Summer is the time a lot of our patients will be taking vacations, many of which will be long road trips. How many times have you gotten the complaint of buttock pain following a particularly long car ride? What are some potential sources of this pain?
My opinion: Secondary Piriformis syndrome. Most car seats are designed like buckets to put us in a slouched, relaxed position - it's comfortable at first, but after a couple of hours, we start squirming. With a posterior pelvic tilt and flexed spine, the major pressure points are at the Piriformis.
Here's a simple explanation of how Secondary Piriformis Syndrome can be a likely source of buttock pain - along with a few other possibilities. More importantly, there's also 4 tips for your patients to improve their positioning and prevent buttock pain during long car rides...Continue reading...