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“It’s a muscle that kind of clamps down on my sciatic nerve, and it was shooting down my leg,” MacDowell said, adding that she thought she was going to need a hip replacement.
Andie MacDowell is getting candid about a health condition.
On Thursday’s episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, the actress shared that she suffers from piriformis syndrome.
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“I have piriformis syndrome, so it’s a muscle that kind of clamps down on my sciatic nerve, and it was shooting down my leg,” MacDowell said, while revealing her diagnosis, before adding that she was concerned she was going to need surgery.
“I thought I was going to have to have [a] hip replacement, thank god, my hips are fine,” she continued.
“I have to work my tiny little bottom and my hips. I have to work the bottom and work my hip. I just do it every day,” MacDowell added. “It doesn’t hurt anymore. It’s a miracle. It really is.”
According to the Cleveland Clinic, piriformis syndrome “occurs when your piriformis muscle compresses your sciatic nerve and results in inflammation.” Those with the condition can suffer from “pain or numbness” in the buttocks and “down the back” of the leg — as what MacDowell described.
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Meanwhile, during her conversation with Barrymore, MacDowell shared that she suggests women work with a personal trainer as they age to strengthen their muscles.
After Barrymore noted that her personal trainer helped her pinpoint that an elliptical she was using was “hurting [her] hips,” to which MacDowell said, “This is the truth. I think as you age, lift weights, get [and] work with a PT person to build your muscle.”
MacDowell shared that she had to change her workout routine recently, seemingly because of her condition. She said that she had been riding her Peloton “like a crazy person,” before learning that it was “not appropriate for [her] body.”
“I ended up with bad knees and a bad hip, and I didn’t realize … I thought I was literally falling apart, like, I was gonna have to get new pieces,” she told Barrymore. “But the good news is my pieces are fine. My knees are good except for, like, aging. They’ve aged. I’m working out really hard now doing PT, I’m not falling apart. Well, thank god.”
