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Piriformis Therapy
Piriformis therapy is a growth market within the
back pain industry.
Piriformis syndrome describes pain being caused by nerve compression due to the
piriformis muscle.
This is a small but powerful muscle located under the gluteals in the pelvis.
Piriformis syndrome
is a diagnosis on the rise, despite being a truly controversial condition. It is also a diagnosis often made by exclusion, rather than by documented physical evidence.
Reasons for Piriformis Therapy
If the patient is indeed suffering from piriformis related pain, then there is no doubt that
treatment
might be appropriate. The correct choice of treatment is the main variable in this situation. Many modalities are really rather vague in their exact desired effects as a curative treatment. Far too many common therapies are merely
symptomatic treatments
and do nothing at all to cure the underlying anatomical condition. The most common of these treatments are:
drugs,
injections,
physical therapy
and
exercise.
More drastic surgical measures are definitely designed to correct the anatomical source of the discomfort, but often demonstrate poor statistical results for pain relief. With piriformis symptoms, the patient is usually stuck between the choice of ongoing treatment to control the agony or a
surgical
correction hopefully leading to a cure. It is a tough choice to make and one that might have dire consequences either way, if the diagnosis turns out to be incorrect...
Problems with Piriformis Therapy
In piriformis syndrome, the pain is thought to be caused by muscular infringement on the sciatic nerve. Sometimes the sciatic nerve passes under the muscle and other times, it passes directly through it. Regardless, the patient has pain, with no other apparent cause, so the suspect is the piriformis muscle. The diagnosis is often confirmed by injecting an anesthetic into the affected area. If the pain ceases, then the piriformis is usually targeted as the source of the symptoms. This is a poor diagnostic method since the anesthetic can spread and numb a larger region. The anesthetic will also relieve the pain due to other processes, such as
oxygen deprivation.
It is no wonder that this diagnosis is often incorrect and subsequent treatments will be doomed to fail before they even commence.
Recommendation on Piriformis Therapy
I have met so many patients with this diagnosis. It is funny how the diagnosis is very common, yet the actual condition is quite rare. This is proof positive that many patients have been
misdiagnosed
and are actually suffering from some other causative condition. The most logical realty is that these patients are suffering from
ischemia
of the piriformis region and sciatic nerve. This is very common and can be a real chronic problem until correctly identified. Once the patient realizes that their pain can often be cured with
knowledge therapy,
there is a good chance they will be able to defeat the symptoms once and for all, without any physical piriformis treatments. That sounds like a far better choice to me than surgery or ongoing regimens of therapy.
Piriformis Therapy to Back Pain Home
3/24/08 Revised 10/24/09
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