Piriformis syndrome is a condition that can cause pain that is almost exactly like the pain you would feel from a lumbar spine disc herniation and sciatica. The good thing is that there are various tests that chiropractor in performing your office to determine if you are suffering from true Piriformis syndrome or pain from a lumbar spine disc herniation and sciatica pain. The testing involves just placing your leg and hip in various positions and seeing which positions caused pain and which positions do not cause pain.
Sadly a number of people are being treated for Piriformis syndrome when they actually have a lumbar spine disc herniation and sciatica nerve root pain; and vice versa.
I recently actually had a patient that came into my office suffering from excruciating pain and she told me that the other doctors that she had been treating with diagnosed her as suffering from Piriformis syndrome. In fact the patient was quite emphatic that his condition was Piriformis syndrome and just wanted to be treated and did not want to waste time on the initial case history and physical examination. He just wanted to be traded and that was it!
Well I informed him I could not accept them as a patient unless he allowed me to give him the best service and care are simple and to order to do so I needed to discuss this case history and perform a thorough physical examination. Reluctantly, he agreed and we proceeded. After the examination, I told the patient, that I was certain that he did not suffer from Piriformis syndrome but instead he suffered from a lumbar disc herniation that was causing sciatica pain which is basically a sharp stabbing or burning pain coming from the back and going down into the leg.
At this point he had been suffering from pain for so long he did not really care what the name of his pain was he just wanted to get it fixed. So he followed my recommendations and we started treatment that consisted of spinal traction decompression therapy, ultrasound and chiropractic pressure point therapy. To my patient's surprise he had significant pain relief after his first treatment session. After that it only took a few weeks to totally get rid of his pain.
http://www.wakeupskinny.com/