Trouble Sleeping with Piriformis Syndrome? Watch This!

One cause of piriformis that im going through, and messes with me most winters, is swapping to much heavier bedding during the winter. This is important because in the deep depths of winter we can all spend a few more minutes daily laying in bed not wanting to get out of the warm bed, and for me once I'm up I lay on my back which causes by feet to go bow outward under the weight of the blankets and stresses my piriformas muscle out. Ive been in extreme pain for weeks but in the past few days I've focused on using a resistance band loops over my foot to a heavy table and doing reps turning my entire leg while standing with my right or left shoulder towards where the band is attached so I can get external and internal rotations released. Deliberately, but not painfully, load up the twist against the resistance bands counter pull and then slowly allow your foot/leg to twist back to normal. 5 times a set, twice a day, but start with one or 2 sets and do not over do it as you ramp back up to health or you'll have to start the process over.

Stairway to nowhere...

I've tried all of that, and pain is worse while in them. The only position that has helped me with piriformis is laying on my stomach. Something that is highly discouraged. I don't know what to do anymore

Thanks!

This didn't really answer HOW you should sleep. Weighted blanket doesn't answer anything. You could just lay wrong and be weighted down with that blanket.
So which is it? Pillow between legs but long enough to also do the feet?

What about laying on back but with a wedge under your legs to they are slightly bent and elevated hence flattening the back and relieving pressure on it

You may have turned on a light bulb for me. A eureka moment? Too early to say. I have chronic pain in my hip flexors. Did a lot of stretching for 6 weeks in physical therapy and even
visited a chiropractor for 5 weeks. Minimal relief. I always sleep in a figure 4, cross my right leg up on a pillow to my left as I lay on my left side. Back stretch feels good for a while.
I tore my achilles (right) bike riding 4 years ago. Pretty much downhill since then. Mostly sedentary. Sitting at my computer and reading. However, now the pain sitting is progressively worse, so I lie on my back in bed. Eventually my right foot goes to sleep and my back aches. I am not doing all the stretches anymore as it wasn't helping. My quandary is I can't sit and
can't lie down for very long. I like to cook, standing works for a while but then my back says sit down.

Very notable observation to be sure, thnxs brodhisattva ! It appears that suspending temporary sleep position for comfort for a rigid posture leads to long term lower back pain relief. Ive tried to mimic the Buddha's strait as an arrow sleeping on my right side and have noticed good results for vavk pain althought it hurts my neck

I was hoping you would explain why I have discomfort in hip when I sleep with legs properly positioned.

My lower back pain wakes me up hopefully learn something hurts either lying flat or side feels burning

Ah ha! Another person on the planet who says NOT to stretch and overly stretched muscle. I thought I was the only one. Thank goodness your video popped into my feed. This is fantastic. I’m a massage therapist and yoga instructor with a personal training background and most of my clients end up on my table because of pain somewhere, and many times, if not neck/shoulders/upper back, then it’s low back, hips/buttocks. And these same clients tell me they stretch and stretch and ask me what stretches they should do and I say “stop stretching. Why would you stretch and overly stretched muscle? It’s like further stretching a maxed-out rubber band; you’re not going to achieve relaxation.” Thank you for giving me videos to share with my clients. I subscribed.

Please let me know the sitting position on the chair or on the floor ?

Why is this a 15 min video?

Ok, I have Bill’s problem with overcompensating for an old shoulder and rib injury. The past year I’ve been waking to some numbness and soreness and recently it became debilitating. Left side butt and upper thigh only. I am currently on a 6 day steroid treatment, waiting 3 weeks for a PT appointment in my area. My worst is in the morning, can’t get out of bed w/o a lot of screaming and groaning and hobbling around with a crutch during the day. Am going to try immobilizing myself and sleeping on my back with pillow under leg.

So sleeping in a figure 4 or P position can cause the pain since I always noticed my pain after a bad sleep ?
Should I still stretch the piriformis when doing a mobility test it has less range of motion than the pain free site ?

Another thing is top wear more silk-like pyjamas which helps move in bed more easily.

