be careful, I had a proper emg/nerve test done that showed I had a form of compartment syndrome or peroneal nerve entrappment. I took that report around to surgeons and had three unsuccesful leg operations for compartment syndrome. Not saying yours isn't compartment but I had the same symptoms and doctors also wanted to tell me it was compartment syndrome.
Hi,
In May'07 I began having right ankle pain for no apparent reason when swimming (kicking, pushing off walls) and during walking. Over time, the ankle pain developed on my left side. I finally fixed the ankle pain with PT...HOWEVER, as I went through PT my anterior tibialis, peroneus, and calf would begin to swell considerably (especially when standing on one leg). Now, I have no ankle pain, but my legs swell throughout the day and cause me considerable pain. They also hurt and swell while standing. I've been fitted with orthotics which helps the swelling (due to my big toe being stabilized) a little. The odd thing is if I run a mile or two, my legs begin to feel great. The next day there's no pain or swelling....HOWEVER, a few days later the pain and swelling come back ten fold...I know this doesn't sound like how typical compartment syndrome occurs, but my symptoms (swelling, pain, tightness) match exactly when the pain and swelling occur...If not compartment syndrome could this be some type of postural-loading bearing issue? Due to tight hamstrings? Etc? Thanks.
It is you glute medius muscle on your left and a weak glute max/tfl on right. your compartments syndrome is caused by your inability to properly support the body with you weak glute med.
I had my compartment syndrome test yesterday. I was unable to fully recreate my loss of muscle coordination symptoms on the clinic's treadmill. I believe this was because it was a therapeutic treadmill that is segmented and had give to it, rather than the majority of treadmills, which are a belt and hard (which would be most similar to the roads or track where I DO get my symptoms). Anyway, so I was pulled from the treadmill to just go ahead and do the test. The Dr. commented my calves were rather soft, so he said he would only test 1 compartment and not do the other 3 unless the first compartment ended up being a positive test. The reading on the first compartment was only 28, which he said was slightly above average, but nothing under 30 is considered a problem. So, he stopped there and did not test the other 3 compartments. So, I'm very glad the test was negative, but on the other hand, I don't feel it was that accurate/true of a test because on the bouncy treadmill, I never really recreated my symptoms...
Anyway, I wasn't that convinced going into the test that I had compartment syndrome, but I've considered everything else as it's been brought up, so I figured I should consider it too...
From here, I think I'm going to focus on getting help from the Dr. who diagnosed me with piriformis syndrome and just focus on getting my sciatic nerve to function properly while strengthening all those left leg muscles that have weakened over time due to the disfunction of the sciatic. I'll keep you all posted on what I learn/what helps...
Thinking back over your own timeline of when you injuries first began, how many of you can remember having an intramuscular shot in your gluts/butt prior to when you first noticed your loss of coordination problems???
Shot in the ass March 2001. Symptoms Sept 2001. Figured out March 2008...
http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/150366885.html
(the same article can be found on medscape, but you have to register to read it...)
"Of 190 patients with gluteal sciatic nerve injuries in one retrospective study, the injuries were caused by injection in 164 patients (86.32%)."
interesting
if this is the case it could get better as we get older.
This is an interview with Josh McDougal last night. He doesn't go into specifics, but it sounds like this track season he may be possibly experiencing something similar to what we all are.
Yes, it sure sounds like it could be the same thing. Hopefully he'll get it straightened out and we can learn from it.
when i run my left leg gets so tight i can not bend it.sort of like if i where to do pushups and only be able to bend my right arm and my left arm cant move.i think i found a cure.for several days now i have been only doing push ups on my left side.here is what i do i put 10-15 lbs on my back.i put 4 lb ankle weights on my right leg.i take a phone book and set it under my left foot.i start on a step.i step down (keeping my left foot on the phone book) with my right leg.i call this doing pushups with my left leg.my pelvis is shifting.my glute med is firing and some flexibility allowing the leg to slowly bend with weight.try it it might work
New interview with McDougal about his leg problem.
http://www.flocasts.org/flotrack/speakers.php?sid=89&vid=14544
He says his right leg is giving him problems, he mentions tightness and muscles not firing. Quads, hamstrings and glutes are affected.
All i can say is this has been giving me problems for 3 years and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
poor guy, shoe companies seem to put a lot of stock into trials performances. I am sure he will figure it out and I am glad he knows it's a muscle problem and doesn't do anything to drastic. He will be fine, but probably not the rest of this season. Mentally its going to wear him down.
papigr: Actually, no, it doesn't mean it will get better as we get older, rather it will get worse as more and more scar tissue is build up around the malfunctioning nerve, further limiting the strength of the signal the nerve can send.
