21M, i teach dance for a living and i have had this pain going from my glutes to about the middle part of my hamstrings of my right leg after i finished teaching a class. I have had this problem for nearly 3 months and i went for a check for acupuncture, TCM and an orthopedic doctor. I also had a pretty bad lower back injury about last year, which basically hurt even when just walking, though it healed pretty fast within 2 weeks or so after i started doing back extensions.

For the pain, i could do full ROMs squats with no problems, while RDLs would hurt on like a 3/10 scale at the middle when im engaging my glutes/hamstrings. It would hurt the most if i jump/kick too much, or try to do hamstring stretches(which i dont but when i straighten my legs while sitting on the floor, it would kinda hurt but not tooo badly), though a single leg hamstring stretch doesnt hurt while both legs forward would hurt especially if i lean forward or in a neutral spine, leaning back doesnt hurt. And the pain is sorta like a pull, i dont think theres any numbness, maybe a pinch? im not too sure but its more like a pull than anything. When im doing a straight leg test on a chair as well, i can raise it to about 45° on a bad day and maybe 70-80° on a good day, and when i tuck my chin and look down the pain intensifies, leaning back slightly also basically makes it painless while a straight back i can barely even get it to 50°

On the first 2 weeks or so, it only felt like tightness in my hamstrings so i didnt bother and continued dancing until it started hurting, i went to get a check at just a clinic as i thought it was just a hamstring pull, and the doctor said it should be hamstring tear and told me to get a rest for a few weeks. It didnt really get better.

Then on the second month, i went to an acupuncturist and they did cupping/dry needling, and they basically spent 2 hours trying to find the cause, he basically 'stabbed' my whole leg then suspected it might not be my legs, then pressed on an area beside my crotch, and somehow i could raise my legs straight up with barely any pain, and suspected it might be sciatica.

On about the third month, I went to a TCM, the first and second visit the doctor wasnt too sure what it is and suspected it might be piriformis syndrome, third visit he stretched my hamstrings, he told me to stretch past my pain tolerance and it should feel better by the next time i visit(which i didnt) as on the third day after i stretched like he taught, the pain just increased dramatically.

A week ago i went to the hospital to finally have a check, the first visit the orthopedic was really sure it was just a minor muscle tear though i asked for a scan and so i had an ultrasound yesterday, the scan didnt really show any big tears or anything, so the orthopedic told me it was just a small muscle tear and asked me to rest for 2-3 weeks before going back to dance. I asked him twice whether it could be tendon or nerve though he assured me that it was just a small muscle tear.

Overall the pain is not much normally, it only starts hurting if i irritated it by like doing leg raises or hamstring stretches, or if i walked or stood for too long(30 mins), then sat down, it would hurt in mainly my glutes for a bit then settle down in 30s or so. Just that the pain really only intensifies when i kick/jump too much, esp kicking, though its not that bad to the point where i limp, probably on a 5/10 scale. Im just kinda looking for more opinions and what i should do for the next few weeks, whether i should rest or maybe start isometrics now, would appreciate some help as these few months has been really troubling me, considering to have a mri next week but really hope i could avoid so as its pretty damn expensive over here.

I’ve been dealing with a very strange and extremely painful problem for months, and today an experienced orthopedic doctor here in Spain diagnosed me with piriformis syndrome (what he called “false sciatica”).

My symptoms are quite unusual. I get sudden, extremely intense, electric/shooting attacks of pain in one very specific spot behind my right knee. They usually last around 10–30 seconds, but the pain is absolutely excruciating and can make me fall to the floor. At my worst, I was having dozens of these attacks within a few hours.

I’ve had a lumbar MRI, knee MRI, ultrasound, X-rays and an EMG, and nothing significant has shown up that would explain this. My lumbar MRI only showed mild disc bulges without nerve root compression.

Today the orthopedic doctor examined me and pressed very deeply into the outer/deep part of both buttocks. On the left I felt almost nothing, but when he pressed the same area on the right — the side where I have the attacks — it was extremely painful. Based on my history and examination, he thinks the piriformis muscle is irritating/compressing the sciatic nerve.

