Piriformis Syndrome

[Columbus Yogi]

4/13/2013
I have had pain in my right hip for years, on and off. However, in the past year, it has become chronic, and is increasing. I had a torn meniscus in the right knee, which was corrected last August. I cannot tell what role this has played in the present situation.

My physician has determined that it is piriformis syndrome. To that end, he referred me to a pain management doctor, who used botox to reduce the pain. It has only been a week, but it has not improved noticeably.

I am wondering if the problem was correctly diagnosed. I agreed with it initially due to location of the pain, but it has migrated to the gluteal muscles, and I no longer have sciatic nerve sensations.

Pigeon pose, 4-square, and similar hip openers are painful. Nothing seems to help except keeping active, but walking has its own problems, because there is pain then as well.

Any ideas out there?

[Bernie]

Sorry to hear about your chronic condition. While we can not diagnose you via the internet and without a lot more details and tests there is no way to definitively work out the cause or cure for your condition, there are a few generalized remarks that might prove useful.

First, you may want to read this article on sciatica and what yoga can and can not do to help. You said that your doctor believes the cause of your (sciatica) pain is piriformis syndrome (and your symptoms do point towards nerve compression somewhere even though the pain has moved to the glutes), but the classical poses that address piriformis syndrome make you feel more pain. This is not unusual, as the article explains. You will want to find a time when you are pain free to really try to stretch out that muscle, but until you do stretch it out, you won't be pain free: an unfortunate Catch-22. In this case you may also want to read this article which talks about the Goldilocks' position when you are injured.

All tissues need some stress to stay healthy or regain health. When injured however, it is easy to go too far and overstress the tissues, making matters worse. Try some of the poses in the first article, but go gently with them so that they don't trigger pain. Perhaps, with gentle persistence, you can start to find some relief.

As I mentioned, advice over the internet is not always the best: much better would be to work directly with a yoga teacher, especially one trained as a physiotherapist or yoga therapist so that you can experiment together and find a path that works for your situation.

Good luck!
Bernie

[Columbus Yogi]

Bernie,

Thanks so much for your reply. I will check out the articles, and let you know what happens.