Piriformis surgery on 9/8/09

[Rob Wilson]

I have waited to write about my recent left sided piriformis surgery until I felt that I could report concrete results. My surgery was performed by Dr. Henry Bohlman of University Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio on 9/8/09. I believe that he has performed well over 100 of these surgeries. I was very sacred to have this surgery but felt I had little option if I was going to rid myself of my continuing sciatica pain, butt pain, hip pain and leg cramping. I even had low back pain and upper back tightness (opposite side due to body compensating). I had many diagnostic tests (SI joint injections, selective nerve root blocks, foramen injections, prolotherapy of various SI ligaments, RF ablation of the L4, L5, S1, S2, S3 medial branches) to rule out other issues. I had many different types of treatment including trigger point massage therapy, chiropractic, prolotherapy, and ART (active release technique). Once I felt comfortable it was piriformis syndrome and that all my conservative measures would not get me where I wanted to be I made a visit to Dr. Bohlman. I also consulted with a number of people that Mark Mintzer provided who had this same surgery and surgeon. Dr. Bohlamn determined that I had piriformis purely by exam and the fact that I had already had ADR at L4/5 and L5/S1 and decompression of the L5 and S1 nerves and the aforementioned diagnostics. I proceeded with surgery soon thereafter. It entailed separating the gluteal maximus muscle down to the piriformis muscle, removing the entire piriformis muscle, and decompressing any fibrous tissue and arteriovenous abnormalities around the sciatic nerve. The surgery only took ~ 45 minutes and I walked out of the hospital with no aid. Very very sore. I was out of work for ~ 2 weeks and then gradually began back to work beginning with 4 hours a day. Now I am 6 ½ weeks out of surgery and have seen steady improvement. My major cramping is gone. The low back pain is gone. The upper back tightness is gone. I still have some sciatica and pain but it is slowly improving. I continue to hope that I will have great results once my body has fully healed. This could take a long time but I am very happy I had this surgery so far.

I have something similar going on with my right side but MUCH less than the left side. The ART is helping.