r/openpiriformis

Hi friends! I've been dealing with piriformis syndrome for about 6 years now. I started getting radiating nerve pain after running a half marathon. I got an MRI to rule out a back injury and went through PT before being diagnosed about a year later when the pain just wouldn't stop. The first year was terrible. I couldn't sleep or sit without being very uncomfortable. After a while I accepted that this might be with me for years to come. Now, I get maybe 2 or 3 flare ups per year, but am otherwise pain-free. Here's what I do to manage it:

1. Barre/floor pilates, focused on core and glute strength with lots of stretching. I do 45 minute sessions 2-3 times a week. For a while I was exclusively doing this. Now, I do normal gym and weightlifting, too (but only when I am pain free). I have totally given up running, which seems to be my biggest PS trigger.

2. Sleeping on my side with a pillow between my legs. I think the alignment helps a lot.

3. Foam roll my glute whenever it feels tight. Sitting on the roller with my affected side's leg crossed over the other one is especially helpful. I make sure to do the other side, too.

When I get a flare up, I stop all activity and rest. I use my foam roller and gently stretch. It usually goes away in 3-4 days. If it doesn't, I get a deep tissue massage and generally feel better the next day. I know some people find relief from walking, but for me it makes it worse.

Just posting because I know how hard and frustrating PS is. I hope this might help someone else. Don't give up on looking for what your body needs to heal. <3

I’m a teacher struggling to get through the day. I’ve been dealing with glute and leg pain (back of thigh) for a couple months now, starting once the school year ended. Now that I’m back at work and on my feet a lot more, by the time I get to my 3rd class of the day the pain in the back of my thigh is severe. I’m almost in tears each day and have to do breathing exercises (the same ones I did during childbirth - natural labor was more manageable than this honestly).

What can I do during my lunch break (15 mins) to get through the rest of the day? I’m going to PT and do the exercises every day. I have an appt with a doctor this week to talk pain management but I’m not sure what they can really do for me.

Anyone else have severe pain after standing instead of sitting?

Has anyone experienced full recovery from this bs because I'm four months in (three months of PT) and it's only gotten worse. I used to get occasional mild pain every few days, now I am unable to sit or lie on my back without pain in the glutes/lower back and full-on tingling and numbness in my feet and legs

Is there anyone here who knows for a fact this goes away because at this point I'm pretty sure my body is broken and that I will never be able to sit or lie down comfortably ever again. What the f is this bs

I've been dealing with piriformis syndrome pain since the beginning of June. I started PT about 4 weeks ago, and I really thought that it was getting better. However, this morning I woke up and I could tell it was going to be a bad day. I could feel the muscle cramping before I even got out of bed. I had worked up to sitting in my office chair for about 20-30 minutes at a time without pain, although I have a standing desk converter so I do usually work standing up. However, today I can't even manage more than 5 minutes without pain radiating down my leg. It feels like the origin of the pain has shifted a bit - it used to be that when I did the 'cow' part of the cat-cow stretch something caught in my buttock. Now, that movement is fine but it's closer to the outside of my hip, but it still causes that same feeling like the entire outside of my leg is being wrung out while I'm sitting.

Is this just a 'two steps forward, one step back', 'healing isn't linear' situation? Or should I be concerned that we're all the way back at square one?

I cant even lift my leg to put on pants. Spasms every time I switch from gas to brake. Worst part is I sit for work all day. I try to stand but that makes it worse, walking makes it worse and to add to it im 7 months pregnant so I cant do the stretches I need to do. I just need a release.

SI Joint Pain / Gluteal Tendinopathy / GTPS / Hip Impingement / Lower Back Instability / Piriformis Syndrome...How to find my way out of this HELLISH maze (UK NHS)

Can anyone help advise me in the UK?

I will keep it short. For 5 years I've had lower back, hip, left glute issues.

Seen NHS physios 4 times and they rule out sciatica. One physio said it's a hip issue. One physio said it's nerve related and a back / lumbar spine issue / one said GTPS.

One said to do minimal exercises and gave me a list of 4 exercises. And another I sae today said to start running again (I can't walk that well) going to yoga (Yoga - downward dog cause me agony). He has said he will refer me to the spinal specialist team who will see me in 8-10 months approximately.

I've mentioned an MRI on multiple occasions and still not been an option. The physio today said the spinal specialist team might see me ask questions and give me exercises or discuss spinal surgery (I don't want this.)

I see on social media many 'specialists' in all the areas in my title, and a lot of the symptoms I have for many of the things.

Is there a way I can pay / go private to find someone who can diagnose what I have? Once I know I can them work on the right exercises.

My lower back or hip or muscle or tendon is not grinding and crunching and giving me pain like arthuritis maybe? Not sure.

