Piriformis syndrome
Before my YTT journey, I occasionally felt this pain on my upper legs especially when I walked too long, and due to some yoga practice, I thought it was my alignment of my feet and tried to walk abit differently to try things out to make my upper leg hurt less.
During my YTT journey, we had to learn a lot on muscles and it also has its connections to the nervous system. Having to also identify our bodies, for example, having a smaller shoulders would make inversions harder or a simply shorter quadratus femoris could make yoga poses like Marichyasana D hard to do, mine was the fact I never knew I had piriformis syndrome! This can all be spotted whether standing or seated, the little things that the body does, be it a higher knee compared to the other when seated.
So what is a piriformis syndrome? It is an uncommon neuromuscular disorder that is caused when the piriformis muscle compresses the sciatic nerve.
The piriformis muscle originates at the front of the sacrum near the sacroiliac joint capsule and attaches to a bony knob on the femur (thigh bone) at the outermost part of the hip.
The piriformis helps externally rotate and abduct the hip, such as when raising your knee and bringing your leg out when getting out of a car seat. It also offers stability while walking, running and standing.
The sciatic nerve is a thick and long nerve in the body. It passes alongside or goes through the piriformis muscle, goes down the back of the leg, and eventually branches off into smaller nerves that end in the feet. Nerve compression can be caused by spasm of the piriformis muscle.
Yoga poses to relieve piriformis syndrome
To relieve piriformis syndrome in the long term, yoga asanas that help to alleviate tightness and tension in the deepest muscles of the buttocks are good, such as:
Parivritta Supta Padagangusthasana
Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half Lord of the Fishes Pose),
Garudasana (Eagle Pose),
Gomukhasana (Cow-Face Pose),
Virasana (Hero Pose) and
Raja Kapotasana (King Pigeon Pose)
Ardha Matsyendrasana, Garudasana, and Virasana are so perfect because they all emphasize internal rotation and adduction of the flexed femur in the hip socket. This is the counterpose of the piriformis’ main actions of external rotation and abduction.
Source: https://www.ekhartyoga.com/articles/anatomy/the-piriformis-the-little-muscle-causing-trouble
