Actress Andie MacDowell revealed that she was recently diagnosed with piriformis syndrome, from which she has been able to recover miraculously thanks to a “miraculous” treatment, Page Six reported.
“It’s a muscle that squeezes my sciatic nerve and goes down my leg. I thought I was going to have to have a hip replacement. Thank God my hips are fine,” said MacDowell, 66, during her appearance Thursday on “The Drew Barrymore Show”.
What is piriformis syndrome?
Piriformis syndrome causes pain or numbness in the buttocks and back of the leg, according to the Cleveland Clinic. It occurs when the piriformis muscle spasms and compresses the sciatic nerve.
For treatment, the “Groundhog Day” star works with a personal trainer to be able to cope with the pain.
“I have to work my little butt and hips, it’s something I do every day,” the actress explained. “It’s a miracle, it really is.”
The actress, who has long expressed that she feels comfortable with aging, also shared an update on her personal life and shared that she left Hollywood to go to South Carolina, where she lives “in a community that has a lot of people my age”, so she has an “easier” time making friends.
“I like to eat, but I love to exercise. That’s my great fortune because I’ve had friends who get frustrated because they don’t enjoy it, but I really enjoy it,” said MacDowell, who added that her routine workouts left her with “knee and hip problems”, which originally made her think she was falling apart like she had to get new parts.
“But the good news is that my pieces are fine. My knees are fine except for aging. They have aged. I’m training very hard now doing physiotherapy, I’m not falling apart,” added the “Four Weddings and a Funeral” actress.
In May 2023, MacDowell spoke to People about why she “doesn’t feel less sexy” as she gets older, saying she believes women should be talked about in terms such as “elegant” when people approach conversations about aging.
“I like all the terms we use for older people,” he said. “I want to hold on to those terms. I want to be graceful. Why not? What a beautiful term.”
The Golden Globe winner said she feels society has been “brainwashed” into thinking that men age better than women.
“It’s a psychological thing that we’ve accepted because we’ve been fed it for so long, women don’t allow ourselves to feel good about ourselves and we even perceive older men as sexy, because that’s what we’ve been made to think,” MacDowell concluded.