[Piriformis Surgery] Piriformis surgery

[lanzera999]

Hi, I had my left piriformis muscle removed 5 1/2 weeks ago. I've had terrible sciatica for 2 years and I was finally able to get it diagnosed and operated on. I was hoping to meet some people on this forum who have had the same surgery and read about your experience. I am very interested in the recovery period and what to expect. Post operation, I still have the sciatica pain and was wondering how long before this starts to subside. My surgeron told me that its a surgery that takes months, not weeks to heal. He also said that I was a textbook case for piriformis syndrome. He said that when he operated on me, my muscle was thick, tense, and crushing my sciatic nerve. Luckily, taking a double dose of Aleve helps the pain which is something that wouldn't have happened before the surgery. Like I said, I'm just hoping that someone else reading this forum has had a similar experience and any advice/tips/support/etc would be GREATLY APPRECIATED.

[Justin]

Hi, I had my left piriformis muscle removed 5 1/2 weeks ago. I've had terrible sciatica for 2 years and I was finally able to get it diagnosed and operated on. I was hoping to meet some people on this forum who have had the same surgery and read about your experience. I am very interested in the recovery period and what to expect. Post operation, I still have the sciatica pain and was wondering how long before this starts to subside. My surgeron told me that its a surgery that takes months, not weeks to heal. He also said that I was a textbook case for piriformis syndrome. He said that when he operated on me, my muscle was thick, tense, and crushing my sciatic nerve. Luckily, taking a double dose of Aleve helps the pain which is something that wouldn't have happened before the surgery. Like I said, I'm just hoping that someone else reading this forum has had a similar experience and any advice/tips/support/etc would be GREATLY APPRECIATED.

Hi Lanzera,

Welcome to the Spine Patient Society.

There are quite a few SPS Members that have had piriformis surgery. Most of these Members had their post-operative symptoms pass after quite some time (months, as your surgeon stated).

If you click on the thread title "Piriformis Surgery" in the Surgical Outcomes Forum, it will sort that Forum will all of the pertinent piriformis threads and surgical experiences. (Rob Wilson is a great resource on this Forum for piriformis recovery.)

I wish you the very best as you recover.

[mwolf2022]

Hi, I had my left piriformis muscle removed 5 1/2 weeks ago. I've had terrible sciatica for 2 years and I was finally able to get it diagnosed and operated on. I was hoping to meet some people on this forum who have had the same surgery and read about your experience. I am very interested in the recovery period and what to expect. Post operation, I still have the sciatica pain and was wondering how long before this starts to subside. My surgeron told me that its a surgery that takes months, not weeks to heal. He also said that I was a textbook case for piriformis syndrome. He said that when he operated on me, my muscle was thick, tense, and crushing my sciatic nerve. Luckily, taking a double dose of Aleve helps the pain which is something that wouldn't have happened before the surgery. Like I said, I'm just hoping that someone else reading this forum has had a similar experience and any advice/tips/support/etc would be GREATLY APPRECIATED.

I have no experience with the surgery , but have had piriformis syndrome symptoms for almost two years now. I was wondering how were you diagnosed. Every time I mention piriformis to my doctors they dismiss me like I am crazy.

Good luck with your recovery and take it slow , You body heals slowly .

[Gilbert P]

mwolf

Pirformis is real! my wife has it and gets relief from message and stretching I also am dealing with on my left side thanks to P.T. they keep me in check.

Gil

Oh

[lanzera999]

mwolf, that sucks that they look at you like your are crazy. I went to an Orthopaedic Dr. By then I had pretty much diagnosed myself, but this Dr. confirmed it after a lumbar spine MRI that came back clean, and an EMG that came back irregular. He set me up with a surgeon in the same building who had done a few piriformis release surgeries. I ultimately did not have the surgery with this specific surgeon, but he was able to reconfirm that the condition exists and has seen it first hand. At first all dr's want to tell you its your back, but I've had absolutely zero pain in my back ever, plus clean MRI's, and an injection in my back that didn't help at all. Another great diagnostical tool is to have an injection directly into your piriformis by a pain management Dr. When I had that, my symptoms went away temporarily. Because the symptoms went away with that injection, it pointed to the fact that my piriformis was the culprit.

Good luck to you. P.S. really sucks, but there's a lot of people on this forum who seem like they have way worse problems than me, so I don't want to ***** too much.

[simca09]

Lanzera--

Seems like you are now 10 months post-surgery. How are you doing? What was the recovery like? Do you know why the entire muscle was removed? Any info would help. I've gone thru every conservative treatment to no avail, and m actively exploring surgery options.

thanks
Simca

[Santorini]

Hi, I had my left piriformis muscle removed 5 1/2 weeks ago. I've had terrible sciatica for 2 years and I was finally able to get it diagnosed and operated on. I was hoping to meet some people on this forum who have had the same surgery and read about your experience. I am very interested in the recovery period and what to expect. Post operation, I still have the sciatica pain and was wondering how long before this starts to subside. My surgeron told me that its a surgery that takes months, not weeks to heal. He also said that I was a textbook case for piriformis syndrome. He said that when he operated on me, my muscle was thick, tense, and crushing my sciatic nerve. Luckily, taking a double dose of Aleve helps the pain which is something that wouldn't have happened before the surgery. Like I said, I'm just hoping that someone else reading this forum has had a similar experience and any advice/tips/support/etc would be GREATLY APPRECIATED.

Lanzera,
Are you still experiencing sciatica? The research I have seen indicates that releasing the piriformis will over time destabilize the SI joint. I believe that Dr.Alan Lippitt wrote about this in his research. A friend of mine experienced this after her piriformis release and is now experiencing the knife like pain in her SI joint 10 months post-op release. I think Erik Dalton does a good job providing a high level explanation of SIJD and piriformis syndrome for those who want more information. Erik Dalton - Piriformis or SI Joint Pain? I hope the sciatica has resolved but if it has not then I would recommend an SI joint injection to rule out that as the cause of your pain.