just to say last week i read on the forum that one of our members was going to phisio for buttock pain, this is the only pain i have left. after reducing pred and it didnt seem to be moving, so thought if phisio helps i will try it on my own first, so i started buttock scrunching. a bit like pelvic floor exersises but srunching the buttocks really hard. i have been doing this for nearly a week. though it was painfull at first as i was using muscels i didnt know i had. but i am glad to say it is much better not completly gone so far but it is better, ssso i will continue for a while longer to see if it goes completely
That's interesting. I had it one-sided last week - too much sitting probably and we hadn't been out walking every day as usual as it was wet - it has improved but I'll try that next time!
Just shows that almost anything is worth trying, luckily I am currently ok in that area but will keep your advice in mind.
Get the most awful and disabling sciatica/piriformis on right side most of the time. Wondering if 'buttock crunching' could help. Excuse ignorance but how do you do it? Most of the time it goes after I have taken my meds and a Tramadol and Paracetamol in the morning, (must try the 2am approach). I am an 82 yr.old male! Both knees replaced 12 yrs. ago so limited bending, PMR 3 1/2 yrs. 15mg. reducing with Eileens recipe, now 12 1/2. 11 1/2. SLOWLY-SLOWLY. After so many false starts with the attendant 'flare'.
Links to pictures/diagrams could help.
Cheers.
Janda
Janda - I suppose it would be the same sort of muscle tensing action you would use to stop the feeling you needed to go to the toilet when there wasn't one available. Contract your buttock muscles and then release them several times.
Have you heard of Bowen therapy? I and a couple of others have used that to deal with severe piriformis/sciatica pain with great success. It is a very gentle therapy and a good therapist will tell you you will know after a maximum of 3 sessions if it is going to help - most people get relief after a single approx.1 hour session. It isn't as cheap as the NHS - but it can work miracles.
If you google "Joanne Hewitt Bowen" you should get a link to this lady's site where she explains the history of Bowen therapy and how it is done. I don't imagine you would have the luck to be close to her practice in County Durham - but I can promise that she says nothing on that site that isn't true!
On a lighter note - did you know one cause of piriformis syndrome in men is sitting on their wallet in their back pocket? It is an advantage of manbags...
Hit the bottom of the barrel with that one Eileen, i think I will have to get a mankini as there is nowhere to put a wallet.
Pauline, yes keep on doing the buttock scrunching. I just did mine this morning....2 reps. 10 times -- hold time 5 seconds. There is also the abdominal draw-in. It does help.....and it might take days or weeks to get better.
Just a quick word in addition. I also suffer from buttock pain. Eileen suggested some time ago that it could be piriformis syndrome and my pain physio confirmed this. She advised buttock clenching and I do find it helps especially on long car journeys. My point is though, I find it much better to clench alternate buttocks one then the other. even though most of the pain is on the right side. If I do both together, it hurts my thighs the next day. Don't know why this should be but thought it might help you to avoid even more pain!
thanks debbi for your help i do both and seperate so desperate to be shut of the pain. but as i said earlier this is the only pain i have now after
20 month on pred. just hope its on its way out now downe to2 mg
Trying this has just made me giggle!
If you're feeling down - try individual buttock crunches! Whether you have piriformis syndrome or not...
Wish I had a wallet to blame but as an impoverished pensioner just cannot afford one. Keep my pittance in my wifes purse! Maybe after 3 plus years of pred my muscles have wasted to the extent that piriformis muscle is impinging on sciatic nerve, any thoughts about that?
Thanks all for the advice, especially about the 'Bowens' procedure. I have looked into it and cannot find one close enough to me at this time but will continue to look. Am also going to try to find a 'good' phsio to cover my bases (no pun intended).
Incidentally, I have a skin condition called Bowens Disease, which is the precurser to skin cancer, the dermatologist freezes them off with liquid nitrogen.
Thanks all for the input.
Cheers.
Janda
I'm just waiting for my first pension payment - which will be paid into my husband's account since I don't have one here in Italy (far too expensive to run one if you don't need it). It will be the first regular income for me since we moved here - I did continue my translating business but the "crisis" put the mockers on that and it cost more to be registered to work than I was earning!
I think the usual problem with the piriformis/sciatic nerve is that in some people the nerve actually runs THROUGH the muscle group. Any problem with the muscle can irrititate the nerve and when it is fed up enough it shouts out! In some cases a good sports massage therapist will sort it out. The local medical massage therapist where I lived in Germany was also the physio for the local football team - boy, could he deal with spasmed muscles!!! Really missed that when I went back to the UK - and it was all on the health service too!
Therapy for all parts!
I think I will mention a possible problem with the piriformis/sciatic nerve to my therapist today. It does feel like that a nerve is pinched on the right side of my buttock depending how I move and especially when I stand up. I am glad that I can walk better.
It is good to do all the research with the help of my support group friends!! :-)
I have buttock pain too and want to give scrunchjing a try but as i am sat (in bum pain) reading these posts i wondered do we do them sat down or stood up !
It is easier standing I would think but I doubt it matters a lot!
My therapist told me to sit on a tennisball (not soft surface like a couch) for about 2 minutes at a time a few times a day. I did, and one can actually feel the spasmed and sore muscles in the right buttock. She confirmed Sacroiliacitis, and her treatment has improved my walking which was painful. I also had some pelvic misalignment.
She had not heard of Bowen Thrapy, but what she is doing must be close to this type of therapy.
I doubt it Erika - they don't apparently do very much with Bowen! If no one explained anything to you you would probably leave thinking it was an absolute con trick. You lie on a couch, usually starting on your front, fully clothed, and the therapist runs her hands across various muscle groups/attachments. Some therapists will do much firmer movements with patients they know or who have had a fair amount of experience with Bowen before. I knew where she is working but rarely felt anything while she was doing it - on occasions I did though. I often felt something change - although I couldn't explain the feeling. At the end of a treatment I felt quite tired and sometimes light headed - despite having done nothing apparently for the last hour! But the effect was real enough I promise.
I wonder if there is a film of it on the internet - I'll have a look.
Right! There are loads of videos on youtube.
If you google "Bowen therapy youtube" you will get a pile of links and I found this one:
"Introduction to Bowen therapy by Mitchell Mosher" was a particularly good explanation of what he felt at his first experience and he then goes on to demonstrate what he does in a treatment plus a short talk about an actual patient he had had with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. It lasts 13mins.
To the uninitiated it may sound a bit strange. Having had it done to me I can only say that it did something for me that was worth every penny I paid. I didn't have the dramatic results he describes, it took a couple of sessions - but the effect was pretty much as good.
Have a look.
Thank you for your explanation. I will check out the Bowen Therapy youtube. Another session with the female therapist today and her massaging hurts. I feel that she is knowledgeable. She says she has done this for 12 years and sees patients with the problem I have daily.