Excessive static and dynamic muscle work/action of the piriformis causes Piriformis syndrome (PS). The sciatic nerve runs on bilateral side of posterior hip or thigh just closed to piriformis muscles or sometimes just passes through it. In case of PS, patients feel sharp radiating pain and paresthesia and muscle weakness in lower quadrants of limbs including low back, hip, and ankle.

The aim of the study was to compare and observe the effect of light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (LASER) therapy and ultrasound therapy in case of PS. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of laser therapy for the physiotherapy rehabilitation to restore range of motion (ROM) of lower limb and decrease pain and disability in PS.

Thirty patients were taken for this study. The mean age in group I and group II were 28.2 ± 5.116 and 29.93 ± 4.793 respectively, and the patients were referred from orthopedic outpatient physiotherapy department of Mahatma Gandhi Hospital, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. The duration of study was of 3 weeks. Baseline measurements of pain intensity, lower extremity functional disability, and ROM of all the subjects were measured using the visual analog scale (VAS), Lower Extremity Functional Scale, and goniometer respectively, and recorded as per test data for statistical analysis.

The results have shown that clinically there is a significant difference in the subjects treated with low-level laser and ultrasound efficient in treating pain, ROM, and function in subjects with PS. Between-the-group comparison of values of VAS readings for pain was found to be statistically significant (0.0001) for ROM, but was not found statistically significant for function.

Ojha S, Jailiya C. To find the Efficacy of Therapeutic Laser for Piriformis Syndrome. J Mahatma Gandhi Univ Med Sci Tech 2017;2(1):14-17.