Assess & Address: Piriformis Syndrome by Whitney Lowe

Pathology Assessment & Evaluation Treatment Massage Techniques

Traditional methods of treatment
Treatment for piriformis syndrome will most commonly focus on conservative measures that don’t require surgery, such as physical therapy, massage therapy and exercise. Eliminating aggravating activities, such as sitting on a large wallet, is often the first step. And stretching the piriformis muscle is an important part of the conservative approach.

If conservative treatment is unsuccessful, piriformis syndrome may be treated by steroid injection or surgery. Steroid injection is proposed to be helpful because in many situations there appears to be inflammatory activity present in the site of the nerve irritation. The steroid injections will directly address this inflammatory component and may greatly reduce symptoms.

Surgical approaches, such as cutting the piriformis muscle to reposition one of the sciatic nerve divisions, may also be performed. While this procedure often gets beneficial treatment results, there is some controversy about the necessity of this approach. Some argue that because an individual has lived with this anatomical variation all his/her life, and it has only recently become symptomatic, there isn’t a need for a radical surgical procedure, and symptom relief can be achieved through conservative means.

References