Piriformis Syndrome is a Pain in the Bum

Sometimes I'm amazed at just how stupid I can be. This thought came to me yesterday morning when I got out of bed and a shot of pain ran across the top of of my bum and down my left leg. Sciatica, what joy. However, this wasn't just any sciatica, it was sciatica caused by piriformis syndrome and it was all my own silly fault.

The piriformis is a muscle which is deep inside the complex of muscles in your buttocks. As I understand it, the sciatic nerve passes through the piriformis and when the muscle gets strained, it can place pressure on the nerve, causing sciatica. 

The pain from piriformis syndrome can be pretty excruciating, when it is really bad I can barely walk. Yesterday's bout wasn't too bad and I was happy enough walking in a straight line, though going round corners and standing up and sitting down were likely to elicit a yelp guaranteed to wake the dog up. The thing is, I know about piriformis syndrome, I know what causes it and I know how to avoid it, but I still get it. As I said, I'm amazed at how stupid I can be. My piriformis gets inflamed when I run long distances or when I start to increase my distance - which is what I'm doing now. I can avoid it by regular and disciplined stretching - which is (evidently) what I'm not doing now. I am very good at stretching when I'm in pain, but much less good at it when there is no obvious need. If I am to meet my running goals this year, I need to get much more organised about stretching and doing strength exercises. Avoiding injury is much better than dealing with it!

There are a number of different stretches for the piriformis, but this is probably the most common:

Sitting on a tennis ball and giving your buttock a deep massage can also be very helpful.

All being well, I'll be out for a short run today - someone remind me to stretch!

Meanwhile, on an entirely different note, the Spine Race; a 268 mile race along the Pennine Way is in full swing. You can follow the competitors here, it is truly inspiring. There are lots of photos, videos and comments on the Spine Facebook page. This is probably the toughest sporting event which is held in the UK, but it gets hardly any coverage, meanwhile the antics of overpaid footballers dominates the back pages. Hey ho!