A relevant article:
http://health.clevelandclinic.org/2015/08/oh-my-aching-back-or-is-it-my-hip/
OP here. Not long after I started this thread, the dull achy lower back pain for whatever reasons “shifted” to my left side, and down my buttock! Almost right in the middle of my butt, I started having problem sitting for a period of time, kept up with my stretching exercise, fortunately pain does not travel down leg and foot (at least not yet).
Went to see my primary doctor 2 weeks ago, she recommended physical therapy as the 1st course of action.
Have 2 sessions of PT so far, physical therapist thinks it is problem with the piriformis, she uses ultra sound (to reduce any inflammation), does manual massage and showed me the kind of stretching exercises I should do, and some core strengthening exercise to do later on. It feels so good when she is massaging affected area, but I feel sore both times after PT, but was told it is normal.
Now I can’t sit more than 1/2 hour because of the nagging pain in my buttock, standing to watch TV isn’t fun.
Anyone who has had piriformis syndrome, what courses of action did you take?
My daughter has/had this. She had an acute attack, where she was in severe pain, and then it took a long time to get better. She wasn’t happy with physical therapy, said it didn’t help that much.
What did help was seeing a physical trainer, who gave her a bunch of exercises that strengthened the muscles around the problem area. Now, she says she is careful not to sit or stand for long periods of time. I periodically ask her how her back is, and she says it’s “OK.” So I think some of it was just time.
If the massage feels good, maybe get a foam roller (like this -http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KAEJ3UE?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00) and look for videos online that will show you how to use it.
I have lower back pain, especially in the morning. I walk and do yoga stretches. Recently I increased my daily dose of Tumeric because of another thread that suggested tumeric helps plantar fasciitis. Although this is not scientific, and I need more time to determine the accuracy, my lower back pain has lessened.
I’be been taking turmeric pills purchased from Costco. Not regularly but at least a few times a week and my hip arthritis is not there, I can’t feel the pain. My connective tissue on my upper shoulder should be stretched more now and not the lower back.
@FlyMeToTheMoon, @DrGoogle, I am going to give turmeric a try. When I first went for PT for my frozen shoulder at the beginning of the year, my therapist told me his physician friend said turmeric maybe helpful.
I am not even sure how my achy lower back pain turned into piriformis syndrome, more acute/severe pain in my left buttock, that makes the lower back pain seem trivial. Been to PT for 4 sessions now. I do daily stretches as instructed. I have to alternate standing and sitting every 1/2 hour or so, have stopped walking which I thought would help loosen up the joint, but during my last walk a week ago, towards the end, I felt the pain intensify in my buttock I had to stop right there. I have to listen to my body.
I just hope I will get better soon, besides physical pain, it wears me down mentally, after having frozen shoulder for almost a whole year (now 90% well) and now this…
I had terrible piriformis pain which started during my first pregnancy. Things that helped the pain included doing pigeon and figure-4 stretches, and myofascial release by laying on a small hard ball (handball or lacrosse ball). But what made it go away for real was getting in shape, specifically, glutes and core. It used to be that I couldn’t stand or sit for long. Now it almost never bothers me, and if it does, the above stretches get it gone.
Good luck!
@jaylynn, my physical therapist has not gotten me to do the pigeon stretches. I had done figure 4 stretches before I went to PT, she said it is ok.
I can’t lay on the tennis ball or sit or it since I can’t balance myself well without putting pressure on my arms, and because of frozen shoulder, I can’t exert too much pressure on my left arm. So I lay on it against a wall, though it is not as good, it does release the pressure on my buttock and relieve the pain, but ONLY temporary!!!
My PT did tell me that I need to strength my core, and she will be showing me some exercises later on.
Thank you for your input.
My trapezius muscle went into spazm last week and I’ve been stretching several times a day, using moist heat and have taken muscle relaxer and nothing was helping. Yesterday a friend suggested Arnica gel) she swears by it) so I went out and bought some and it seems to be helping. I can turn my head side to side and drop chin to chest with no pain. I can still feel it’s tight but much improved.
I have had amazing results from acupuncture for several issues, including lower back pain, bursitis in hips, arthritius in one knee and sciatica (all related). A few treatments for one of these issues and then increased walking resolves the issue, usually for months or years.
You could start researching which acupuncturist you would like and made appts now even if your insurance doesn’t cover it. I think it would be worth paying for a couple of sessions yourself to help with this.
I found that too much sitting is a trigger for back and hip pain for me.
Arnica gel did nothing for me. Ditto for Mr. B. From what I read, it is nothing more than placebo effect. People who claim it helps actually are on the tail end of the healing curve, so it seems like it works. What really helps with muscle pain is aspirin-equivalent prescription ointment called Voltaren and its generic “cousin” Aspercreme. I have a tube of Voltaren from the days of visiting my Ortho doc for knee issues, and I use it to calm sore muscles after really, really long runs. It makes an almost immediate difference.
Well it seems to be working for me and yesterday morning I could not bring my chin to my chest without a lot of pain. Or turn my head side to side or do any of the other stretches without pain. Nothing I did since it started bothering me on Wednesday helped at all including another analgesic gel I had been applying. Anyway Bought the gel about 2pm yesterday and in only a few hours I could turn my head and drop chin to chest with no pain.
Dr. Weil (Ask Dr. Weil from NYT) seems to like it, too.
A study from 1998? Even Sloan Kettering has the benificial effects of Arnica on its website. https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/treatments/symptom-management/integrative-medicine/herbs/search
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/the-alternative-medicine-cabinet-arnica/?_r=0
https://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/arnica
Supporting research is at the bottom of the page if you care to look up the specifics.
Emilybee, whatever works for you; you are apparently on the finishing stretch for healing. There are fresher studies that say it was no different than placebo - in properly controlled experiments. I’m just pointing it out that for people who look for a panacea - those homeopathic gels are expensive and may offer false hopes.
BTW, some of supporting research you cite is not dealing with the topical form, i.e., gel or cream. Some of it is not research at all. Some of it is not controlled…
Most importantly, neither arnica nor aspirine like meds “heal” anything. Alleviating pain temporarily is what they are supposed to do. If a package of Arnicaine claims “healing” - do not buy it.
My tube just says for pain relief and reducing swelling. It certainly reduced my pain and the knot is gone, so definitely worked for what I needed.
I had to google aspirine and got nothing. Did you mean aspirin?
I don’t know of any drug which heal muscle spazms. Most just alleviate the pain and inflammation which allows the muscle to relax. I take soma and meloxicam for my lower back and that works great for me but it did nothing for my trapezius spazm.
Have you read the freaking book? Read the book (anyone suffering from back pain) and if it doesn’t help you I will shut up, but if you won’t even look at the book and keep chasing cures I find it frustrating. Look at the huge variety of treatments suggested! Exercise, no, this drug, no that drug, physical therapy, hot compress, tumeric, oregano, muscle relaxers, holistic medicine, acupuncture, massage, surgery! What, no surgery? Cut yourself open, scrape out the disc, remove the disc, insert titanium rod, Everyone has their own favorite placebo, and they all work to a certain extent… because the placebo effect is very powerful. Just read one of Dr Sarno’s books, get exposed to a different perspective, and then I will shut up. 
Sure. Typing on the iPhone and it converted Aspercreme into that. Lol. It is a cream with aspirin analog that is topically available. There are other brands of it I believe. The one I get does not have lidocaine.
By “healing” I meant preventing reoccurring pain and fixing the root cause of the pain. Lower back pain usually has deeper roots than simple muscle pain. I have seen homeopathic creams and pills (usually imported and sold through ethnic stores) that make all sorts of ridiculous statements.