Pregnancy and Piriformis Pain!

I know I'm not the only one. I've heard many pregnant women complain of tightness in deep where their butt meets their lower back. Many do not know what this muscle is and you can try many stretches and never really quite get relief. Most likely its the piriformis muscle. It runs from your sacrum or pelvic bone to your hip joint. You may not have even known it existed, but many of us have heard of the sciatic nerve, which runs right underneath! This makes sense if you figure the piriformis is used for hip rotation and as our bellies grow our hips rotate and we even walk different. The piriformis can get inflammed or tight putting pressure on the sciatic nerve.

I've been lucky in that I don't have any sciatic nerve issues, but I am feeling that strong urge to stretch something in my low back and hip and its really quite hard to get to! You can try a hamstring stretch and hip stretches like pigeon or by laying on your back crossing one ankle over knee and pulling your leg in to your chest. This helps a little, but I've found the answer to be foam rolling or using a tennis ball! Massage works really well and essentially thats what foam rolling is. Sometimes the ball even works better because of the pressure you can get from sitting on it! Ouch, but YESSS at the same time!

Here is a link to show you more on the piriformis foam rolling!
http://babybumpfitness.com/?p=102

Keep stretching mommies!