Stop stretching the piriformis. Start strengthening the hip around it.
Tell Vinys what brings on the deep buttock ache, and in about two minutes you're following a gentle 20-minute video session built around your answers, not another stretch into the sore spot. First session free.
Built with physiotherapists and with Lee Albert, NMT
This is the session, not a class. One guide, one movement at a time, a gentler version always one tap away.
“This is the first practice that seems to understand what my hips will and won't forgive.”
Marcus H. · Hip pain · Vinys member
The stretch that feels like it's working is what keeps it going.
Twenty minutes into the drive the deep ache in one buttock starts, and by the exit it's running down the back of the leg.
A hard chair is the one thing your day is full of, and the one thing your buttock will not put up with.
You do, it feels like something is happening, and the next day the ache is deeper and travels farther.
The piriformis is a small, deep hip muscle with the sciatic nerve running right beside it. When the bigger muscles at the side of the hip are weak, this small one does their work, tightens up, and presses on the nerve, so pulling the knee across your body stretches straight into an irritated spot and the ache comes back deeper. What settles it is strength around the hip, built up in stages, so the small muscle can stop overworking. Vinys puts that first and keeps any buttock stretch gentle and last.
The YouTube piriformis stretch you just tried
Same routine for every one of its million viewers
- Opens with the buttock stretch, whatever your leg says
- You decide what to skip, mid-pain
- Someone else's pace
- If it flares you, back to YouTube, search again
Your Vinys session
Starts from what makes your buttock pain worse
- Asks what makes your buttock pain worse and leaves out the movements that dig into it
- Put in the right order and amount for how you feel today
- Guided every movement, on video, at home
- A gentler version of every movement, one tap away
- A long day of sitting gets a different session from a day on your feet
The difference is not a deeper stretch. It's a stronger hip.
Tell us what today feels like. Then press play.
Tell Vinys what sets it off
What makes your hip worse, and how it feels right now. A few taps, no typing.
Vinys builds your session
Movements that don't fit your answers are left out. What's left is put in the right order and amount for today.
Follow the video at home
Around 20 minutes. No equipment. Chair or mat. A gentler version of every movement is one tap away.
Not a preview. A complete session for today.
Real movements from the Vinys library, chosen from your answers. Four of the movements a piriformis session can draw on:
From people who'd stopped hoping.
“This is the first practice that seems to understand what my hips will and won't forgive.”
“Some mornings I can't sit through breakfast. On those days the practice changes instead of pretending they don't happen.”
“Twenty years of a bad back taught me to fear exercise. This is the first practice that seems to understand what my back will and won't forgive.”
“Everything else asked for more than I had. Vinys is the only practice that asks what I have first, and builds from that.”
“I'd been told to stay active with my knee arthritis, but everything felt risky. Vinys started smaller than I thought possible and built up from there.”
Built with physiotherapists and with Lee Albert, NMT, neuromuscular therapist, creator of Integrated Positional Therapy, host of the PBS series Three Steps to Pain Free Living, and author of the best-selling Live Pain Free. Where yoga meets physiotherapy: the library is clinically authored and every session is graded, so it behaves like rehab, not like a class you have to keep up with. The research behind this
The four things people ask first.
What if the piriformis stretch has made it worse before?
That happens a lot with this condition, because the usual stretch pushes straight into an irritated nerve. Vinys asks what makes your buttock pain worse before choosing anything. You're not handed a list. You get movements that build strength around the hip, with any stretch kept gentle and placed last, each with a gentler version, and you're never asked to push through pain.
I can't get down to the floor.
Tell us. Every movement has a chair or wall version, and your session is built only from positions you mark as fine.
Do I need yoga experience?
No. It's guided movement, not a class to keep up with. One guide, one movement at a time, at a calm pace.
What does it cost, and what happens after?
Your first session is free. Card only if you start a trial. Afterwards you see the price and decide. Nothing is charged unless you choose to continue.
Your buttock needs a stronger hip, not a deeper stretch.
Tell Vinys what makes your buttock pain worse and how your hip feels today. Your first guided session is built from those answers, and you press play in about two minutes.
This is the session, not a class. One guide, one movement at a time, a gentler version always one tap away.