Piriformis Syndrome – What Is It? Plus 3 Simple Piriformis Stretches

Updated October 3, 2025

“Piriformis Syndrome” refers to irritation of your piriformis muscle, which is located deep in your buttocks, beneath larger muscles like your gluteus maximus.

I affectionately refer to this issue as a “pain in the butt”… and for good reason!

That’s because most people with an irritated piriformis muscle explain it as pain localized in one of their buttocks.

However, in addition to localized pain in the buttocks, people with piriformis syndrome can also experience “sciatica” or sciatic nerve pain, which causes pain shooting down the back of the leg.

Unlike other types of sciatic nerve pain, when caused by an irritated piriformis muscle, the pain will rarely travel farther than the knee (more severe types of sciatica can travel past the knee, all the way into the foot).

Today’s blog post features 2 videos about piriformis syndrome…

In the first video, I’ll explain what the piriformis muscle is, how it gets irritated, and how it can cause sciatic nerve pain (aka “sciatica”).

Here’s the first video: 

And in the second video I’ll show you 3 simple and effective stretches for the piriformis muscle.

Performing gentle piriformis stretches is a great way to start reducing the pain in your buttocks…

In addition to some gentle massage techniques, this can really help you reduce your pain level!

The second video is below…

If you have any questions about how to eliminate pirformis pain (or other types of sciatica), feel free to email me directly at Luke@GordonPhysicalTherapy.com

Have a great day!

– Luke Gordon, DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy/Owner of Gordon Physical Therapy)