This (along with your other videos) has saved me. I would end the day with some improvement, then wake up in terrible pain, not thinking about my sleep postures and what I was doing with my affected side. Thank you!!

I have been sleeping with a pillow between my knees and ankles for at least 2 months now and I still have pain in my left buttocks that flares up every night

I love the way this guy explains everything. Very detailed and breaks things down.very interesting ❤❤❤❤❤

Piriformis pain has lead to Plantar Fasciitis and stretching caused a torn upper lateral calf (below the knee). 7 months of never ending pain and puzzles. Been taking extra steps beyond stretching, like strengthening and found these videos. I sleep figure 4, on my back nightly! Considering a knee brace for the knee pain might also prevent me from going figure 4 at night (bending my knee).

I have a terrible time falling asleep. Pain starts right up. Figure 4 is definitely there. You gave me so much to think about!

Love to watch your Videos .This is the best one.

This is the single best video I have ever watched. I was not sleeping and was in a total state of panic. I felt like I was losing control of my life. I now pay attention when I’m in bed to the number four. Several times I noticed that I was doing that and I corrected it and I slept with a pillow between my knees and ankles. I am now pain-free. I can’t even thank you enough. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. ❤

I have surgery secondary to multiplehreniateddiscL34/L4/l5iamfiveweekspostopiampttherapywearingmybackbraceandcanetowalkisawyournoteshowtosleepwithwithpyriformissyndomeiwillfollowyouradvisethanks

Where do those stairs go?

Mind Blown! Thank you for posting this vid. Your piriformis PT video and sleeping position video make perfect sense to me. I am going to try the weighted blanket technique. I now have a pocket full of hope. :)

Iv been trying everything for months because I have sciatica from this and fron buldged disk, iv had 3 back surgeries

This is my issue sleeping at night, some nights ok other nights so bad. Having hip bursitis left hip is normal but my right hip is bulging out causing discomfort all due to sleeping in that figure 4 position and on my tummy for a few years back not to mention right neck just constantly uncomfortable aching to this day. Such a mission to figure out

Since you mentioned a weighted blanket - I LOVE mine! But I realized that the tennis elbow I developed about the time I got it was literally from using one hand to pull it up when it slid off the side of the bed!! So be careful out there, Everyone :D

I'll admit I used to sleep in figure four on my back in the first diagram because I can't sleep on my shoulders. That could have definitely lead to the issue I have now. I have the pirformis issue because of a ham string stretch then I went massaging it. Bigg mistake!

My PT has given me this figure 4 but I am stretching it. In other words I lift the crossed leg up to the other side, and it relieves pain. So, I am not sure how this can cause or create the piriformis syndrome.

"Sometimes you dont know what you dont know"
Thats deep 🤔 Big help, thanks🤣🤣

I found that the clamshell exercise absolutely cured my piriformis syndrome. I'm a huge advocate for yoga but after 6 months the stretching did nothing. My job is extremely active and the pain was emense whether I was standing, walking up and down stairs and sitting... everything hurt all the time...until I discovered the clamshell. I do however continue to sleep in the figure 4 position 🤭

okay. thanks Doc!
just to share a note on fig.4 sleep position. i found that this is a "go to" position for me because in many cases it starts out with a "stretch" that "feels good"... but ultimately isn't reducing my symptoms when I awaken.
good tips here to put into practice. thank you!

I had developed sciatica nerve pain on my left buttock and leg this summer. I think it was caused by my job, I work very long hours and stand with the pressure on one hip most of the time. I had been trying different exercises and I have come to conclusion that stretches were not good remedy or treatment. I needed to strengthen my core and the clam exercise was probably the most effective one to relieve the pain when I get it sometimes a few hours a day. Then recently during my break from working, actually started with my vacation 2 weeks ago, I had noticed I had less occurrence of the sciatica pain, maybe it was a result of my relaxation and no stress in combination with continue to do the clam exercise every day. So the last 3 weeks of not working, and taking lots of rest and laying down on the couch as well as clam exercise, I have almost eliminated the sciatica pain completely. It was horrible to experience the pain unexpectedly every day during the summer, I was so worried that it might last for years.This video definitely has good effective tips to treat the sciatica. I definitely had bad sleeping positions and standing too much everyday was the cause of it. Now I want to permanently get rid of it and be more aware of proper sleeping and standing or sitting positions.

