Video: Piriformis Muscle Stretch

The piriformis muscle works the lower back and gluts. Learn how to stretch the piriformis muscle group from a chiropractor in this free back health video.

Video Transcript

Now we are going to take a look at the piriformis stretch. This stretches the piriformis muscle. The piriformis muscle does external rotation of the hip and it lies underneath the gluteal muscle. For the piriformis stretch it is important to be either seated in a chair or a bench. Now once you are seated what you are going to want to do is place your left ankle over your right leg just above the knee. From that position you would want to gently lean forward until you can feel stretch in the buttock. Now you are going to want to hold that position for thirty seconds. After which time place the foot back down on the floor and then repeat sides by putting your right ankle over your left knee. And then again lean forward and hold for thirty seconds. An alternate to the piriformis seated stretch is to do the piriformis stretch on your back. Now what you are going to want to do is either lie on a bench or on the floor like before and from there bend both knees. You are going to want to cross one leg on top of the other. And then you are going to want to pull the opposite knee to chest until stretch is felt in the buttock-hip area. You are going to want to hold this one for about twenty seconds and then relax. You are going to want to repeat this five times on each side. And as always, it is important to continue breathing while doing these exercises. That was the piriformis stretch shown both seated and in the lying down position. Now we are going to move on to our next exercise which is going to be the cat.

Piriformis Muscle Stretch

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