Piriformis

Submitted by takecare on March 6, 2012 - 12:54am
Body: 

I wonder if perhaps anyone can advise on specific problem muscle group areas which may affect the prolapse in some way .. or contribute to discomfort.
I have been looking into massage and in particular trigger point therapy - the muscle Piriformis is of interest due to the pain in this area ... I have been using a foam roller to discover the tightness and pain in my hip and leg and it is agonisingly tight
.
Would it be possible to find out the role it plays - if at all - with the pelvis/prolapses?

I also mentioned previously about a stretch to relieve tailbone pain - have now found that simply standing and pulling the knee into the chest, holding tightly and doing both legs also alleviates the pain.

I would like to know why this makes such a sudden difference from being unable to sit due to pain - to being comfortable sitting with slight discomfort.

I have found the posture is keeping me well off the tailbone area and I use it probably 80% of my sitting time - there are situations however where I am forced slightly backwards more onto the tailbone.

Forum:

aussielou

March 6, 2012 - 6:00pm

Hi Takecare,
I looked into similar issues when I was experiencing uncomfortable urge symptoms and discomfort in that front pelvic zone. I invested in a roller to help with trigger points. Originally my women health physio had suggested (in a phone conversation we had) that it might be tight adductor muscles contributing to the problem. As I was having my regular acupuncture session the next day I got him to check it out and my were there some seriously sensitive trigger points along my adductor muscles.

So while this is not piriformis as you are interested it is similar.

Lindy

Christine

March 6, 2012 - 9:24pm

I agree with Aussielou that tight adductors can aggravate chronically contracted musculature around the coccyx, leading to painful compression of nerve vessels. The adductors are accessory to pelvic organ support and so much of WW exercise is focused on elongating the adductors!! (why do I feel like I’m speaking into a vacuum?? lol)

However, the adductors are only part of the story. The adductor muscles contract to bring the leg toward the middle (as opposed to out to the side) and laterally rotate the femur on the pelvis. Since the adductors attach near the sit bones, they exert tension on the back of the pelvis (like the hamstrings), tucking the tailbone under. Chronically short adductors keep the pelvis tucked and the lumbar spine flattened.

The medial rotators of the hip, gluteus medius and minimus, contract to bring the leg out to the side and internally rotate the femur. These muscles are generally weak in our couch-sitting culture and the reason for the “swaying” walk we typically think of as feminine. I believe the common syndrome in our prolapsed culture is tight lateral rotators and weak medial rotators.

The adductors are stretched best when the hips are externally rotated and the knees deeply bent....the basis of so many WW exercises. Piriformis is elongated in this way too. A few deep, second position plies while pulled up strongly into WW posture literally lifts the bladder up and forward by way of the obturators (muscles that line the pelvic interior), adductors and pelvic diaphragm.

The gluteals are strengthened by walking in WW posture (feet pointing straight ahead!) and more so by the many standing exercises we do. Even sitting up over your pubic bones activates the lateral glutes.

takecare

March 7, 2012 - 1:23am

You're not speaking into a vaccuum - so many of us want to learn - we don't have a medical background or even awareness of anatomy and muscle groups - why would we? Many of us work full time, have families and responsibilities and sadly we experience this lovely addition to our lives of the POP and we have to spend every spare minute when we should be relaxing and enjoying life - trying to research how to make our lives more bearable.

Thank goodness we have you to help us.

I am starting with WW posture - but I have a myriad of spinal, hip and musculature issues surrounding this which may have contributed to the prolapses. I have changed my already good dietary habits to include many more leafy greens, prunes, oats, drink tons of water and include healthy fats - to assist with the rectocele, I am in posture every moment I can be, I am exercising when my knee, hip and back will stop hurting long enough for me to move more. This brings me back to the research on muscle groups and pain and stiffness - thereby the trigger point therapy and FSM treatment and now self education to try and isolate areas of main concern.

I know nothing of adductors so in my spare time tonight that's what I will be learning about.
I guess was trying to work out which area to concentrate trigger point therapies and it seems they all need it ...

I would love to be walking more and sitting less - my work requires me at the computer however I work from home so i even lay on the bed on my stomach while I work so I sit less. I have to paint artworks seated and that takes many hours ... I think so much is due to this sitting lifestyle and I would love to change my very set like stone muscles and ligaments ...

I am finding it easier to sit in WW posture which is pleasing ... hopefully at the same time it's doing all you say by stretching the constricted muscles.

I will print out what you have said and refer to it while I study this ... I appreciate your time and want you to know that each time you say something it sinks in deeper - if it were a matter of you tell us and we get it - there would be no need for a forum, books, dvds etc.

louiseds

March 19, 2012 - 8:33am

Takecare, it may be that the myriad of spinal, hip and musculature issues you have are related to your prolapses, but it may also be that your posture has contributed to the issues and the prolapse. By fixing your posture you might find, as I have, that many of my issues are no longer. Nice thought, eh? I hope it is true.

curiousity

March 19, 2012 - 3:21pm

I tried your stretch Takecare, and I couldn't feel anything but one stretch with which I can feel extreme tightness is the "eye of the needle" one, where you lie down, bend one knee and put your ankle across the other thigh and then pull the other knee up to your chest. On one side for me this is especially tight. I had a feeling that this was stretching the piriformis. I'm interested in your questions as I've had lower back issues (not severe but stiff sacro-illiac joints especially in the morning or if I lie on my back) since I was first pregnant, and now with prolapse am starting to wonder if they are all connected, and perhaps Louise says, postural changes might help.

Christine

March 19, 2012 - 4:13pm

When you walk, does your foot turn out more on the tight side? That would be a clue that the deep rotators of your hip and piriformis are chronically short on that side.

takecare

March 20, 2012 - 8:18am

Christine - my foot turns out on the right side - my right side is where everything hurts.

If I lay down on my back my right knee and foot roll out to the right.

Curiousity thanks for your comments - I tried your stretch too - and my right side is very tight with less range of movement.

On another note - I have had a horrendous couple of weeks - very traumatic with my son in intensive care and life threatening condition. I was aware of staying in posture and being very careful - however I feel the prolapse 'dropped' again like it did the last time when my daughter was so very sick.

It's like there is a strong connection with mother/child trauma and bearing down in some way during a crisis.

louiseds

March 20, 2012 - 9:06am

Yes, stress and nurture will do their best to have us closing up around our vulnerable belly and chest, and slouching and butt tucking to protect ourselves. I am sure it is quite unconscious. Here's hoping your nightmare with your son has passed. Hopefully, now you can open yourself out again and stand proud.

Louise

curiousity

March 20, 2012 - 11:16am

So sorry to hear that your son has been so sick, takecare. I agree that stress makes everything worse, and especially this kind of stress.

It is my right side that is more stiff too. Regarding the turnout, my feet pretty much face forward when I walk although once I start thinking about it, it is hard to do what I would normally do unconsciously. I looked down while I was standing yesterday and noticed my left foot was slightly more turned out than right. I just tried lying down and both feet flop out. If I try and straighten them up, it is very strong in my sacrum.