Buzzing Sensation in the Buttocks: What to Know
A buzzing sensation in the buttocks is a nerve symptom that patients frequently describe, and it is more common than most people realize. This post explains what paresthesia is, why it happens, and how nerve compression at the spine is often the source of what someone feels in their glutes.
The sciatic nerve, the largest nerve in the body, plays a central role in this type of symptom. Because it runs from the low back all the way to the foot, compression at the spine can produce sensations anywhere along its path, including the buttocks.
Chiropractic care evaluates where the symptom is actually originating so that treatment addresses the root cause rather than just the area of discomfort. This post walks through how that evaluation works and why seeking care sooner rather than later makes a difference.
Buzzing is such a common symptom that my patients tell me they feel. Especially in the buttocks region.
In general, buzzing is a symptom of nerve stimulation, and when people come to see me, these nerves are often aggravated.
Buzzing can happen for a couple of different reasons, including after keeping your body in the same position for a long time. Like when your arm falls asleep.
This is related to nerve and blood flow compression, and then, after you move, to reperfusion (the pins-and-needles feeling).
The buzzing, also called "paresthesia", that I'm going to be talking about in this blog is related to nerves getting compressed and, therefore, outputting a buzzing sensation in an area. Specifically, I'll be touching on the glutes in this blog.
Common Causes of Buzzing or Vibrating Sensations
Buzzing sensations and vibrating sensations in nerves can occur for a couple of different reasons.
You can oftentimes feel nerve buzzing or paresthesia when nerves are irritated, compressed, or over-stimulated.
When you have buzzing in the glutes, it is oftentimes related to nerves being compressed at the spine.
Nerves at the spine can be compressed by disc material that moves from its normal resting place between the spinal vertebrae or by the spinal vertebrae themselves, secondary to the bones growing in an nonadvantageous way.
When we talk about causes of this and why the nerves may become compressed secondary to inflammation and anatomical reasons mentioned above, there are many reasons why this could happen.
When talking to patients, they will oftentimes ask, "Well, when did it happen?" or "What did I do to cause this?"
Realistically, unless you had an injury where you bent over, felt a pop, and then had symptoms, sometimes this is just something that happens over time with repetitive strain and repetitive movements.
Sometimes people have no idea what actually happened and they start feeling symptoms.
Other times people have an injury, they feel symptoms right afterward.
For some other people, they actually have injuries and don't have any symptoms, but then years down the road they end up having symptoms like buzzing or vibrating or even pain, pins and needles, itching, etc.
This is my way of saying that sometimes we don't know what the cause is, and all we know is that we need to relieve the symptoms.
But if we're speaking about anatomical reasons, we know that the nerve is not happy, and because the nerve is not fully happy, it is going to cause you to have symptoms. In this case, it's buzzing in the buttocks region.
The nerve we're specifically speaking of here is typically the sciatic nerve, which originates in your low back, coming out of your spine and travels all the way down to your foot.
When the Sensation Is Coming from the Spine
When we talk about nerve symptoms and the sciatic nerve, we need to note its length.
Because it is so long, you may feel symptoms anywhere along the nerve.
This means you can feel symptoms from your back all the way down to your foot. That's a long way and so many structures that could be symptomatic.
When it comes to treatment, you can treat the area of symptoms, for example, the glutes.
If the back, and the position of the bones and structure as well as any inflammation of said structures in the back, is the actual cause of the symptoms, then you have to address the low back and the spinal levels themselves.
This means that all the treatment in the world in the areas of buzzing, tingling, pain, etc., won't necessarily address the root cause, which would be where that nerve actually starts, in this case, where the sciatic nerve branches off the spinal cord.
The Role of the Sciatic Nerve
The sciatic nerve is super important in our body. In fact, it is the largest nerve in humans. It innervates a very significant amount of skin as well as muscles of the thigh, leg, and foot.
This means that it is responsible not only for the movement of our legs, because it innervates the muscles, but also for sensation within these areas because it innervates the skin as well.
So you could say the role of the sciatic nerve is to allow us to do things like walking, kicking, etc., because it truly does provide nerve stimulation, aka the ability to move most of the glute and leg muscles.
Most people are familiar with piriformis syndrome and the piriformis muscle. The sciatic nerve does innervate the piriformis muscle, and that's oftentimes one of the places where a lot of people will feel the tingling and buzzing sensation that we're talking about here.
How Chiropractic Evaluates This Type of Symptom
As I mentioned above, when this buzzing symptom is coming from the spine, we have to actually start at the spine for treatment, because treating the area that's buzzing will not resolve the symptoms long-term.
It's like wiping up the floor when your sink is leaking. You can wipe the floor all you want, but if you don't fix the leak, then the problem is never going to go away.
So when we talk about the evaluation inside a chiropractic session, we're focusing on determining where exactly the buzzing sensation is coming from and where we need to start treatment so that you can have lasting results.
A chiropractor will evaluate this with movement, manual therapy, strength testing, range of motion testing, and more. We also pay attention to what you're telling us because your reports of your symptoms, when you feel the symptoms, how intense you feel the symptoms, how often you feel the symptoms, and where exactly you're feeling them can give us a lot of information.
When to Seek Care
I would say that if you're experiencing frequent buzzing in your glutes, it's worth an assessment.
It's one of those things where, if we really think about it, what's leading to the symptom is the fact that our nerve is unhappy and is likely being pushed on in some way that it doesn't like. The faster that we can address that and make our nerve happy, the better.
Buzzing is definitely one of those things that's easier to "just live with" because it's "easier" than pain, but it's not something that you should just ignore.
Where to Find Chiropractic Care If You Have Buzzing Glutes
If you're struggling with buzzing in your glutes, chiropractic care offers a safe, effective, and non-invasive approach to pain relief and healing.
By addressing the underlying mechanical issues and supporting your body's natural healing processes, we can help you return to the activities you love without the need for surgery or long-term medication use.
We'd love to work with you at Cruz Chiropractic. We offer the best chiropractic care in NYC's Flatiron District, Gramercy Park, and surrounding areas (of course, we’re biased, but we’d love to show you how we’re different).
We also offer mobile chiropractic/concierge chiropractic options so you can get care from the comfort of your own home or office.
Schedule a consultation to discuss your symptoms and explore whether chiropractic care is the right solution for you. We can attest that with the right treatment plan, many patients experience significant improvement and get back to living pain-free.
Not sure what’s safe to do? Book a 15‑minute consult and let’s build your custom treatment plan.
