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Summary: Learn how to stretch out the Piriformis muscle in this free video on physical therapy for the back.
Views: 4,997 | Tags: exercises, back, lower, therapy, stretch, physical, piriformis
About the Expert
Monica Paradise Monica Paradise works at Industrial Hand and Physical Therapy in Phoenix, Arizona. She graduated from Northern Arizona University with a degree in exercise sc... read more
Hi I'm Monica. I am going to show you another stretch. This stretch is for some muscles in your butt, more specifically your piriformis muscle. This is also another good stretch as sometimes people talk about sciatica and if they have it because of a tight piriformis muscle this is a great stretch to kind of stretch the piriformis out a little bit as well as the other muscles in the butt and in the low back and try to relieve some of the pressure thats on the sciatica. So go ahead and lie down, your knees and hips bent and what you're going to do is cross one leg over the other just like you were sitting in a chair, and then go ahead and pull the knee to your chest. You should feel a great stretch right in through here. You want to hold it anywhere between thirty and sixty seconds. Then you can go ahead and switch to the other leg. Again, crossing your leg and bringing it toward your chest. So this is a little bit different from the other stretch we did where the leg was right like this. For this one you want to make sure that your leg is rotated before you pull it in to really get that nice stretch there in your butt. Again, just kind of holding it nice and relaxed. The other side again.