You probably haven't heard of the piriformis muscle. It's a small, deep muscle in your hip that sits right on top of the sciatic nerve. And when it gets tight, it can create pain that feels almost exactly like sciatica—a sharp, burning sensation down your leg, weakness, numbness. People spend months or years treating what they think is a sciatic nerve problem, when the real culprit is their piriformis muscle.
The frustration is that most practitioners don't know to look there. Your doctor might have called it sciatica. Physical therapy might not have touched it. But the piriformis is actually one of the most responsive muscles to treatment when someone knows how to work with it properly. That's where targeted massage makes all the difference.
Why Piriformis Syndrome Gets Misdiagnosed
The piriformis muscle is responsible for external rotation of your hip. When it gets tight from sitting, repetitive movement, or even just stress and posture, it can squeeze the sciatic nerve running beneath it. The result feels like classic sciatica—but the treatment path is completely different.
I assess specifically for piriformis involvement by testing your hip rotation and pressure on the muscle itself. If that's where the problem is, I release it through deep, targeted pressure and myofascial techniques. The relief is often immediate. Most clients notice significant improvement within 2-3 sessions.
The key is consistent work to prevent it from tightening again. I'll teach you about the positions and movements that created the problem in the first place, so you can reclaim full hip mobility and keep the nerve compressed.