Standing Pigeon Progression
If you have pain or discomfort in your hips, butt, legs calves or feet; it is likely due to tight lumbopelvic muscles. Your Piriformis muscle is one of those muscles and it happens to be the primary culprit for Sciatica, a radiating pain down your leg and even into your feet. Often, this is diagnosed as nerve pain which leads to a recommendation for surgery. Let’s try stretching your piriformis first and see if that alleviates some of the pain.
Stretching Application
Stretching to feel better is for everyone. Not everyone experiences athletic injuries, but everyone ages and/or gets injured and needs to stretch to heal the body. The most important thing to understand is that athletes and health focused people need to stretch differently. Think of it this way, Athletic stretching advanced stretching and Aging/Injured/Health focused stretching is simple and basic stretches that allow you to work your way towards the more complicated stretching.
Health Focused Application
The standing piriformis stretch or standing Yoga Pigeon Pose is a great stretch to do in many rooms of your house. A basic Pigeon Pose, you place your foot on a lower surface and drop your knee otward to the side before dropping your torso forward into the stretch. When you are at an intermediate and advanced level, you can to this on a higher surface like your bed or even the top of a table! We will show you the natural progression of this stretch further down this page.
Athletic / Fitness Application
The Standing Yoga Pigeon Pose and the healthy flexibility of your piriformis is essential to be able to do the infamous yoga “Pigeon Pose”. The traditional pigeon pose is difficult for many people because of conflicting tightness in hip flexors, psoas muscle , piriformis and glutes all being stretched at the same time.
Science and Medical Connection
Scientific Perspective of the Piriformis Muscle Group
The standing Pigeon stretch addresses tightnesses of the hips, piriformis, and glutes. The piriformis muscle is a lateral hip flexor muscle that runs right over your sciatic nerve and it is super important to know the role this muscle play in your overall health! Tight hips pull the lower vertebrae out of alignment and then the back pain makes the hip flexors tense which sets off a circular negative chain reaction where both parts of the body increasingly pull into the other and the discs and nerves sustain the damage from all of those imbalances.
Medical Perspective of the
Piriformis Muscle Group
A tight Piriformis can be a contributing factor to Sciatic Pain known as “Sciatica” which refers to the pinching and/or impingement of the sciatic nerve that runs out of the lumbar vertebrae and then down through the hips and legs. It runs right past the piriformis and conducts the nerve activity to your entire leg. Impingement in the sciatic nerve is generally from a slipped, bulging or herniated disc(s) because it conducts the entire legs nerve network that is why there are so many different complaints about radiating pain in the front and back of the leg and all the way down to your feet and toes!
Stretch Instructions
The Healthy Progression of a Stretch is the Same as the Medical Rehabilitation of a Muscle
Health Focused Application
There is a healthy progression for every muscle from beginner to advanced. Below is a comprehensive list for the healthy progression of the piriformis stretch. To attain pain-free functional mobility as you age, every muscle should be able to achieve somewhere in the Basic to Intermediate range.
Athletic / Fitness Application
Overtraining and over stretching causes injuries more than the competition itself. When it comes to stretching, listen to what your muscles are telling you. If they are overworked or too tired, they will not be able to give you as much length as yesterday. Be in the moment, present and methodical as you go through the progressions below.
