why does my hip muscles (piriformis etc...)always get so tight?

[rygamer]

So after a deload of about %10, i'm almost back to my highest working weight for squats (230 lbs). I've noticed as the weight increases my butt area pain increases. Pain hurts most when sitting, and then standing up. I sit on my butt most of the day, so I know that doesn't help any. I've gotten my form checked a couple of times by the ss coaches, and haven't really seen anything that could get me injured. I also have pain below my knee and to the side, but I believe a nerve of some kind is being pressed upstream somewhere in my hip that may be the cause. I've foamrolled, stretched, taken ibuprofen etc...,it helps, but this pain always comes back. Especially now that i'm hitting much more difficult weight. If the pain approaches 5, I rest a little, deload, and start back again. Is there anything else I can possibly do? or not do? to help in this area?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Active Release Therapy.

[Will Morris]

So after a deload of about %10, i'm almost back to my highest working weight for squats (230 lbs). I've noticed as the weight increases my butt area pain increases. Pain hurts most when sitting, and then standing up. I sit on my butt most of the day, so I know that doesn't help any. I've gotten my form checked a couple of times by the ss coaches, and haven't really seen anything that could get me injured. I also have pain below my knee and to the side, but I believe a nerve of some kind is being pressed upstream somewhere in my hip that may be the cause. I've foamrolled, stretched, taken ibuprofen etc...,it helps, but this pain always comes back. Especially now that i'm hitting much more difficult weight. If the pain approaches 5, I rest a little, deload, and start back again. Is there anything else I can possibly do? or not do? to help in this area?

Sit on a lacrosse or tennis ball. Sit down until it hurts, then hold that position until the pain dulls, then sit down with more of your bodyweight....rinse, repeat....problem solved.

[JMoore]

Active release is great for this. I strained something in the same area and had the same type of pain radiating down my leg. I tried all kinds of mobility stuff, lacrosse balls, hip flossing, etc. and nothing can really get to that area like a few ART sessions can. Also, google "pigeon pose", this is a good stretch for that.

[curlrackhog]

Sit on a lacrosse or tennis ball. Sit down until it hurts, then hold that position until the pain dulls, then sit down with more of your bodyweight....rinse, repeat....problem solved.

THIS! I had the same issue last year. I went to a chiropractor and, while it helped, it didn't completely fix the problem. After googling and determining the piriformis was the likely culprit to my specific type of pain, I came here and the search function worked beautifully. I now have one lacrosse ball in my gym bag and one in my car at all times.

Also, as a fellow cube jockey, I've found that (this is going to sound ridiculous) by using the cues for squatting when I sit down on my chair gets me in the best position/posture to avoid sedentary back/neck pain.

[Will Morris]

THIS! I had the same issue last year. I went to a chiropractor and, while it helped, it didn't completely fix the problem. After googling and determining the piriformis was the likely culprit to my specific type of pain, I came here and the search function worked beautifully. I now have one lacrosse ball in my gym bag and one in my car at all times.

Also, as a fellow cube jockey, I've found that (this is going to sound ridiculous) by using the cues for squatting when I sit down on my chair gets me in the best position/posture to avoid sedentary back/neck pain.

Adaptive shortening in the piriformis secondary to many hours spent sitting with your hips in external rotation is the most likely cause of sciatic impingement by the piriformis muscle. The symptoms reported by people of burning pain and N/T down the middle of the posterior thigh, burning pain and N/T on the posterolateral thigh, and a combination of these two are explained by the anatomic differences found in the sciatic nerve.

The lacrosse ball intervention is a cheap man's ART, and it works beautifully a lot of the time.

[sbhikes]

I found a video online that demonstrated some stretches, one of which was called "neural flossing". The video was titled "How to Fix Piriformis Syndrome". I tried the stretches shown this morning and they gave me a lot of relief.