Knee pain while stretching piriformis

[Sylvano]

Good morning,

I recently found an edition of Stretching & Flexibility, which I’m quite found of :). I’m still trying to master the daily 5, getting a better sensation of the stretches without getting injured.

The piriformis exercise though, tends to hurt my knees. The simple fact to cross on leg over the other, and hold the knee in my elbow, gives a twist in the knee that hurts after the exercise.

I have quite arched legs, not sure if that helps understanding.

1. Do you have a suggestion to stretch the piriformis that would relieve my knee from this twist and pain?

2. Do you have a suggestion to increase the flexibility in the knee?

Many thanks !

[Nathan]

Hi there,

Welcome to the forums!

Please take a look at the ST Piriformis Syndrome Wiki. I've linked directly to the videos section at the bottom of the page. There are several variations of the piriformis stretch for you to try here. In particular, I think you might find this version helpful, but try them all and find out which works for you.

As for the knee, you don't want to stretch it because it's a joint, not a muscle. As your piriformis and the surrounding tissues loosen up, the rotational forces causing discomfort in the knee will attenuate, so just keep working on the piri.

Let us know how it goes!

[Sylvano]

Hello,

sorry for the late reply, and thank you for your tips!

I should have stated to reduce the tension around the knee yes, thank you for correcting.

I will follow your advice and report the progress!

 

[Kit_L]

@Sylvano: Nathan is completely accurate here: there are no reasons to stretch the ligaments of the knee. Just like the elbow, the knee is a hinge joint for the most part, and if it needs to stretch in a position, it's because either the hip or the ankle is too tight. It's the same with the elbow: if it needs to move in another plane than the one it's designed for, it's because the shoulder or wrist is too tight. Laxity of either knee or elbow ligaments usually leads to problems later on: work on hips or ankles.

Please do let us know how you go.

[Sylvano]

Hello Nathan and Kit,

I finally found some time and space to practice. I have been trying to stretch the piriformis as you suggested. There are plenty of videos on Youtube so I tried different manners to stretch trying not to injure my knee (the smallest twist leads to knee pain). So thank you for all this material. I have a couple questions still:

1. the "gentlest" stretch I found for this part of the butt is to lay on my back, fold one leg so that the knee is above the hip, and lay the foot/ankle from the other leg on that knee. I then link my hands below my folded leg and pull gently towards my chest. Does that actually stretch the piriformis?

2. My two sides are very different. If on the left side I can put myself in position and feel the stretch of piriformis (I really like the exercise from this video around 36:00) on the right side I actually feel a stretch in the groin and the "inside" part of the leg. I feel like I am perfectly mirroring the position that worked on the left, but here the tension in the groin is so intense I barely feel a strech in the glute. Any advice?

P.S. Apologies if I am not using the correct terms, please correct me ! 

[Kit_L]

@Sylvano:

Re. your point 1: please link to any video you want to talk about, so we all know what's being discussed (plus there are a number of variations in the different videos).

Re. your point 2: yes, what you feel in the groin and the inner hamstring is quite common. Do this gently on the R side, and in time it will come good. And try using a higher support; this can make a massive difference.

[Nathan]

On 4/21/2023 at 3:28 AM, Sylvano said:

1. the "gentlest" stretch I found for this part of the butt is to lay on my back, fold one leg so that the knee is above the hip, and lay the foot/ankle from the other leg on that knee. I then link my hands below my folded leg and pull gently towards my chest. Does that actually stretch the piriformis?

If you mean this, then yes, it stretches the piriformis. This is exercise 22 "Lying hip (piriformis)" in Stretching & Flexibility (page 68).