Has anyone ever successfully found a way to get rid of this problem? If so, would you please be post and help us out.
I believe if you watch Joan in the trials you will see the exact same problem.Try the retro stairs.it is a glute med disfunction on the left.Our left side is so weak it cant keep up with the right.
This might have been stated earlier but I didnt get through all the posts,
In all the cases were there any blood clots found, or looked for?
Also any previous surgeries that could have damaged a nerve in the leg.
Hmm... no one has looked for blood clots in my hip/leg. As far nerve damage from surgery--- my sciatic nerve was not damaged by surgery, but rather by an intragluteal injection of a type of birth control called Depo Provera. Rather than take a pill everyday, you get a shot of progesterone in your hip that is good for 3months. I just finally got this diagnosis Feb 2008 after being misdiagnosed with simply a biomechanical problem since Sept 2001.
Many of the posters on this thread seem to be men rather than women, so other shots that could have caused your problems might be antibiotics, vaccines, or allergy meds. If you google sciatic nerve damage and intramuscular or intragluteal injection, you will find many studies that were done with children getting this injury from antibiotic injections, and many studies of Africans getting this injury from malaria vaccines. I have been unable to find much information on other groups.
As far as what do we do to treat our problem, assuming we are all pretty much talking about the same thing, I'm not sure. BUT, I think this thread is a great step in the right direction. I will continue to post all the treatments I have and am currently trying.
So yes, I have a biomechanical problem, but it's underlying cause is SCIATIC NERVE DAMAGE. Ultimately, it is very difficult to rebuild strength and balance in all the muscles everyone on this thread is talking about (gluts, hams, adductors, hip flexors, etc) because the damaged nerve cannot send the proper message to these muscles. That is why after 6 years of physical therapy and various exercises, I have been unable to "fix" my injury. However, now that I have found the root cause to the injury, I am hopeful I can find treatment for the damaged nerve and remove its scar tissue.
If this helps anyone... I've been told that the key to me kicking this injury will be whether or not I can clear out the old scar tissue around the nerve, and in the muscles the nerve innervates. So, I've continued doing all the traditional physical therapy-type exercises I've been given in the past, and have added in nerve gliding exercises, but ultimately, progress will be made when the scar tissue gets blown away. The scar tissue is made of adhesions that are like glue and cause the nerve to stick, rather than glide and function properly. Still trying to completely wrap my head around this, but that's how it was explained to me...
Anyway, so, to clear out the scar tissue:
*I'm doing 10:00/day of combo stim and ultrasound across the piriformis and sciatic trigger points. This should be pretty intense--- really get the muscle thumping. It should be uncomfortable, but not painful.
*I've had a couple massage appts, both deep tissue and ART to grind away on the piriformis.
***BUT BY FAR THE BEST treatment I've had since all this came to light in Feb, is with a DMS machine--- Deep Muscle Stimulator, hold the jokes. Believe me, I was skeptical at first, thinking it was just another gimmick. But, I have to say I am a big fan now. I got IMMEDIATE relief from the first session. For example, I get this weird tightness in the midfoot of my bad leg. It feels like something is caught, like a bone spur, or that I need to crack my foot. But, my doc said this feeling is because of the nerve problem. It is chronic and I feel like when running, my left foot strikes the ground like a club foot. I do not get smooth movement out of that foot. Well, my very first run about 90min after the first DMS treatment, my foot tightness was gone and I could plant my foot smoothly. It felt just as normal as the right. It had intermittantly returned off and on, but now after repeat DMS treatments, I have not had the foot tightness in over 2 weeks @80mpw. I'm not sure how to describe it, but I could feel this deep resonating in my hip when the DMS machine went over tight spots in my piriformis and sciatic trigger points. The sciatic nerve lies pretty far beneath the piriformis and is difficult for manual therapists to reach--- either through deep tissue, ART, etc. But this DMS machine can hit it---- it felt uncomfortable, but tolerable. It vibrates at high frequencies equivalent to sound waves so that the waves can travel deep into the muscles. I have extremely poor external rotation on my left (bad) hip. For example, if I lay on my stomach with my knees bent with my feet together in the air, I can barely bend out my left ankle away from the right. After the very first DMS treatment, I went from about 10degrees of rotation, to about 40degrees. It immediately loosened up that hip.
I never got checked out for blood clots, but I remember asking a PT about that possibility and she said that blood clots are associated with pain, so it wouldn't have been a clot.
I don't think anyone else on this thread has ever mentioned blood clots.
I am two years into this now and still can't run more than 2 miles on the track before it kicks in.
I'm down to 2 laps on the track and it kicks in. :-(