Is Your Buttock Pain Due To An Over-Active Piriformis Muscle?
This is our third blog of a series about Deep Gluteal Syndrome, formerly called Piriformis Syndrome. This blog will be exploring whether the Piriformis Muscle is causing Deep Gluteal Syndrome or if it is the victim.
If you missed it, go check out part one, where we described common causes of Deep Gluteal Syndrome (DGS). This is when the sciatic nerve is entrapped as it exits the pelvis and travels through the deep structures of the buttock in the back part of the hip.
Part Two in this series went through how Sacroiliac Joint Sprains, Strains and Dysfunction can contribute to ongoing buttock pain or sciatica. You can watch the video of Dr. Gord getting his SIJ’s assessed and adjusted by his colleague at the clinic, Dr. Batinić.
Is Your Buttock Pain Due To An Over-Active Piriformis Muscle?
Ok, so we can agree that the Piriformis muscle is tight and sore and pinching the sciatic nerve. But, you have to ask yourself, did the Piriformis muscle just wake up one day and decide it was going to misbehave?
A really important thing to keep in mind is that your piriformis might be getting over-tasked by compensating for something else that isn’t functioning properly. There are a lot of scenarios where the poor little piriformis muscle is getting bullied by other areas not doing their job.
The way we try and sort that out at our Calgary clinic follows two concepts called reciprocal inhibition and synergistic dominance.
Dr. Gord went into this in his video workshop, which we featured in part one of this blog series. The video is packed full of tons of useful info but it is one of our longer sessions. If you want to zoom in on the specific compensation that leads to this problem, skip ahead to the the 2-minute 50-second mark and watch through to the 9-minute 30-second mark.
As it turns out, Dr. Gord’s Piriformis Muscle is the victim of his Glutes not pulling their weight. You can watch how Physiotherapist, Stephanie Henderson assesses and determines how weak Dr. Gord’s butt actually is.
SPOILER ALERT: He has a pretty weak butt!
Summary
Buttock and Sciatica-type pain can have numerous causes, all grouped under a Diagnosis of Deep Gluteal Syndrome (formerly Piriformis Syndrome). The Piriformis muscle has often been blamed as the cause, however, one thing to keep in mind is that this poor, little muscle may be the victim of other bigger muscles not doing their fair share of the work.
Buttock pain is common and needs to be properly assessed and diagnosed by a chiropractor, physiotherapist, or qualified healthcare professional before you can hope to figure out which treatments will be best. Feel free to reach out directly if you would like help diagnosing your buttock pain or sciatica. You can book an appointment online by clicking here.
