If you have dealt with sciatica for more than a few weeks, you already know the pattern. The pain eases, you return to your routine, and then it comes back — sometimes worse than before. You have probably been told to stretch, strengthen your core, and avoid bending at the waist.

If you have lumbosacral radiculopathy, you already know the particular frustration of a pain that does not stay in one place. It radiates. It changes character. It interrupts your sleep, your concentration, your ability to sit through a meal or walk around the block.

If you are reading this, there is a good chance you have felt that specific, unmistakable moment: a bend, a lift, a sneeze, and then a line of pain running from your lower back down into your leg. Maybe an MRI put a name to it — a herniated or "slipped" disc pressing on a nerve root.

If you have landed here, there is a good chance you already know the specific misery of piriformis syndrome: a deep, aching or burning pain buried in the buttock, sometimes shooting down the back of the leg, worse after sitting on a hard chair, driving, or climbing stairs.