Assess
& Address: Piriformis
Syndrome
by Whitney Lowe |
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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