Went to my tri club track workout for my first speed/track work of the season. Warmed up–streched…then off we went. 12 Repeat 440’s. Great workout…but this morning…ouch. Right at the top of my hamstring/bottom of the Glute. Having a hard time walking with a full stride. I use a foam roller and strech daily. Can’t ice this area as it is a deep sort of pain. Any ideas for rehab? I have a Sprint race this Sunday. Any runners out there that have dealt with this before?
Most likely culprit is the piriformis muscle deep inside your glutes. I have this problem daily and what I do is; 3 x per day, use tennis ball as a pinpoint massage on the muscle. I sit directly on the tight area with the ball and slowly let the tennis ball absorb the weight. Use this stretch to loosen up hip flexors, and stretch the piriformis directly
Just stretching the hamstrings is not enough to offset the tightness, I needed to add this stuff in every day as maintenance. If you are not careful it will start to affect your sciatic nerve causing numbness all the way to your feet.
You have piriformis syndrome by the sounds of things and if you don’t rest up and get it looked at it could become chronic and become a much bigger pain in the ass than you’ll ever imagine.
The piriformis is a small muscle deep in your butt that the sciatic nerve runs through, its actually part of the hip flexor group. Irritation of this pesky little piece of flesh is common among runners.
I had it a couple of years ago and had to take a full monthy off from running. If you have any discomfort there at all DONT RUN, YOU WILL MAKE IT MUCH WORSE. If you irritate this little bastard to the point that it becomes chronic it will never heal and you could end up with sciatic nerve issues.
The foam roller is your friend, also get a baseball or soft ball and sit on it…right on the sore spot and roll it around…3 times a day. Ice twice a day. Advil 3 times a day. Most importantly get some deep tissue massage…or active release therapy…this hurts like you wouldn’t imagine but its the only way to get through all the fat on your butt to work on the irritated area.
I went to the Sports Medicine Institute at Stanford and they were excellent. If you’re in the bay area I recommend them highly.
If I’m right and it is your piriformis I wouldn’t race this weekend, you’ll regret it for a loooong time.
Erik and Matt,
Thanks for the advise. Will continue to with my foam roller and will add the tennis ball as well. The picture of the strech posted looks like a good one to do…will give it a try as well. Thanks again.
Mark