- Stop the pain in your butt
with these three simple exercises
- And learn how to fix piriformis syndrome.
(bright upbeat music)
- The piriformis is a small muscle located in the buttock,
and it generally crosses over the sciatic nerve.
The problem is the piriformis muscle can become irritated,
and press down on that nerve, resulting in pain.
- That's right.
The question is, why does it get irritated?
Well, the answer is obvious, at least to me.
- Oh ho.
- Actually, it's because
of the large gluteus maximus muscle is not doing its job.
It's actually become weak, or is not activated.
It's called gluteal amnesia,
and that muscle gets weaker, doesn't do its job,
the piriformis muscle tries to compensate for that.
It overworks, pinching on the sciatic nerve,
causing pain in the buttock,
as well as all the way down the leg like sciatica.
- So how do we fix this problem?
Well, it's pretty simple.
You just have to get your glute max
to start firing properly again.
- That's right.
We're gonna show you three exercises
to jumpstart that glute max and get it moving,
so that it works and lets that piriformis relax.
The first exercise is glute pumps.
It can be done in two different positions.
Mike's gonna show it in this position,
I'm gonna show it in a standing position.
Go ahead, Mike.
- So get down on all fours.
You're gonna rest on your forearms like this.
You're gonna bring your leg up.
You're not gonna go too high or too low,
just kind of in the middle.
Find a neutral ground,
and you're just gonna pump up like this,
little oscillations.
We're not gonna go up super high.
And if you're able to keep your balance,
you can put your hand on your butt to make sure it's firing.
If it's not firing well,
you can kind of turn your leg inward like this
and do the same thing.
And just little pumps, do 10 of 'em up to 30 reps.
- How many sets?
- You can do up to 30 reps, however many sets it takes you.
- Sure.
Alright, the other option is standing like this.
You'll go up to a table or a countertop,
it's nice to put your forearms down like this,
so you get the right angle to isolate that glute max.
And then the same idea that Mike mentioned,
we're going to go up, do a little external rotation,
bring the foot over like that,
and do your pumps, and just kind of work it like this,
counting away.
Yep. Yeah, I feel that glute max working.
It does help, even though it's a little weird,
it does help to actually feel that glute max working,
that tactile information gets it firing a little more.
Let's go onto the second one.
- So the second step to get your glute firing more,
is when you're walking, is to take shorter strides,
so how far you put your foot in front of the other.
So we have a little tip here,
where we're taking some popcorn kernels
and taping it to the heel of your foot just like this.
- I think it's important.
It's not only shorter strides,
but the reason the popcorn is on the heel
is because you wanna walk with soft knees,
and the weight is on the forefoot,
as opposed to the heel strike.
That turns the glute off when you go on your forefoot
with a slight knee bend,
that initiates the gluteus maximus to fire.
Go ahead, Mike.
- If I try to walk with this on my heels,
it's not very comfortable.
It's like stepping on Legos if you've ever done that.
So it's gonna make you naturally land
on the front of your foot, not put pressure on your heels.
In order to do that, you're not gonna go like this.
So you're gonna have to shorten your stride length,
and walk like this.
- Now, we don't expect you to do this all day long,
of course, but actually,
simply take out 10, 20 minutes at home,
do this every time you get up.
You don't have to think about your pattern,
because the popcorn under there
is gonna remind you, oh, I need to do it,
so it really works out well.
Easy training technique.
- And this actually goes into the third recommendation,
which Brad kind of recommended already,
is when you step, you're gonna step with a soft knee.
I'm not gonna lock my knees.
So if you land on your heel,
your big heel strikes are like this,
you're gonna lock your knees into extension,
putting more stress on your joints here,
and not engaging your butt muscles.
To engage your butt muscles,
you're gonna stay on your toes,
just like we talked about before.
- One little addendum there,
is you can actually,
after you put the popcorn tape on there,
you can put your sock over the top of it,
slide your foot into the shoe, and it works very well, also.
It depends on your cushion in your shoe,
you won't feel the popcorn as much,
but simply put more in, you'll get a feel for it.
- So if you're still having piriformis pain,
and you're starting to get your butt firing properly,
and you wanna get it to calm down,
a good thing to do is massage it.
And some free things you can use
is either a lacrosse ball, a softball, baseball,
tennis ball. - [Brad] Tennis ball, yeah.
- It's a little softer.
These are a little harder,
but you just kind of put it on your buttock muscle.
Normally I like to do it,
you can do it just like this if you want.
You kind of have to get to a position like this.
I've even done it in a figure four, and it, oh,
that really digs in there.
- [Brad] Ooh, be careful.
- But Brad has an alternative
that if you have a massage gun or wanna buy one,
you can try it that way too, right?
- That's right.
So with the massage gun,
you simply are going to use the round head,
or probably the air head, whatever one, whatever you want.
The round head I like, and I'll show you why.
You lay on your side like this,
typically flex your hip, this is the piriformis muscle,
it connects from the here ,
all the way up to the sacrum, right across there.
But you'll find it.
You just get on there, and don't get too aggressive,
and you start massaging around,
you'll feel a tender spot,
and that is where that muscle is tightened up,
and you need to release that knot.
And you work over it for about 30 seconds or so,
and you should start to feel it to release.
If it's really tender, and it hurts on it,
you simply go away from it and work around it.
And after time you can zero in more on it, and work it.
So you can go straight in,
it gets a little aggressive,
sideways works a little bit better, not so aggressive.
Typically, you'll be there for a couple minutes
before you get it worked out.
What do you say?
- I say cut. (laughs)
So Brad, what are the four Bs again?
- Because... (Mike laughs)
No, well, I just wanted to say,
I wanted to flip this thing and see it.
Oh, there we go.
So be careful, be-
- Healthy. - And behave.
- Be helpful. Something.
- There you go. That's enough, let's go.
- Bye.
(bright upbeat music)