Stretching exercises with the help of a tennis ball | Piriformis Syndrome Exercises

Stretching exercises with the help of a tennis ball

More stretching exercises for the hip, but also for other body parts can be found in the article Stretching exercises.

1. For this exercise, stand in the rear quadruped position. Position a tennis ball under your buttocks and massage the piriformis muscle with small circular movements. When you arrive at a pain point, stay there for a few moments and massage with minimal movements of the ball.
2. Lie on your back with your legs in an upright position and place a tennis ball on the side of a pain point under your buttocks.
3. Hold the position for 30 seconds and then move the ball to the next painful spot.
4. Lie on your side, supporting your upper body on your forearm. Position the tennis ball laterally under your buttocks and slowly roll back and forth.
5. Stand in the rear quadruped position and strike your right leg over your left.
6. Position the tennis ball to the right under your buttocks and stay in this position for 20-30 seconds before changing sides.

Physiotherapy

Physiotherapy is the main focus of treatment for Piriformis Syndrome. Since the problems are usually caused by muscular tension, the treating physiotherapist has a number of options with which he can start therapy. Therapeutic approaches include, for example, loosening the muscles by massaging or stimulating so-called trigger points, fascial techniques, treatment with ultrasound therapy as well as heat, cold and electrotherapy.

An important part of the therapy is also to find out the underlying cause of Piriformis Syndrome so that it can be combated if possible. This can be, for example, one-sided or too much sedentary activities and/or errors in movement. By avoiding and correcting these things, the course of the disease can in many cases be influenced positively and later problems can be prevented.

Another important pillar of the therapy are numerous different exercises to stretch, loosen and strengthen the Piriformis muscle (see above). It is important to give the patient a better awareness of his own body and to make him understand how important it is to carry out the exercises regularly even after the therapy is over. In addition to these conservative forms of therapy, analgesic and antispasmodic drugs can be used. With the application of Kinsiotape, good results can be achieved with piriformis syndrome. A detailed instruction and experience them in the article Kinesiotape.