Piriformis release surgery, discussion and information

PITABUTT - Tilted pelvis/Twisted pelvis is caused by an imbalance of the pelvic muscles (not just one muscle) All the muscles and other soft tissues are inter-related and affect each other. In regular chiropractry, the doctor uses techniques to get the bones back into their proper position. But since the underlying problem of muscle imbalance is untreated, the bones are quickly pulled out of alignment again.

ART is NOT taught in chiropractor school. The doctor has to seek out this different, advanced treatment training on his own. So there are not many chiros trained in it.

I'm glad you are willing to give it a try. The early sessions may be quite painful, as the doctor may be trying to break up adhensions which bind soft tissue together, causing the muscles to get weaker or contract & possibly put pressure on a nerve.

Ask the doctor to explain what he is doing & why. You will learn a lot about what your body is doing & why.

What kind of surgery did you have? Was it uni or bi-lateral? Was the muscle removed? Or a section cut out? Or tendon cut? What if anything, did the surgeon find?

Since you have had piriformis surgery, the twisted pelvis might be harder to treat now. i don't know. But at a minimum, ART should help with your upper back & neck pain. And hopefully your low back & sciatica will improve as well.

Please stay in touch and let us know what happens. We are all learning from each other's experiences. Good Luck, Mary

Hello,

I am sorry it has taken me so long to respond. I am just in a really tight situation right now and have been stressing over it. I am almost 2 months behind in my rent and get over 3 bills in the mail everyday along with my nearly 3 thousand in credit card debt. I am also feeling pressured to go to school next fall even if my body isn't ready. The good news is that my father is trying to help me out but he is kind of unpredictable.

My pain is slightly better than before surgery. I am really not sure what to think though. About a week ago my pain was less when laying down but now it has gotten considerably worse and I need more pain meds to stay comfortable. I can sit up and stand for a little bit longer than a week ago... It is all so confusing.

Menzie: I am so happy your D got those screws out. Hopefully she gets some pain relief and is able to swim again soon. What were the screws for? Did she break a bone or tear a ligament or tendon?

Lynne: It is wonderful to hear you have been pain free for 13 days. I sure hope you continue to have lots of pain relief. It must be a big breath of fresh air.

Robyn: It is good to hear you found Dr. Martin. Finding doctors who are competent in treating someone with nerve pain is an arduous task. I saw dozens of doctors and had two back surgeries before I found Dr. Filler on Youtube.

Shirley: I hope you have a good time with your son and let us know if and when you plan to get surgery with Dr. Filler.

Leesa: I really hope your surgery in August goes well. Keep us updated.

Donna: Those steroid packs never did anything for me. It is good they are helping you but I really hope you can find the underlying cause of your pain and get that treated.

I wish everyone lots of pain relief. Take care.

Brandon

Before I found out the true cause of my piriformis pain, I saw an osteopathic who did several manipulations and told me to go to a certain store and get fitted for a shoe insert. I was not keen on spending that kind of money and insurance did not cover it. But within about a month my piriformis pain starting declining in intensity. I have to say it really made a significant difference. Just maybe something u haven't tried. The osteopath is here in Oklahoma. If u r interested let me know and I'll send u her contact info.
Hopefully we will all be too busy with our lives to sit at these computers. Good wishes to everyone.
Robyn in Oklahoma

Robyn - I bet your second toe is longer than the big toe - am I right? If so, you have what is called Morton's foot.
Brandon - What types of back surgery did you have prior to the Piriformis surgery?

Brandon,
Please try not to get to disappointed with the surgery outcome so far. I woke up from surgery with the sciatica still there and was sure it was not going to help me after 6 months of no relief. I was on pain meds for 3-4 months, did 3 steroid paks, lots of ibupropen and ice. I was sad and disappointed because I had suffered so long and this was my shot. Well, at six and a half months, my leg nerve pain subsided. I can't explain exactly what happened. I had started stretching, swimming, etc to try and rebuild strength but I had done so before the surgery. It has now been 3 weeks with out sciatica. Is the nerve finally healed??, I hope so with all my being. We all want a qiuck fix but this condition doesn't seem to work that way and nerves do take time to heal. Some people move forward quickly with healing, others take a lot more time. You don't know which catagory you will be in. Patience is a virtue and this is a big dose of it and I have 2 young adult boys and I know they want everything NOW. You have suffered a couple years so of course you are tired and ready for it to be over, I truly understand that. Please try to be patient, eat well, stay moving as best you can, inactivity works against you. Don't stress over the things you can't control. Ask your girlfriend to give you gentle massages. Ask your parents for help, you mentioned Dad, where is Mom? Stay on the forum for support, we all care about you. Stay strong. Lynne

Mary,
very interesting on the Mortons foot, my feet are like that. I'm tempted to try the insoles as I could use help with posture and my hips and feet hurt when I walk to much. The only problems are, so close to getting relief from the sciatica I'm a little nervous to do anything new which might upset the apple cart :) We also live in the infamous slippah here in Hawaii. I probably wear shoes maybe 10 times a year! The website was interesting, do you know anyone personally who got them and felt they were effective??? Has anyone else on this forum got the 2nd toe longer thing???? Lynne

Hi all. This can't be too long because it is late here and I am quite sore. Lynne, your question, yes I have Morton's toe also and it supposedlypredisposis people to piriformis syndrome. I have come across this in a number of articles. Lynne, you are now our mentor so please stay on and keep letting us know about patience. Leesa also has lots to teach us about patience facing a 2ndsurgery.

Wanted to let everyone know that the epidural did absolutley nothing for my pain which points again back to the piriformis and other nerve adhesions Dr. Filler saw. So I am waiting for Jodean's call to schedule surgery. She is going to give me the name of someone at Cedars Sinai to talk to abot their outrageous fee since I have to pay the whole shot.

Brandon , it is great to hear form youand sorry you are feeling a bit discouraged but remember David and Lynne and hopefully it willgive you hope. And you may have to join wiht the others in helping me through. Sorry about allthe problems, financial and decsions about school. I have had to help my kids out of lots of tough financail times so I hope your parents will pitch in for you if they can.

I can't answer too much of you rihgt now--just welcome back Robyn, it's been a long time so good to hear form you. Oldtimer,stick wiht the tennis balls and other conservative treatment befor considering surgery--it works for lots op people, particularly if gooten to early. Candy sounds likeyou may try ART--good luck. Menzie--oh my, what can I say except you are a brave Mom--I know this is heart breaking for you to see your active daughter be so disabled--jsut hope this turns around sometime soon.

Leesa, our butt/back warrior, you have lots to teach us so hang around. I may be a back/ butt warrior too someday as my spine pictures aren't pictures of perfect health. A doctor once told me that an MRI done on my neck looked like that of a 60 year old.---I was 31 at the time--thanks doc.

Really gotta go and get off my butt. Will let you know when I schedule surgery. David I think I have more questions for you but am not thinkingvery well tonight. Hope you weren't hit by that hurricane.

Bye for now.

Shirley

Lynn- I don't know anyone who bought the product. However, it is very common for people with Morton's foot to either buy "stabilty" shoes or have custom orthotics made. Serious runners, in particular know about these things.


We had one person (a runner w/ Morton's foot) say her PS was cured by a combination of stablity shoes & custom orthotics.

I have Morton's foot and wore custom orthotics for about 15 years. It stopped my knee pain & bunion growth. About one year ago, my PT got me out of orthotics and into stabilty shoes, so I don't need the orthotics if I have the right kind of shoe to compensate for the Morton's foot. Neither "fixed" my hip problem, but they have certainly reduced abnormal stress motion being transferred to the hip.

If you are just wearing slippers or flip-flops, they sure are not helping your problem. There are so many types of Athletic sandals available, I have often wondered if you could find one that would work with orthotics.

So I suggest you do some reading online. Maybe talk to the ladies at Lady Footlocker, and either try "stability walking shoes" or get orthotics (which means also getting shoes big enough to hold the orthotics.

Whenever I buy athletic shoes, I take a couple pair to my PT & she tells me which type is best for my situation. Then I return the rejects. I ONLY wear athletic shoes.

Stability shoes or orthotics will feel very different at first.

Hope this helps, Mary

The week has been an OK week. My D has been walking each day, and I have been taking her swimming almost everyday this week. She has been swimming from 1 1/2 hours to 3 hours each time. This is a good thing. She is pain free when she is in the water. She is officially at the 4 month mark with Dr. Filler and 26 days post op from having her six screws and hardware removed. I think she is having some slight changes. The pain now seems to trade off where it is hurting the most. She still can not sit, so who knows. We are trying to keep the faith, time is not my favorite friend.

I found the morton's foot info interesting because she has toes that are longer than her big toe. We had professional orthotics made for her shoes, but I am not sure exactly what they were addressing. I know partly for her lost arch, but her ankles also rotate in as well. I hope you are all doing well.

