Bizarre sciatic pain in hamstring - no lower back pain?

Before I fork out for a PT (GP is completely useless), has anyone else had any experience with the following symptoms:

After a tough HM, felt tired but nothing out of the ordinary for the rest of the day, or the next day. The third day after the race, started to notice a sharp, nerve-y stabbing pain in the back of my hamstring on my left leg, which alternated between being dead centre at the back, and more towards the back of the knee. Sitting down and doing nothing, there is no pain. The pain comes when walking, at the point where the affected leg plants on the ground, and is most severe at the point where the foot pushes off the ground as part of the walking stride. Walking with a limp is manageable (but painful), but walking up sets of stairs is awful. Sometimes there is some accompanying achey pain deep in the glute. I can only describe the hamstring pain as “stabbing” – it is a severe, sharp, nerve pain. NSAIDs help a great deal.

The following is almost certainly related:

After a hard session, I have often found I get a similar pain sitting at my desk. Again, it feels ‘nervy’, and comes on with the slightest movement of my leg in the wrong direction while seated. The pain starts around the kneecap, and feels like a crackling electric shock going down the front of my shin. It is very uncomfortable but only lasts a second. It is most likely to come on when I have been sitting down for a while (I have a desk job, and sit for at least 8-9 hours a day).

From what I can gather, if it was anything disc-related I would probably know about it (and I don’t have any accompanying back pain). I have read about piriformis syndrome but the description of it doesn’t sound quite right – for one thing the pain in my glute region isn’t that bad at all, and piriformis stretches don’t relieve the hamstring pain at all. I am fairly sure my sciatic nerve is being impinged in some way but none of my initial consultations with Dr Google seem to fit the bill.

Very grateful for your collective wisdom.

no dr but I had about a 5 year stretch of back issues, nerve issues and 2 back surgeries. You are wasting your time googling anything. only way to find out for sure what’s going on is to spend the $ and go to the dr.

Brings back bad memories. I was having severe pain issues in the back of my left leg, pain was always there, couldn’t sleep, sitting was impossible. After a couple of years of putting off surgery with other treatments, dr finally wanted to do surgery. He said he had to do a procedure the day before though, don’t remember what it was called but he basically described it by saying it’s really going to hurt but it’s necessary to pinpoint the areas that are causing the nerve pain. He said they basically have to inject or load my disc to make them push against the nerves.

Wasn’t allowed to take pain meds that night due to the fact that they would put me to sleep for surgery the next morning. He was 100% correct, he brought the pain!!! I cried like a baby that night!

Step one. Get an MRI. Then you know if it’s a disk issue.

It’s tight and inflamed. Massage to release the muscle. Pay a pro or get a lacrosse ball. The deeper the better. Keep stretching. I would not ignore piriformis. Hit that too. Stretch that too. Always both sides (ie, even the side without symptoms). This should be part of regular body maintenance, not something done only when things flair up. Good luck.

I have suffered from some sciatica issues for a few years, comes and goes. Mine is typically in the upper hamstring and is tight/stiff following runs and long periods of sitting. After years of just living with it I went to a sports chiropractor who after making sure I didn’t have a disc issue started doing some range of motion work and stretches to move and break up scar tissue along the nerve sheath. Provided I stay diligent with my range of motion and stretching it doesn’t cause me any issues. The overall cause I can’t get rid of because it’s work related.