I went to sleep and woke up with hip pain and buttock pain not able to walk , it’s been 16 days of pain.

Thanks yes this helped me confirmed piriformis with aesthesia and botox. I use the thick pillow between the legs each night and it helps a decent amount.

While I appreciate one of your suggestions to use a weighted blanket to prevent moving while sleeping, use caution as this is what caused me to experience major back spasms that lasted 10 pain and anguish-filled days! I flip and flop many times in the night and I used a weighted blanket my daughter bought me and I woke up in soooo much agony! I will try the other things you suggested for my piriformis - I think the worst part is the nerve pain that runs down my hip and into the side of my calf muscle! thanks for the info

Thanks for bringing this video to us.

I found my cure in two way s
1. By lying lengthways on the bed and rolling gently and slowly to the other side, keeping my arms close to my chest. This was the fastest pain relief for me.
2. I changed my mattress, it was this mattress where my problem started.
I just wanted to let you know 😊

I am a side-sleeper & found I was raising the shoulder of whichever side I was sleeping on in order to get the neck-head support I needed from my pillow (tend to prefer my right side over left). I discovered that this was what seemed to make me automatically "curl up" in fetal-like position (ie "4" shape) & that was making my sacral area ache/stiff when got out of bed in AM. Years ago I'd spent $50.00 & tried the 2 different sized special notched-for neck rectangular-pillows my chiro sold, but the distance from my neck to the pillows was too short to fit the notch properly. A few months ago I found that if I scooped up the edges of a now-slightly-flattened ~15."square pillow & put it under my neck that way & had another pillow above that, that kind of dove-tailed into it to support the part of my head that extended beyond the square pillow, AND I moved down in the bed so that the soles of my feet touched the footboard, AND I rested my top arm on the top side of my body (vs in front of me), I woke up w/out any pain➡ stopped sleeping in "4" position/no more pain for abt 6 mos!! BUT, then I washed the pillow & I haven't yet been able to get it back to same "slightly flattened" flattened depth or find a substitute & have had severe pain in right buttock/stiff pelvis/painful to move. Also noted when standing to do stationary tasks, I put all my weight on my right leg; often even lifting Left foot & leg. When I did your tests on painful side, I found/felt that the resulting tightness I felt in hips/buttock caused/ran-up as corresponding tightness @ mid thorax area, tops of shoulders, face muscles, jaw clamped, and top of my scalp➡ as if they're all the same band. Is this b/c the same nerve innervates them or b/c it is an established "pain pattern" from previous events? (I do have dx of Fibromyalgia) If you have time to reply, thanks very much❣

Took way too long to get to the sleeping positions

half way between lying on front and side (either) painful leg straight other very bent, come to think of it it's a high 4, head on low pillow, one or both arms extended above head. makes the good leg bit sore eventually but get a couple of hours sound sleep even when in deep pain at 3am.

With the pillow under your leg should you have the painful hip on the bed or on top towards the sky?

I always feel bad whenever i sit in a soft couch and when I sleep in soft bed? I'm more comfortable sleeping on the floor and doing this for 3 years now. I got my back injury 8 years ago doing wrong posture on dead lift while working out. Please help me I'm having problem find work because of this problem as I can't sit longer period of time and sometimes i feel relieve when i crack my back when doing some stretching. I can't even lift my baby because im so worried and doing my normal routine.

can you help me on this problem Doc?

Thanks dr Charlie, first time in weeks that i can sleep without pain. I didn't realize that i make yucky postures while im sleeping. Thanks for tour amazing content, you are an awesome professional.

Is the figure 4 a bad thing for piriformis syndrome or sciatica? And how can I change it?

Can I continue walking , in spite of diagnosed as having performisis syndrome.

I sleep with two cushions under my knees if i sleep on my back to prevent pain - is this ok doctor?