Piriformis Pain

For several years, I've had a LOT of pain stemming from my piriformis.  I went to an awesome physical therapist who worked in the same hospital I worked at, and he gave me exercises. He said that my gluteus minimus muscle was also weak and gave me exercises.  I complained of IT band pain, and he gave me exercises for that.  I do them, on occasion, usually when the pain comes back. 

photo credit: https://www.circleoflifewellness.com/post/the-glutes-are-they-the-cause-of-your-pain

photo credit: https://backmusclesolutions.com/blogs/the-ql-blawg/seated-piriformis-stretch

The exercises help, as does stretching. Yin yoga, holding the stretches for 3 minutes, is lovely.  However, it's not enough.

I love my treadmill. We got a great deal on Craig's List years ago for a gym-quality treadmill (Landice) thanks to a divorce. The husband got custody of the wife's treadmill and sold it to us for a song. 🤣 Here's the thing, though. Every time I walk on the treadmill, I get piriformis pain.  Bad.  My pain is exactly like the second photo, a "line" across my lower back into my hip.  My hip hurts bad, and the pain extends down the side of my leg. I thought it was IT band pain.

The exercises I have just aren't enough. These muscles are weak, and so I went on the search for more info.  I found this video, Your Piriformis isn't Tight, it's Weak!: 

I got on the floor and did the first exercise, where you turn your thigh up.  Oh my gosh, it was instant relief. It was hurting bad today, and just that one set that he did in the video was like a magic eraser for the pain.  The pain was 80% gone. Wow.

So I'm going to follow his recommendations for a couple weeks and get this muscle built up.  I will also be doing this workout:

The FIRM Lower Body Sculpting 

This video has all but one exercise I was given by the physical therapist.  The other is the clamshell, which I can do on my own.  I wish I had this on DVD.  I have it on VHS. It's now OOP and I'd give anything to have the DVD so I could get rid of the VHS player.  For now, I am renting from the Fitness Favorites website, but it's $20 a month. This is an exercise I can do upstairs, not in my gym, and I prefer to do it upstairs because my dogs like to help me and they aren't allowed in my gym. 🤣 

So I'll continue my treadmill walking, and I'll be doing these daily, as prescribed by my PT in 2020. I need to get serious because the pain is for real, and it wakes me at night, and it makes me dread the treadmill and working out in general, which is stupid because I love to workout.

So there you have it, my cure for piriformis pain.