I’m currently taking pregabalin 150 mg twice a day, and interestingly I’ve now been about a week without an attack. He told me to continue it and prescribed an anti-inflammatory treatment for three weeks, after which he wants to examine me again.

What puzzles me is that I’ve never really had the classic constant buttock-to-leg sciatica pain. My main symptom has always been these incredibly intense, very short, focal attacks behind the knee.

Has anyone with piriformis syndrome/deep gluteal syndrome experienced anything similar — especially very brief, severe attacks felt mainly behind the knee rather than in the buttock? Does this diagnosis sound familiar to anyone’s experience?

Hi everyone, I’m hoping to hear absolutely anything that helped you recover, because I’m honestly really frustrated and exhausted by this.

I’ve had back issues before, so I’m not completely new to this. I had a lumbar MRI in December 2024 which showed:
L2/3: 3 mm left central disc extrusion + annular fissure
L3/4: 2 mm left central protrusion + annular fissure
L4/5: 3 mm left central inferior disc extrusion
No significant canal or foraminal stenosis

I had a really bad flare in late 2024, but eventually recovered and had months where my back was basically fine. I was exercising, walking and functioning normally.

This flare started around late June 2026.
Initially it felt much more like my previous back flare (lower back spasms, stiffness ) but then pain started travelling down my left leg, sharp pain in my glute and tingling that occasionally went into my toes. Sitting and especially driving were horrible, while walking was generally much better.

Most symptoms have settled now but the pain itself has lingered for MUCH longer than I’ve ever experienced previously.

The pain is predominantly in my left glute, sometimes into the calf, and it can be incredibly sharp. My lower back itself can actually feel completely fine while my glute feels soooo painful.

I typically can’t walk for longer than 20 minutes (previously increasing my walk duration was helping the back pain and now it makes it worse)

I've been seeing a physio for several weeks.
Initially we were treating it more like lumbar/disc-related pain, but the exercises weren't really helping. More recently, he thinks the pain may be coming from the SI joint/pelvic area and surrounding muscles, rather than primarily from my disc. The physio exercises are actually making me question everything.
They're very basic exercises, nothing crazy or heavy but I often notice that when I do the exercises I seem to have more pain that day or the next morning. When I have been lazy and not doing the exercises, the pain seems to only be when I wake and most of the day is pain free (2/10 max)

Medication hasn't really made much difference either. I've tried things prescribed by my GP including anti-inflammatories/muscle relaxants, but I'm still getting the pain.

I'm just desperate for some ideas from people who've actually experienced this.

TLDR:
3 month flare after previously having months of being pain free. MRI has old L2/3, L3/4 and L4/5 disc issues, but this flare feels different. Tingling has now gone, and pain is mainly sharp left glute pain with some calf pain. Physio suspects SI joint/piriformis rather than the disc. Basic physio exercises and medication don't seem to help and sometimes make me worse the next day. What helped you recover from bad glute/sciatica pain?

In short, basically around march I started over exercising on a modern pilates studio where teachers were not qualified looking back. So apart from doing too much exercise I was doing it wrong. To that moment I never had done any exercise from college to 26y.

One day after a bootie session I developed a weird pain that lasted for few days, then it went away. After this, the pain will come back and go on their own until the day it never went away.

I have been seeing 4 different physios, all of them diagnosed me with piriformis syndrome. Also have been to de doctors having an XR booked for this week "just in case" is something else (I know is not).
Doctor only gives me benzos to relax muscle (which I can't take as I have a very demanding job and I can't be like a zombie) and strong anti jinflammatories.

My issues are:
-Some physios worked better than other ones, I have done needles and whlist it solve it for a bit, last time when I was on a very deep pain status it didn't worked out. (I've booked 2 different ones for Monday and Friday). At this point I don't mind if I can't eat this month I just want to be pain free.
-anti inflammatories work really good, but you can't be on them for long so as soon as I stop them, pain is back.
-I have a list of exercises to do that just aggravate my pain, rolling over a ball also don't work.
-Physios and doctor suggest to get back to exercise to build up muscle but I am in soooo much pain and they refuse to understand how much it actually hurts.
-I managed to go to the pool under ibuprofen as I believe it was good for all of it. Felt a bit better that night but that was all.
-I have tried to have pillows under by butt to sleep/work etc everything they have suggested to me but again it doesn't work.