Is there anyway I can just find someone to tell me what's going on?

I'm at a loss, in pain, and just want to be able to play football with my 4 year old toddler, pick him up out the bath or even sit and have dinner at the table without having to stand up and walk around every 2 minutes.

Please help if you have any suggestions to isolate what the issue even is?!

Hello, I have been dealing with this issue for about 3 years without any significant relief.

I cannot sit for more than about 15 minutes. After that, the medial hamstring on my right side, very close to the sit bone, starts to feel tight, fatigued, and painful. The discomfort is always in the same area, around the tendon near the sit bone. As soon as I stand up, the pain goes away almost immediately.

I have received different opinions from doctors. Some think it may be related to nerve compression due to a mild disc bulge at L5-S1 and degeneration/bulging at L4-L5. Others think it could be a chronic hamstring strain or tendinopathy.

I do not have any lower back pain or shooting pain down the leg. Occasionally, I experience mild tingling under my feet for a few minutes, but it is not severe. My SLR test is negative, and my nerve conduction study was normal. My back MRI shows the disc bulges while my hip joint MRI was normal.

So far, I have tried medications, physical therapy, physiotherapy, stretching, and strengthening exercises, but nothing has provided lasting improvement. In fact, stretches such as the figure-4/glute stretch and hamstring stretching tend to aggravate the pain in this area, particularly around the sit bone.

A chiropractor suggested that the problem might be related to a pelvic rotation toward the right. Although the pelvic rotation has now been corrected, the sitting problem has remained unchanged.

I have also done extensive exercises for my hips, legs, and back, but I have not seen any meaningful improvement in my ability to sit.

What is particularly strange is that I can walk, run, climb stairs, and perform other activities without any significant problem. The main issue is sitting—even with what I believe is good posture. After around 15 minutes, the same area near the right sit bone becomes tight, fatigued, and dull painful.

Has anyone experienced something similar or have any ideas about what could be causing this? I would really appreciate suggestions regarding possible causes or what type of assessment or treatment might be worth exploring.

On July 25, I woke up with a shooting pain and numbness in my upper left buttock on the side, just below my beltline. I went to the ER and the doctor. He narrowed it down to two conditions: Meralgia paresthetica or Piriformis syndrome. Before I was released, he said it was Piriformis syndrome. I was sent to Physical therapy, where I was given 4 exercises to do twice a day. So far, the pain is still the same. It may be a coincidence, but for the past year I’ve dealt with rectal incontinence, which finally improved to one or two leaks a week. Since July 25, the leaks have increased, and I’m wondering if there’s a connection between the two conditions. Does anyone have this problem? Thank you.

I did a workout December 2025 and caused my piriformis glute muscles and potentially other glute muscles to severely pinch my sciatic nerves in both glutes. I have dealt with chronic piriformis pain for 4 years on and off, but after that workout in December, I have had constant chronic severe glute pain and sciatic nerve pain that goes down into my heels.

The nerve pain ended up going away at the end of March about four weeks after a pure performance injection, but I was left with debilitating Glute and low back pain from where they were guarding for months to protect my sciatic nerve.

I’ve tried 3 different PT’s, a neurologist, a sports medicine doctor, 2 PA’s, my family doctor, a rheumatologist, an oncologist, and a spine and nerve pain management doctor. I’ve had piriformis injections that have helped with the pain, but only when it’s numb, SI joint injections, quadratus femoris glute injections on April 9th that brought all of the nerve pain back that I had suffered through for 4 months.

It’s been another 4 months after the April 9th injection, with no end in sight. I went to a PT who did dry needling on my glutes and made the glute pain 100x worse.

I’m on 900mg of gabapentin and I can’t sit, stand, or walk without being in severe pain that makes me nauseous and dizzy. It’s been 8 months and no one can point to exactly what is causing my deep glute syndrome, because all tests are normal. MRI’s look completely normal as well.

I am desperate for a relief. People don’t understand what chronic pain is like until they actually are in it. I am in hell. I wake up depressed and anxious every morning because I know how miserable the day is going to be. I cannot live like this. I have kids to take care of. I’m a teacher, and I’m about to start back to work, and I can’t even sit or stand for more than 30 minutes without agonizing pain.

Gabapentin helps a little, I’m now on a Medrol steroid pack for the dry needling inflammation, and my pain management doc gave me another set of trigger point injections into my extremely tight muscles. I stopped all aggressive therapies, and have been keeping things calm, but it doesn’t help. The pain is relentless. Does anyone have any tips, advice, or anything that could help me?

Necesito hablar con alguien que haya tenido o tenga diagnosticado síndrome del piramidal!
Quisiera saber cómo recuperar!