May be work, may be a bad day on the bike, I don’t know…
My lower back (very low, just above my butt) on the right side only feels badly pulled. Dull, annoying pain extends down into my butt and almost seems to work laterally to the outside of the knee.
What have I done? How can I help it?
t, Kai
Not sure what you did but find an ART guy. (Active Release Therapy)
Kinda sounds like you may have jacked up your Sciatic nerve. Good way to tell is to take off your shirt and stand in front of a mirror. If you feel like you are standing up straight but the image looking back at you is a little off kilter it’s probably the Sciatic.
Walking is always a good way to stretch it out. After you’ve warmed up a bit stretch the lower back by slowly trying to bring your chin to your chest. Try not to do any quick, jerking movements.
Trav
Possibly a pinched nerve. I have pinched them before in lower back, and get pain in side of lower back (but not attributable to a muscle), and the pain radiates down the leg. As mentioned, see a professional.
that sounds like me when my sciatica plays up…
doing “preztel” stretches:
helps, as well as laying on my back and hugging my knees into my chest. you can rock side to side slightly for a nice spine massage while you’re at it. also try crossing your legs (like you’re sitting cross-legged on the floor) and hugs knees to chest that way, plus the deep glute stretch:
and the “letter T stretch”:
good luck - cheers!
-mistress k
well, I stood straight in front of the mirror and indeed, stood straight (actually felt good)…
this is a pain in the ass (literally). Swim this AM was ok as long as I kept moving.
dull pain now from very low back (almost on top of butt), through butt to outside back of knee into lateral calf and upper ankle, getting worse. it does help to go out and do chores, but the moment I quit, it is back worse.
damn.
maybe i need a new bike, that would do it, wouldn’t it…i really want a Wilier roadie with a cool italian gruppo and silk tires.
Kai
You’re describing precisly what I’ve been experiencing which has been diagnosed as a herniated disc. However, mine came on with a resounding pop in the lower back and immediate, shooting pain down the front of my right leg and numbness down the outside of the thigh and down the front from the kneecap down. After a two week course of Prednisone to reduce swelling I still have some low back pain and the numbness from the kneecap on down. I also have a lot of weakness in the right leg, but it’s coming back slowly.
I didn’t know this, but you can herniate a disc without completely blowing it out. Swelling in the area will cause pressure on the nerves. Anti-inflammatory meds will ease the symptoms. Then it might correct on its own … or it might not. I’m still waiting to see which way mine’s going to go. It’s been very aggravating – especially as this came right as I was getting back to full strength after broken ribs/collapsed lung. It’s been a rough Spring.
.
now here’s the dumb ass part…just got back from the shed from looking at my bike.
yesterday, during the ride, I lowered the saddle just a tad (3mm or so), but with snot coming out of my nose and sucking air, I did not get it straight; I mean really not straight, more than an inch out of straight to the right. Hammered home with a crooked saddle about 20 miles fast. Never did notice as my whole body hurt anyway
I wonder if I wasn’t skewed to that side and farked a nerve or muscle.
dumbass…I still need an italian roadie though. I’ll get the saddle straight on it, i promise…
Kai
damn Bob, I remember the ribs/lung thing, sorry about the back.
you really should ride slower…maybe get a bell and a basket and some cards for the spokes…
Sciatica is a symptom, and if you are lucky, it’s just a overused piriformis, which is very cozy with the sciatic nerve. If the sciatica symtoms persist, get thee to a spine guy for an x-ray. I waited way too long suffering with piriformis pain which worsened into full blown sciatica before getting the xray, which showed a grade II spondylolisthesis, which is a slipped vertabrae (not the disc). The stretches posted here will relieve the spasms, but don’t wait too long before getting an xray, just to “rule out” some spinal issue.
Mr. G
Go get it check out. Better safe than sorry. I put up with nagging back problems for a while that had similar symptoms to yours, then within the course of a week they flared up and left me pretty much bedridden. I had to take six months off of work and had to have major back surgery. I barely even saw the outdoors last summer.
Everyone on ST may have best intentions and even great advice, but it is worth having a doctor examine you and diagnose your problem so you can deal with it before it becomes a bigger issue.
Good luck.
Boudreaux - among the possibilities, it’s sounds like you are describing what’s called radicular pain. That is, a problem involving one of the nerve roots in the lower lumbar spine where the pain/numbness follow the path of the nerve all the way to the foot.
Piriformis syndrome, on the other hand (aided by the stretches above) usually presents with pain a little lower in the buttock, and it rarely goes down the leg… I’ve had some folks describe it as where there butt joins their leg.
So, why not google the medical sites, look for pictures of a herniated disc at the L5-S1 level, and unless you have actual weakness, change in bowel or bladder function, etc., there’s no rush to get to the doc. Back off some, get out the ibuprofen, and see how it goes.
Knowledge is power, go look this up. And, good luck.
Thanks all; I have done the requisite research. Ain’t going to sweat this yet. Dollars to doughnuts I did this yesterday hammering the bike on a crooked saddle…
I can get relief by doing chores; I can swim and I might try to jog this eve.
I would wager I excited a nerve somehow as a piniformis injury would have to go a long way to compress the sciatic nerve (ain’t google scary?).
Much as I love hydrocodone I won’t call the Doc…
Same here. I dealt with what I thought was a piriformis or hamstring issue for 3 years before I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease and all the crap that goes with it. Had a 2 level microdiscectomy on Aug 4th and am finally back racing again. Still have weakness and some nerve pain in my left leg, but overall, daily pain is MUCH better.
I tried chiro, ART, massage, epidural injections and PT before finding the surgeon who told me I would run again. So far, so good!
Bottom line, get it checked out to exclude a back issue before you waste valuable time with other treatments that won’t help if it is.
G