If you’re experiencing pain in your buttock and shooting down your leg, you may begin to wonder if you have Sciatica. This may be the case, but there is another possibility for your pain as well. Piriformis Syndrome is a condition you may have. These two conditions are not necessarily mutually exclusive. You may suffer from both Sciatica and Piriformis Syndrome. Let’s take a look at both:
Piriformis Syndrome
- A condition that causes pain in your buttock that can also irritate your nearby sciatic nerve.
- Pain, numbness and tingling can occur down the back of your leg and into your foot.
- Your small piriformis muscle is located deep in your buttock (behind your gluteus maximus).
- Your symptoms typically progress when you walk, sit, or run.
- Piriformis Syndrome will not be evident on imagining tests.
Sciatica
- Sciatica has to do with pain along the distribution of your sciatic nerve.
- Sciatica is not a medical diagnosis. It is a symptom of underlying disease.
- Symptoms of Sciatica are similar to Piriformis Syndrome. Pain in your buttock or leg, tingling down your leg or foot, numbness in a leg or foot, muscle weakness in a leg or foot.
- The most common cause of Sciatica is a herniated disc in the lumbar region of your spine. Other causes are degenerative disc disease, Piriformis Syndrome, lumbar spinal stenosis and spondylolisthesis.
- Causes of Sciatica usually appear on imaging tests.
Both of these conditions are caused by sciatic nerve compression. If your compression is directly related to specific, identifiable physical issues, your diagnosis may be Sciatica.
Call Georgia Spinal Health & Wellness today to see if Sciatica or Piriformis Syndrome is causing you pain in your back, buttock or leg.
Posted on behalf of Georgia Spinal Health & Wellness
