Piriformis Syndrome

Thoughts on “Piriformis Syndrome”?

I’ve seen a few people given this diagnosis but it seems a bit of a cop-out diagnosis. The idea that the piriformis impinges the sciatic nerve and simply needs stretching seems a bit suspect. My understanding of the effect of stretching is that structurally, not much changes. It’s mostly stretch tolerance that improves and it’s this that leads to an increase in the flexibility of a muscle. So I don’t understand why stretching the piriformis would miraculously stop the sciatic nerve from being compressed (if that’s really what’s going on here anyway)

Controversial, to say the least. Likely overdiagnosed, IMO.

Tom Jesson has a nice piece on this topic here that may serve as a useful starting point: Piriformis syndrome - by Tom Jesson

Austin - that was a helpful article, how would you guys go about treating it and exercise if you were dealing with it? Same approach as any other injury/tweak/pain?

Yes, I would take the same approach up front and see if I could make progress. If not, I’d broaden the differential diagnosis and potentially pursue more advanced diagnostics.