment to mobilize the joints and relieve the pressure on the nerve.
But we also want to stretch that piriformis muscle. The best way to do that is while you’re in a seated position, you’re actually going to want to cross one leg over. With your hand on the ankle, you want to pull it up towards you, but just enough that you’re pulling.
Then with your elbow, you actually want to put it into the crook of the knee here and push out – not down, but out.
What you’ll feel is a nice stretching sensation over here on the side of the hip. I recommend holding that stretch for about 10 seconds. Do both legs and try to do that stretch two to three times a day.
Most importantly, you want to be consistent and at least do it once every single day. The more you do that, that will alleviate a good amount of pressure on the low back and start to alleviate that sciatic pain.
If you have any questions or concerns, please give us a call or stop on in for an adjustment, and we’d love to help you.