Differential diagnosis of pear-shaped muscle syndrome and lumbar disc herniation

Lumbar and hip soft tissue injury is one of the common clinical symptoms of lumbar disc herniation. Pear-shaped muscle syndrome is more likely to be misdiagnosed as lumbar disc herniation when symptoms such as sciatica, claudication, and muscle atrophy are present, or when it is combined with disc herniation. The differentiation point is that the pain is significant within 60° of straight leg raising in pear-shaped muscle syndrome, which is more severe due to the irritation of the sciatic nerve when the injured pear-shaped muscle is stretched to tension, but beyond 60°, the pear-shaped muscle is no longer stretched further and the pain is reduced instead [3]. The pain is confined to the sciatic tuberosity and the pear muscle, with pain reflexes along the sciatic nerve and difficulty walking, and a pyknotic, salami-like mass can be palpated in the anatomic area of the pear muscle. The pear muscle tension test is positive. The pear-shaped muscle is located in the posterior wall of the lesser pelvis, on the deep side of the gluteus maximus, and is a triangular-shaped muscle. It starts from the front of the 2nd-5th sacral vertebrae, outside the anterior sacral hollow, and the muscle fibers are concentrated outward, leaving the small pelvis to the deep gluteal region through the foramen magnum, passing around the back of the hip capsule and ending at the greater trochanter with a narrow tendon, which divides the foramen magnum into the upper foramen over the pear-shaped muscle and the lower foramen of the pear-shaped muscle. In the upper foramen of the pear-shaped muscle, the superior gluteal nerve, superior gluteal artery and vein enter and exit in order from the outside to the inside; in the lower foramen of the pear-shaped muscle, the sciatic nerve, posterior cutaneous nerve, inferior gluteal nerve, inferior gluteal artery and vein, internal pubic artery and pubic nerve enter and exit in order from the outside to the inside. The alignment of the sciatic nerve is exactly at the inferior foramen of the pear-shaped muscle and penetrates the pelvis to the buttocks. Because of the close anatomical relationship between the pear-shaped muscle and the sciatic nerve, symptoms may occur when the pear-shaped muscle is injured or when the relationship between the pear-shaped muscle and the sciatic nerve is mutated.