The piriformis muscle is a flat, pyramidally-shaped muscle in the gluteal region of the lower limbs. It is one of the six muscles in the lateral rotator group.
It is also plays a big role as a hip stabilizer in the running gait.
Every time the foot is picked up, to take another stride. The piriformis muscle should activate and help stabilize the hip, knee, and foot as you push forward.
Piriformis syndrome is a real, pain in the butt! Literally!
Piriformis syndrome is a relatively common injury amongst runners. When the piriformis muscle, gets chronically tight and creates pain either locally to its position in the buttock region, or pain referring down the path of the sciatic nerve into the back of the thigh. No Fun!
Try these 3 Mobility exercise to try to open up the piriformis area:
And to strength your piriformis try one of these 3 band exercises:
Or if you want even more advanced exercises try these:
Want more help?
Let's do a Personal Running Assessment here!
I'll be posting more ideas this week on my IG & FB accounts