Scapegoat Muscle #1

I am going to start a new series of muscle posts. I'm going to call it the scapegoat muscles. These muscles are common muscles to beat on. They get stretched, poked, rolled, and punished, and often they aren't the problem, but taking up the slack for muscles that aren't functioning to their full potential.

My first scapegoat muscle is one that gets blamed for lots of different pains, mostly in the hips and legs. Our muscle today is the PIRIFORMIS.

The Piriformis is a deep hip muscle. It's a relatively small muscle, compared to other muscles in the area, but when dysfunctional, can cause big problems. The sciatic nerve runs under the Piriformis, so a tight Piriformis can pinch the sciatic nerve causing lots and lots of hip, and low back pain, numbness, and tingling. The Piriformis attaches on the sacrum and runs to the greater trochanter of the femur. 

It is responsible for lateral rotation of the hip and abduction when the hip is flexed. In other words, if you rest one ankle on the opposite knee, you will feel your Piriformis. The Piriformis is imperative to stability of the pelvis, so, we use it everyday when we walk and stand.

I find the Piriformis overworking all the time in my practice, most commonly, i see the large glute muscles underworking, causing poor little piriformis to have to pull the slack of a much bigger muscle. It's no wonder it hurts! Instead of punishing Piriformis, i like to find the cause and correct that.

Have a great day everyone!