Question: My Mom has had sciatica on her left leg for about 2 years now. it comes and goes .
She has medium size protrusion on her spine that might caused this. ( she had an MRI in March 2019). but did not need any surgery. other physical therapist thinks that it is her piriformis.

The "attack" had gotten milder everytime, she only had it 3 times now (Feb 2018. feb 2019 and XXXXXXX 2020)

but everytime she is in the process of healing, she will experience this muscle soreness on BOTH HER LEGS after waking up (while her sciatica pain is usually all day long) . this muscle soreness will last until afternoon after she gets active and go away for the rest of the day. she sleeps fine too.

she had not done cardio since 2019 because of fear of bringing the pain back.
could this be the reason why she had the leg muscle soreness in the morning?

MRI was done very recently. about 8 months ago. i dont think she needs that.

from the initial painful attack in february 2019, she has gotten alot better and was pain free basically since august 2019- january 2020. she is now better since january, but what i am asking about is why is she experiencing soreness in both legs in the morning?

usually after she wakes up, she feels relaxed, and when she started to do activity, that is when the soreness started ( like she did squats the night before, but she did not) which will slowly go away in the afternoon.

is it possible that her muscle has gotten weak due to the fact that she has reduced her activity? will stretches before bed helps? elevating the feet while sleeping?

please help to answer in detail .