Praise be to Steve. I too am sick of hearing about this particular muscle. It seems to cop the blame for most lower quadrant and limb pain. In my mind most changes in local muscle tone and sensitivity (hence acting as pain generator) are a sequelae of some other dynsfunction elsewhere e.g. joint OA, neural irritation, immobilisation, maladaptive movement patterns etc etc. Further on treatment of the muscle has very short acting but short lived results. If it is necessary to "release" a muscle group as part of treatment program then I would be teaching the patient or their partner/family member to complete the ischaemic release so that it can done daily "for free".