Pain!!! Help please!

[The devil's own]

Hi all, just after some help with a rather painful injury I've developed. Had a look at other threads and posted in the ITBS thread but thought it might be more helpful to start a new one as posts can often get lost in those old threads.
Anyway that pain started Thursday evening. That morning I had done squats and deadlifts in the gym without any issues. Later in the day I noticed an ache in my right hip and similar below my right knee, on the outside of my leg. This then developed into a sharp pain deep in my backside. It felt like it was from under my gluteus. The pain got worse if i moved my leg to the right away from my body. At this time I got a very sharp pain in what felt like the joint of my hip, it felt more to the outside where as the previous pain felt deep. The knee remained the same mild ache.
The next day it gradually subsided and saturday morning I felt fine. So you can guess the mistake I made - yes more squats, again without issue.
That afternoon whilst walking around town the pain returned with a bang, and got substantially worse on the drive home. Once laid out on the sofa the pain became intermittent but still very painful. Pain killers and NSAIDS were used to help, but at times it was excruciating. By the time I went to bed I crawled up the first flight of stairs.
Yesterday morning the pain had pretty much gone, just a gentle ache which has remained through to today.
It's also probably worth noting that until recently I was suffering from lower back pain which has appeared to be cured by lots of 3D hamstring stretches. Could the 2 be linked?
Anyone got any ideas?
I'm going to stay well away from squats and any other lower body work for at least a week.
Is this a case of straight to the physio or will rest and stretching get me good results and save me money?
If I do need to be seen can anyone recommend me someone in manchester?

If the mods feel this is better suited in an existing thread please feel free to move it.

Ta Michael

[ZootHornRollo]

that's a real bag of symptoms there squire!

But it really does sound like sciatic pain. The lower back problem, the glute pain - it can also spread to the hip and down the leg too, I've had it. It can come and go, so sometimes excruciating (when the nerve is most irritated) and then it will subside for a bit.

So I'd consider a visit to the doc, or even better a physio, cos they can detect or rule out sciatic problems with a few easy manipulation tests.

[Mike T]

This could be a sciatica like problem. GP's advice needed. Avoid any back stress in the meantime.

[The devil's own]

Advice taken, appointment with physio this afternoon. Will report back when i know whats going on. Internet research suggests possible piriformis syndrome :thunbdown:
Hope I've caught it early enough to sort it out in a timely fashion.

[ZootHornRollo]

Internet research suggests possible piriformis syndrome :thunbdown:

Not saying it isn't - but I think this is pretty rare. And am not sure there would be any back pain involved if it was. Most sciatic pain seems to be caused by prolapsed discs.

But the symptoms differ according to which disc(s) are affected and other things like seated posture etc - so one person's sciatic pain can be very different to another's

i.e., some get pain down the leg, others don't; some don't get any lower back pain; but most get in the pain the glute.

I've had different sorts of pain at different times: at the moment it's in the sacroeliac (sp!?) area, i.e., rear pelvic / hip bone area.

[The devil's own]

Not saying it isn't - but I think this is pretty rare. And am not sure there would be any back pain involved if it was. Most sciatic pain seems to be caused by prolapsed discs.

Doesn't the piriformis attach to the tail bone and run over the sciatic nerve? If it's tight it puts increased pressure on the nerve causing the pain in the backside and pulls on the tail bone causing the back pain? I may well have misinterpreted what I've read though and thats why I thought it best to stop wasting time and get a professional opinion.

[zephr]

The piriformis is the only one of the 6 lateral rotators to actually attach to the sacrum. (tailbone) the rest attach to other bits of the pelvis. Yes, the piriformis does go across the sciatic nerve, and if it gets tight, or spasms, it can cause painful nerve issues.... this is not actually piriformis syndrome though, its just a tight piriformis giving you gyp on the sciatic nerve.
Piriformis syndrome, as ZHR says is pretty rare, and is actually an incidence of the sciatic nerve passing THROUGH the piriformis muscle- its genetic, and causes a lot of pain for a lot of the time.
So you can have sciatic pain from a tight piriformis without having piriformis syndrome.
The back pain could be coming from the glutes misfiring, it could come from the psoas being short and tight, it could be from a number of things....
but I suspect it wont be from the piriformis pulling on the sacrum- that might be a part of it, but that wont cause back pain.

It could well be a couple of other things- get stuff like a prolapsed disc etc ruled out and if necessary get some soft tissue work done.

[ZootHornRollo]

Doesn't the piriformis attach to the tail bone and run over the sciatic nerve? If it's tight it puts increased pressure on the nerve causing the pain in the backside and pulls on the tail bone causing the back pain?.

possibly eavesy, I dunno

I just seem to remember reading somewhere that the physiological quirk that causes piriformis is considerably rarer than worn-out discs - but I think a physio's tests can tell one apart from the other so yeah, you'll know soon enough

[The devil's own]

Thanks for all your replies and help. I'm glad I appear to be wrong about the piriformis syndrome. Might be a disc issue as you suggested ZHR. Wouldn't be surprised if the stretches I did to help my back just transferred the pain to somewhere else! I'll update this afternoon, and thanks to you all again.

[The devil's own]

Well been the physio and the primary culprit is a tight ITB, and secondary culprit is a tight piriformis. Had a good strong painful massage which helped and given some stretches to do, another appointment on friday for a massage and that should apparently be it.
2 weeks off squats and deadlifts then a reduction in weight when starting again. Route of my problems appears to be as a result of increasing weight by too much too soon, so won't be doing that again!

Apparently I put that much stress on it that it forced me to get treatment early and should therefore recover well and quickly, unlike if it had been a gradual build up as many runners suffer from.

So fingers crossed I'll be sorted soon :thumbup: