Welcome to the CoreWalking Podcast, with your hosts Jonathan FitzGordon and Alex Mabilon. Join them on a journey into the body and mind gaining insights for moving, healing and aging gracefully.

Today's Episode:

Episode 20

Sciatica & Piriformis Syndrome

In the years that I have been working with people and pain issues
I have often found that sciatica and piriformis syndrome get
mixed in together and are often incorrectly diagnosed.
From my observations, it is pretty simple, a pain in the lower back
is sciatica and a pain in the butt is piriformis syndrome.
The distinction is important to make because knowing your problem
moves you long way towards healing.

Listen to Episode 20

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In this Podcast...

We discuss:

• The coronavirus lockdown

• The relevance of the proximity of piriformis and the sciatic nerve in sciatica

• It's all about diagnosis (and self-diagnosis)

• Why posture, movement patterns and muscle tone matter with piriformis syndrome

• The gluteal muscles and their relationship to sciatica/piriformis syndrome

• The importance of nerve flow

• Surgery and its effects on the piriformis and sciatic nerve

• Treatments for piriformis syndrome

• Exercises for relieving sciatica/piriformis syndrome

Time guides:

4:22

10:20

16:52

25:11

32:46

39:54

47:08

53:41

"I'm moving a lot. I'm trying to walk 5 miles a day and I'm doing other stuff..."

"Think about the piriformis as an external rotator and think about most people's bad posture: one foot is turned out more than the other, both feet are turned out a little more than we would like them to be..."

"But sometimes, just changing the relationship of the lumbar curve posturally will get people out of their sciatic pain. It's always coupled with relaxing your butt. Sometimes, just relaxing your butt will get people out of their sciatic pain..."

"Building adductor tone saved my life. For me, it was with block between the thighs to brodge which I teach in every class I offer and it's what I still love to do. That is how I build my adductor tone, how I released my excessive gluteal tone..."

"Unless you're standing and moving from neutral, your SI joint never gets to be in a happy place. And some poele get away with it because if you're loose like me, it's not going to get as messed up. But if you're tight, it's going to mess everything..."

"It's just that not everybody can stretch their way out of every injury and not everybody really has the wherewithal to understand whether they need to stretch or strengthen..."

"I was reading about Al Harrington, an ex-NBA player and a CBD proponent, and he feels it's the only thing that allows him walk. 19 surgeries!"

"Why I say it's garbage reflexively is because people are obsessed with rolling out their IT band... I am not interested in short-term fixes. So when people come to me and say: 'I roll out my IT band.' I say: 'Great. When are you going to stop?'"

Show Notes...

Blog Posts:

The Sciatic Nerve and Piriformis Muscle

What is Piriformis Syndrome?

Sciatica And Piriformis Syndrome

The Piriformis Muscle

Anatomy: