Yes, Full Swing Healthcare treats piriformis syndrome with dry needling, and we see it often. Many of our patients arrive having been told their sciatica is a disc problem, only for hip rotation testing to point straight at the piriformis as the real culprit. If you are in Jacksonville, the Beaches, or anywhere along Beach Blvd, we can get you in for a same-day assessment.
Why Piriformis Syndrome Gets Missed
The piriformis sits deep in the posterior hip, right next to the sciatic nerve. When active trigger points cause the muscle to shorten, it compresses the nerve and sends pain, tingling, and numbness down the back of the leg, a symptom picture that looks exactly like sciatica from a disc. Same pattern, completely different source.
The clinical distinction is actually straightforward. Piriformis syndrome flares with hip internal rotation and prolonged sitting. Discogenic sciatica worsens with lumbar flexion and spinal loading. Most patients who find us have never had anyone run those provocation tests side by side. Some have MRI findings, a small disc bulge, some minor degeneration, and their provider stopped there without checking whether the disc is actually driving the leg pain.
Why Deep Massage Alone Does Not Solve It
The piriformis is buried under significant tissue. External pressure from massage or manual therapy has to work through all of that before reaching the muscle itself, which means technique and specificity are lost before you get there. Patients often tell us they get a day or two of relief from deep glute work and then the same pattern comes back, because the trigger point was never fully released.
A dry needle reaches the piriformis directly, regardless of depth. Placed in the active trigger point, it produces a local twitch response and a release that is qualitatively different from anything external. Patients frequently notice their familiar referral pattern reproduce during the needling and then fade as the muscle lets go.
A Real Case From Our Clinic
A woman came to us after an orthopedist attributed her right-sided leg pain to an L5-S1 disc bulge found on MRI. The bulge was real, but hip rotation testing immediately reproduced her full sciatic pattern, pointing to the piriformis as the primary driver. Three dry needling sessions cleared the radiating pain entirely. There was still some lumbar stiffness afterward, which we addressed with chiropractic adjustments, but the leg pain that had defined her day-to-day life resolved through the piriformis work.
Who Performs the Dry Needling?
Dr. Cody Muren, DC leads our dry needling work and brings deep clinical experience treating nerve-referral patterns from the hip and lumbar spine. If your case has a significant lumbar component alongside the piriformis involvement, Dr. Eric Hall is also available, together they cover the full picture so nothing gets missed.
- Deep piriformis trigger point release, not available through massage or stretching alone
- Hip rotation and lumbar provocation testing to confirm the actual pain driver
- Chiropractic integration when lumbar stiffness compounds the problem
- Transparent flat-rate pricing with no surprise fees
- Convenient Beach Blvd location serving all of Jacksonville and the Beaches