Piriformis syndrome occurs when your piriformis muscle team — a deep hip rotator in the buttock — becomes tight or inflamed, compressing the sciatic nerve that passes nearby (or sometimes through) it. Your hip external rotator team may overwork from weak glutes, while your sitting posture team keeps the piriformis in shortened position for hours. Your pelvic alignment team affects piriformis tension, and your gait pattern team can create repetitive stress. Your inflammatory team responds to muscle overuse, and your nervous system team amplifies pain as the sciatic nerve becomes irritated. The organism-as-team approach works because piriformis syndrome reflects hip dysfunction and movement compensation. Your glute team needs strengthening (especially glute medius) to reduce piriformis overwork, your hip flexor team requires stretching to improve pelvic position, your core team affects pelvic stability, your hamstring team influences posterior chain tension, and your nervous system team benefits from calming to reduce nerve sensitization. By treating your organism as cooperative systems, you can release piriformis tension directly, strengthen glutes to redistribute work, optimize pelvic alignment to reduce muscle strain, improve sciatic nerve mobility and circulation, retrain movement patterns creating repetitive stress, and calm nerve inflammation. Think of your piriformis as a worker doing a job meant for an entire team (glutes) — it becomes exhausted and inflamed, pressing on nearby structures. The team approach redistributes the workload. ⚕️ This protocol does not replace professional consultation.