My wife has had three spinal surgeries. After her final one, the surgeon referred her to therapeutic massage clinic. A one hour session discovered and released multiple referring trigger points in her hips and low back; two more sessions stopped the pain.

The piriformis, a 3-inch long muscle that is buried beneath the gluteus maximus can entrap the sciatic nerve and cause pain, tingling and numbness that radiates down the leg and even into the foot--in fact, in 25% of the human race, the nerve passes through the piriformis. Turns out that was my wife's problem.