Shirley, do call the hospital and get the price down. My D's fees for the 23 hours there was over 76,000$. But they dropped all but 15,000. If they can do this for someone with insurance, they should be able to drop for a cash patient as well.
I hope you are all having a great Saturday. I do not know when all of this will be over for you, or for my family, but I want you all to know that I appreciate you all, and pray, and say postive thought each night for you all. Also to Hawaii Girl, I am so glad you are doing well. Keep it up. Menzie

Brandon: Listen to Lynne. She sure knows how important it is to be patient and not lose hope too soon. I sure hope you are taking it easy and hope you continue to improve. Sounds like you ve been through the ringer with surgeries. Hang tough.

Lynne: I don t blame you for not wearing shoes very often. I wouldn t either if I lived in Hawaii! You re a strong woman and although it s been a rough road it s great to hear you are still getting better. So happy for you.

Shirley: I hope the PS surgery takes care of your problem and you don t need any back surgery. If you do we can compare notes. I d rather swap recipes but that doesn t seem to be our lot in life. I know you re struggling now but the ball is rolling and hopefully you ll be on your way to relief soon.

Menzie: Still holding out hope for your D. Glad to hear she s back in the water and has some relief there. Who knows, maybe after a couple more months she will be even better. It s possible. It is so, so, so hard to just wait. Keep checking in, we re here for you.

My next surgery is soon. Then I can start waiting again. Urgh. I think I ll start putting a marathon training schedule together for next year. Yeah, right.

Leesa

Hey all,

Been on vacation so haven't posted in a week.

My last post communicated that I was feeling a bit worse so I took a steroid pack. Unfortunately, I continue to kind of slide backwards.

My pain is primarily a burning in the feet. I hate this part of PS. I can pretty much handle pain in the hips or legs but this foot burning tends to drive me up a wall. Odd thing is that I feel much better if I walk or work in the yard but the second I stop, the burning returns.

Not quite sure what to think. It's not the first time I have had this(duh!) but it usually leaves in a 2-3 days. This round wants to hang on for some reason.

Oh well, enough whining. I'm sure it will pass. It better.

Question: Has anyone heard from Julie or Margie or am I just being blind and missing their posts?

Have a great day folks. Hang in there Brandon.

David, I too have not seen any posts from them either. I am sorry your feet are burning. I guess you need to keep moving and not stop. LOL Is this a symptom you experienced prior to your surgery? It is great to hear from you. Menzie

Hi everyone. I talked to Dr. Filler and I am on the road to surgery. He mentioned that I could have my surgery in another hospitakl or wait for his surgical center to open. When I talked to Jodean she said I could either go to St. John's Health Center or wait until the surgical center opens. The surgical center will be the least inexpensive so I decided that if I have put up wiht this for 10 years then I can wait until then. I don't know what the cost will be but it is bound to be better than Cedars Sinai. My botox has worn off and it is very painful right now. Maybe I can get a botox injection to tide me over.If i can't then I may go for the St. John's option. I amy have to ask Jodean more questions before I decide.

David sorry you are getting foot pain. Did yuou hav it before your surgery. Mine has been there all along with the butt and leg pain. Not fun.

Can't sit--too sore.

Shirley

Shirley, is Dr. Filler going to have his own surgery center? Will they be able to keep you overnight? This is big news and most certainly should cut the cost way down. Sorry you are not feeling well, I hope you are having a restful evening. 9:21 here on the West Coast. Menzie

New surgical center. Hmmm! LOL, I obviously own part of it and I'm surprised he didn't call and at least give me the opportunity to put my name on one or two of the bricks. Alas, I may just have to take my handy pocket knife and carve my initials in.

Yes, I had the burning in my feet prior to surgery. As suspected, it has subsided over the last day or so but very disconcerting nonetheless. Personally, I'd take the pain anywhere but my feet. I don't tolerate that very well.

Too bad Margie and Julie have not checked in. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think we have heard from Julie since surgery. Margie had hers done by Barbaro and I am SUPER curious about her outcome. If I remember correctly, she was doing pretty darn well. I can only assume, will only assume, that she is healed and has moved on with a wonderful life and, again very hopeful this is the case, I couldn't be more happy for her. Nevertheless, I hope she checks in down the road so that we can benefit from her experiences.

Gotta get back to work. Have a great day folks.

David

Oops, I forgot to ask a question to HG.

Did you post that oyu received anti-scarring injections from Filler? If this is correct, how did these work for you?

Thx.