Piriforis? Strained gluteus maximus?

I should add that I have NOT been running for the past four or five days.

anyone out there that has been in a similar situation?

here is where the pain is mainly, almost like a spasm

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/5571/71439524.png

thanks!

its piriformis, its the top of muscle of your 6 outward rotators, muscles behind your glutes. This muscle and your superior gemellus (the 5th rotator) hold the sciatic nerve in place, like the sciatic never runs between the two. It is possible that you have strained one of them causing tension and squeezing on your sciatic nerve which could be causing the problems

If the pain is where the green dot is (and not the arrow) it is probably not a problem with the piriformis. The piriformis is lower than the dot and pretty deep. From past experience I can say that problems with the piriformis are a literal pain in the ass, not in the lower back.

Your "upper right QUAD" would be your vastus lateralis.

Quadriceps include:

Rectus Femoris

Vast Lateralis

Vast Medialis

Vast Intermedius

Those 4 muscles together act as hip flexors and also knee extensor.

The TFL is a little different. It's located much more on the side of your thigh and aids in leg abduction. If you are worried about your TFL, I would try laying on the side that you HURT, so that your unaffected leg is facing towards the ceiling. Try 5-6 leg abductions. How do they feel? Can you feel a normal contraction in your hip/glute?

Now switch so you are lying on the unaffected side with the "hurt" leg pointed towards the ceiling. Try 5-6 more leg abductions. Does this feel better or worse? If worse, you may have strained your TFL or have ITband inflammation. What does the pain feel like when you are running?

Also, WHERE in your glute do you feel a "spasm"? The green dot or where the arrow is? The green dot is not where your piriformis is. That's more your glute medius/lower back. It's also close to where your SI joint is. You might try icing this area. Diagnosing glute and lower back pain is a lot more difficult than it sounds. Your best bet is to see someone who is hands on in terms of Physical Therapy/Chiro work.

Active Release Technique is extremely beneficial for unexplained pain/discomfort such as the one you are describing. It's also even a good way to help diagnose underlying problems. The tough part is doing the research and seeing someone who is GOOD at ART versus just giving a therapeutic massage. Seek someone out who has both their Chiro cert and PT and is certified in ART.

I've fought piriformis syndrome a few times and for me the pain is exactly where the green dot it. It's referred pain due to the sciatic getting pinched and can actually be felt anywhere from the knee to the hip. I treated it like this:http://www.healthynewage.com/sciatica-pain-relief.htm

mr wrote:

If the pain is where the green dot is (and not the arrow) it is probably not a problem with the piriformis. The piriformis is lower than the dot and pretty deep. From past experience I can say that problems with the piriformis are a literal pain in the ass, not in the lower back.

Don't mean to burst your bubble but I had left TFL pain that I ran through for a couple of weeks and ended up fracturing the right side of my sacrum. So basically I had the exact same symptoms you describe... and I think compensating for the TFL strain caused me to get a stress fracture in my right sacrum.

I had glute spasms/pain in the upper glute, right where it connects to the lower back near the SI joint. If I were you I would stop running and get an MRI as soon as possible, if you catch it early you may have a stress reaction and not a complete fracture and therefore less recovery time.

Of course it may not be a fracture, but your situation was pretty much identical to mine which is why I believe it is the same injury.

Wow I did not realize that this thread actually got some replies. Thanks for the input everyone.

Turns out the spot I posted turned out to be a muscle that went into spasm most likely from the exercises I was doing. My butt pain has subsided substantially but now I believe it to be a Psoas issue so I am doing general strength including core work and Psoas specific work. I believe it is Psoas because the major pain I have now is a sharp pain above my right butt on my lower back. I also noticed my adductors by my groin were sore on both sides but they are getting better.

I also should say I don't have any pain that goes down the leg. The IT band issues started to quickly go away once I started doing pirformis stretches and psoas stretches.

For the Psoas I am doing:

The Sink Stretch - leaning again wall that goes to hip, leaning back upper body while keeping legs straight for about 2 seconds, doing that 20 reps for 2 sets.

Backward Bridge "Air-Humps" - lie on my back with knees bent somewhat to chest, then pushing my hip in the air and holding for 10 seconds for 10 reps, 2 sets

Hip flexor dynamic stretch - put one foot in front of the other and then lean forward then back towards the outside knee, 10 reps and 2 sets

Slowly seems to be getting better but I only just realized the whole Psoas thing yesterday so I hope that this is it.

What do you all think?

What makes you so sure it is a psoas issue? The fact is that it is extremely hard to diagnose lower back/glute problems accurately without imaging or a respectable doctor. Does your glute pain get progressively worse when you run or does it loosen up and feel better?

Pics?

I'm pretty sure you either have a sprained SI joint or a sacral stress fracture. Your muscle spasms are not a result of your exercises... your glute muscles are spasming to protect the bone or ligament damage in your pelvis/lower back. You won't be able to know until you get an MRI. I would go see a doctor if it's not better in a week and suggest imaging right away

Well, I don't know that it is Psoas. I am hoping I suppose that it is not something worse.

My glutes has gotten a lot better and the pain is basically gone now, it used to really hurt to take a tennis ball to my glutes but now it is waybetter and I have not run on it ever since the first signs of injury (my IT bands tightening up at first which led to a bit of knee pain for a day).

I'm planning on taking another week or two off, should I stay off the bike and away from the pool to case of the possibility of any type of SF of SI joint problem? How about weights? Because I started doing them this week with my exercises in hopes to add some overall strength.

I think your plan to take a week or two break from running is good. Since your injury is not diagnosed yet I would go ahead and do anything that doesn't hurt. If it hurts, you are aggravating the injury and dealing healing. After a week or two of rest you can try running again but if it still hurts significantly it might be time to see a doctor and consider an MRI or bone scan. If its basically gone by then you know you are good to go

Psoas

From everything you described, I would guess your psoas is in spasms. This is a very common overuse injury from running.

Here is a stretch that has really helped me over the years. Go to the bottom of the page.

http://www.julstro.com/what_happens_exactly.html

Thanks speedstar and ripvanracer, I will take a little bit more time off and then add some pool/bike into the equation. I also have been doing that Psoas stretch that you posted (the one on the bottom of the page on the link) and I think it has been helping. I feel that pain when I flex my lower back during the exercise.

I will keep you guys posted! Any more input on what I can do during my rest period?

Try some of these stretches. It worked for me.

http://honkbonkman.blogspot.com/2010/12/piriformis-syndrome.html