When people want to start exercising more, one of the first muscles they want to work on is their chest. Most people have heard of large muscle pectoralis major but seem to forget about pectoralis minor. Both need to work together in order to function at their highest capacity.

The pectoralis major muscle is a large muscle in the upper chest, fanning across the chest from the shoulder to the breastbone. The two pectoralis major muscles, commonly referred to as the “pecs,” are the muscles that create the bulk of the chest. The pectorals are predominantly used to control the movement of the arm and also play a part in deep inhalation, pulling the ribcage to create room for the lungs to expand. Six separate sets of muscle fibers are identified within the pectoralis major muscle. This enables each portion of the pectoralis major muscle to be moved separately by the nervous system.

The pectoralis minor is a thin, flat muscle found...

When patients come into our office with low back pain or symptoms resembling sciatica one of the muscles we check in on is the piriformis. During the examination we will check on range of motion and strength of different muscles to see if we can narrow down where the pain/discomfort is coming from. It is usually not just one muscle that is tight or restricting but the piriformis is tight in most if not all in our patients.

The piriformis  is a flat, pyramid-shaped muscle that lies parallel to (in line with) the gluteus medius and underneath the gluteus maximus muscle in the hip area.The muscle passes through the greater sciatic foramen (a space in the pelvic bones, on each side of the center) and to the upper part of the greater trochanter (a bone ridge near the top of the femur, or thigh bone). It takes up the most area in the greater sciatic foramen.

It is a small muscle when compared to other muscles of the region. The piriformis helps rotate the hip and works with other...