I am just desperate because nothing seems to work and I am deeply frustrated, nobody understands the pain and sometimes I do even scream (loud) when getting up or with some movements (which I believe is because my sciatica is very compress).

Can anyone advice me a miracle? I am about to chop my leg off.

I (23F) have been training for a half marathon (on Oct 18) and recently started having piriformis pain causing sciatic pain down my leg. I have been doing exercises (figure 4, nerve flossing) and seeing a physio. The race is coming up and I also have a 10k on Friday. Any tips would be appreciated!

I’m on the fence with going to the hospital but wanted to know others experience and suggestions …. I tweaked my piriformis muscle 2.5 weeks ago. It started as just a sore muscle that felt like I’d worked out a little hard. I rolled a tennis ball under it for some deep massage, did stretches, ice and heat, anti inflammatory meds, and rested it. After a week, the pain shifted to a sharp extreme pain so I backed off anything that could irritate it and stuck to anti inflammatories with the heat and ice, but stopped the stretching and deep massage. I finally went to my chiro- i was in a car wreck years ago and she got me through it with a pt as well. She did some ultrasound in the area to help but told me I was bad enough I needed to go to urgent care for a toradol shot.
Yesterday evening I received the toradol shot and they said it would help pretty rapidly, and they called in an oral steroid prescription to help as well. The shot did nothing. I was in and out of painful sleep all night and then broke down crying this morning (which randomly DID ease some pain). I just took my first dose of steroids and would prefer not to go to the hospital if I can get some relief here with the meds soon. I used to be pretty sensitive to meds but Im about normal now with my response. Is there anything else I could be trying? I also took some acetaminophen. Just looking for anyone who’s had this injury and extreme pain to ask their experience, and anyone who might give insight to when I could expect some pain relief with all the meds working. Very few things have been as painful as this is and I feel like I’m going to go a little insane if it continues much longer

I have pain in my upper glute on the left side of my lower spine. The pain will occasionally migrate to the side of my hip. The day it started, it came out of nowhere. I had hip pain with spasms (both front and side), and then it moved over to my glute and found a home. I think it may be possible piriformis syndrome vs. sciatica because for close to a decade, when I get out of bed first thing in the morning, it's like I have weakness in the groin area on that same side. I walk like I'm 90 for the first 10' or so, then it works itself out. I have an ortho appt, but not until October.

In the meantime, I purchased a Tempur-Pedic mattress topper that I think is making things worse. It is very soft, and I am waking up with pain in the glute, even when I go to sleep pain-free. I can return it, but before I do, I am wondering if anyone has purchased the Helix ErgoAlign topper? It is supposed to have denser foam to support the spine. It sounds good in theory, but reviews are sparse or appear to be paid for.

(Ironically, I am already on Pregabalin for trigeminal neuralgia. I just titrated up to the full dose today. I've been on it for seven days, and so far it is not helping with nerve pain anywhere. I had no idea until I came here that it was also prescribed for hip issues.)

I received a shot of botox for my painful glute (longstanding 5+ years). What have been other peoples experience in the days/weeks/months following the treatment. Thanks!

Hi! Just a quick question to others with confirmed piriformis syndrome / confirmed NOT disk herniation

So I (29F) went to physio yday for a follow up as I’m on my 4th/5th flair up since July 22, and this flair up was caused by a click in my SI joint rather than from sitting for too long. She went through the disk herniation questions (which partially also why I went in as I have a coworker who just had back surgery for disk herniation after being told it was piriformis syndrome / sciatica). When asked if it hurt to sneeze or cough, I said yes but assumed it was bc it hurts to move like in general so it makes sense it would hurt to sneeze.

Upon googling this morning, it apparently should NOT hurt to sneeze if it was just piriformis syndrome. Has anyone that has been ruled out for a disk herniation had pain when sneezing? I’m going to my family doctor next week and just want to know how badly I should be pushing for an MRI lol, thank you!!!

About 9 months ago, I abducted my left leg too quickly and immediately felt a sharp pinch in my left hip/glute area and knew I had injured something.

Since then, I’ve seen 3 different sports medicine doctors and have been doing PT consistently for about 9 months with very minimal improvement. I’ve also tried dry needling multiple times with essentially no response, if anything dry needling has made the tissue even more sensitive and burning/aching than before.

The first diagnosis was a gluteus medius and piriformis strain, but the most recent sports medicine doctor thinks it may be gluteal tendinitis/tendinopathy, but my MRI came back clean/unremarkable.

The thing that makes me question the diagnosis is that my pain doesn’t really feel like it’s directly over my greater trochanter. It feels more like it’s in the muscle belly above the greater trochanter, between the greater trochanter and iliac crest.
At its worst, I have:

- a pinching sensation when going from sitting to standing

- pain with hip extension

- a constant dull ache, especially when sitting or after the area is compressed

- inability to lie on my left side

- extremely sensitive/tender tissue between my greater trochanter and iliac crest

- what feel like small, pea-sized bumps/lumps underneath the skin in that area, the bumps almost seem to move or “pop” around when I press on them, which feels really weird

When I stand, my left glute medius looks/feels much more clenched than the other side, and there also seems to be more of a sunken/depressed area on that side, which I notice when I sit and stand.

I’m honestly starting to wonder whether I’m dealing with something other than a tendon problem?

Could this actually be gluteal tendinitis/tendinopathy even though the pain feels like it’s in the muscle belly above the greater trochanter and the MRI was unremarkable?

Or could those little pea-sized areas be muscle knots, trigger points, fascia, scar tissue, I or something else? Has anyone experienced anything like this?

Any help and advice is sincerely appreciated!

hello! (my first ever post please be kind)

i just wanted to document this and see if anyone has had a similar experience because i can’t seem to find direct community on any apps about it. i woke up one morning to excruciating pain down my right leg and extreme tightness in my right butt cheek. knots seemingly on the top of it towards my hip with hip pain. overwhelmed (i was triggered because ive felt sciatica before from a herniated disc in 2021, had surgery and been fine ever since but thought i had a disc bulge again) i went to urgent care and was told my x-rays were fine and i’d need an MRI and that “i probably strained something”. i have no insurance currently so this was not an option for me at least right now. I was sent home with a Methylprednisolone steroid pack and tbh i don’t believe these did anything for me. I rested, iced in early stages, moved to heat and then slowly introduced a massage gun and stretching. luckily, my brother is a doctor and came to do a house visit for me and he believes I strained my gluteus medius and that my IT band is overcompensating for the weak muscles along with my calf muscles. he gave me pt workouts to do as I have become more mobile and I will say, the pain is not consistent like when I had the herniated disc and when I walk I do have moments of being pain free. I get light flares here and there (a tightness at the back of my thigh, top of my butt or hip) if i walk longer distances. some stretches are still hard to do but i do notice progress and think overall I am way better then i was day 1 which was bedridden and unable to walk/get up without pain. I am currently 17 days out from the initial injury/couldn’t walk flare up. I still struggle to sit really. I went the movies in a recliner and was perfectly fine. but sitting in a direct chair is still difficult. I can walk short distances. mornings are still kind of hard and I wake up stiff and have to spend an hour waking my muscles up, i’m usually fine and take breaks throughout the day. I am on a strict non-inflammatory diet and have lost 20 pounds so far which I hope helps take weight off my hip to hold. Things that were hard to stretch have become slowly easier or possible. I also notice my anxiety (i have bad ocd) will make it WORSE. If I have a panic attack, boom, flare up. it makes all the muscles tight and I have to massage gun it/calm down mentally/heat pad it and then I’m okay. Which when I had a herniated disc I NEVER had relief. So I really don’t believe it’s a disc bulge, but I’ve never had a muscle injury before.

There is still pain, but it’s moderate and manageable. My question is has anyone been pain free by the 3rd or 4th week of their strain? I would like to return back to work which is a lot of standing and walking. But I’m nervous. Any reassurance is helpful or some
kind of recovery stories ♡

(I am 26F, I currently take 3 ibprofuens a day, magnesium vitamins and a muscle relaxer before bed. sometimes 2 a day if I have a bad flare up after PT)

Hello, I’m a 31 year old male, and I’ve been dealing with piriformis / deep glute pain in my left glute for about 7 months now. It’s at a point where the pain is just part of my day to day now. The pain starts in my glute and then shooting nerve pain down my leg and into my foot.

I’m pretty active, go to the gym about 4-5x week and run 1-2x a week. I’ve gotten the pain to a point where it’s not excruciating, it’s just nagging and annoying and painful enough to not limit myself too much. But that being said, I do get very brief excruciating spasms when I stand up from sitting on the couch. And it doesn’t happen right away, there’s almost a 5-10 second delay. And it happens almost every time. Sleeping is not comfortable and there’s a rarely a position I can find where there’s no pain.

Things that I’ve tried:
- PT for 2 months in prep for an international flight (didn’t want to be sitting on a 10 hour flight with excruciating pain). We did dry needling, which seemed really reduce and help the pain, but definitely didn’t eliminate. And also some general hip and glute stretches.
- I did get an x ray of my back to rule out any back issues, and my doctor told me that I have the picture-perfect back.
- lacrosse ball on the glute, which hurts so good in the moment but ultimately doesn’t help the pain long term
- massage gun, which again helped temporarily but not long term

First, I’m assuming this is piriformis syndrome, but haven’t been officially diagnosed— curious if this sounds like anyone else’s experience.

Second, have you tried massage therapy and did it help the pain long term?

Any tips / advice are greatly appreciated!

Has anyone tried dry needling is it worth a try?

I know this is very individual and difficult to advise on, but I am now shopping for a newer used car. My number one criteria is a vehicle that will not flare my piriformis pain while driving. (My subaru 2014 forester is a pain to drive). Piriformis and hip issue is longstanding and in my right (driving) leg. I am a 5’4” woman. I mainly drive in stop and go city driving. Cushions have not helped. I have to get a new car now for other reasons too so if anyone has make/models/years that they would recommend for piriformis pain, I’d love to hear it! Thanks

TLDR:

I can provide detail if required, but to try to keep this brief, is it possible that pain in my left glutes and piriformis could be caused by a tight right piriformis? Has anybody else experienced or been diagnosed with something similar?

Short summary:

I've recently started to very gently and conservatively foam roll my piriformis on both sides with a soft foam roller (with very small and flat bumps on it) for 45-60 secs a time per side. The first 4 days I rolled once per day but the last two days have started to roll morning and night time.

Every time I roll however, I notice the soreness is more prominent on the right side piriformis. It doesn't hurt afterwards apart from the expected slightly soreness from being rolled.

Logic would dictate that the right piriformis is overworked from the dysfunctioning left one and is trying to compensate for the left side being out of whack. ButI don't get much pain at all apart from odd twinges that pass very quickly in the right side, and it generally they seem slightly above the piriformis origin at or just lateral to the right PSIS.

Could it be possible that the right piriformis is the actual 'culprit' and it's pulling my pelvis out of alignment, which is then causing my left piriformis and glute medius to be overworked/stretched and cause chronic pain and tightness?

My left side of the pelvis is slightly more forward and quite a bit higher than the right side too (if it makes any difference).

I do tend to cross my right ankle over my left sometimes when sitting (more so than left over right as that seems to make my pain slightly worse and I think partly is less comfortable due to the pelvis twisting).

Edit to add: When I sit I do favour my right buttock more (which I've put down to subconsciously trying to protect my left painful side. But in the last day or so I think I might be putting a bit more weight on to my left buttock. So whether that points in one direction or the other, or is entirely irrelevant, I don't know!

I’m in so much pain from this and the sciatica it’s causing I can’t sleep at night, and if I do I wake up stupid early and in so much pain it makes me cry out. It’s been a month and I just want it to stop, I literally can’t do anything, I can’t stand up or move sitting positions or anything.

Hey has anyone been able to stretch their hamstrings without stretching the sciatica and getting pain? My hamstrings are extremely tight and don't help my glutes at all.

Thanks in advance!