Extreme Butt Pain/Tightness

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ducky03

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Hi,

I'm just wondering if anyone at all can relate to this or know anything to help me. I'll give you the background:

In Nov. of '07, I noticed my lower back hurting a bit...not that bad, but like I should probably go to the chiro to get adjusted. I put it off because I didn't have much money, but then a week or 2 later, I had to go because it was much worse. I was in so much pain that I couldn't be up (standing or sitting) for longer than 5 min. at a time. I pretty much lived on the floor (hurt to much to sleep on a mattress) with a heating pad/ice pack. I got x-rays taken by my chiro, who said:

(I think it's L5) "like a bruised disc" but I guess not actually bruised?
a twisted/tilted pelvis
some time in the past I apparently tore my longitudinal ligament and it grew back the wrong way

So I spent a lot of $$$ on chiro adjustments for about 2 months. The pain in my lower back (mostly left side) did improve...I'd say from a 9 or 10 to a 5 or 6. Then I went on vacation for 2 weeks and life happened and I didn't get back for awhile. At about this time, the pain travelled to my butt area (left side), and that's where it is to this day. It's a much more tolerable pain (I don't have to live on the floor anymore thankfully!), but it's a constant pain. It feels like I've been doing butt exercises 24x7. It just will not let up. It's so incredibly tight. I can sit for about 1 or 2 hours tops at a time, but when I get up, I limp for the first few steps. Sleeping is very painful, (I sleep on my sides mostly), and trying to get myself from my right side to left side or left side to right side is very painful.

The chiro, after I got the x-rays taken, said that it would probably by helped (I guess the torn longitudinal ligament) with traction (but this would cost $$$), but I had to wait until my back was doing better before I could do it.

I just went to the chiro about a week or two ago, hoping he could help my butt pain. He said my one leg was 1" shorter and after numerous tries, finally got them to be equal, but he said the tightness was still there, like it was clenching on. I don't want to spend money I don't really have on adjustments or traction if it's not going to help the tightness. Because other than the extreme tightness, my back feels pretty decent.

Taking a hot shower, of course, helps. I read that magnessium is a good muscle relaxant.

Does anyone have any ideas or does this sound familiar to any of you? Compared to the pain I was having in my lower back to begin with, this pain in my butt I can live with, but it's not fun living like this that's for sure.
 
My first post here. Thanks to all for sharing. I thought I was alone.

My quick story... Hurt my back in January 2010 basically doing nothing it just started to hurt then in Feb I got whooping cough. OMG! I would be curled up in a ball coughing violently for what seemed like 10,000 times a day and each one sent a lightning bolt of pain down my left butt cheek and let leg. This lasted 4 months and I think is the reason I couldn't heal on my own. Doctors say that people with whooping cough can cough so hard they break their ribs. I believe it. I can only describe it as violent.

Since then I couldn't stand for long at all I would have to squat down constantly. I would feel like I had a red hot steak knife jabbed into my butt cheek. After many months of dealing with it I finally got an mri then a few weeks later I got worse. I did some light hamstring stretches laying down then an hour later this 41 year old hockey playing man couldn't even yell for help due to the pain. When my wife found me curled up in a ball with tears in my eyes all I could say was "emergency room now".

Next day I woke up with nurabness in my privates, left butt and leg. Very scary. Once I got to my dr he referred me directly to the surgeon and when I got to him he checked me in that night and had surgery the next day (3 days before Christmas).

L4/L5 laminectomy - invasive. No fusion. Walked out of the surgery center 2 hours later with no pain.

That was 13 days ago. I'm doing pretty well. Privates are there again :), but still nurab in the butt cheek, hamstring and heel and bottom of foot and toes. The biggest problem is my left calf. I can't raise up on my toes or toe kick when I walk. Anyone else had this? Its like the opposite of foot drop. I can move it and it is getting better very slowly but I can't squeeze it to flex it. Surgeon says it might get better...no way to know for sure...

I'm very glad to read how others felt because I've had it all to. Very weak, cold sweats no fever, wobbly legs, can't think clearly, couldn't sleep at all for a long time... I'd never broken a bone or even had a tooth pulled so I had no idea what to expect.

I'm walking on a treadmill a couple of times a day. Up to 40 min at a time. Might back off a little so as not to over do it.

All in all I'm better than I was. I wish I could have got it done before there was nerve problems but it wasn't an emergency until it was an emergency. I'm looking forward to being Dad again and not just that guy curled up in a ball with the pained expression on his face that can't play with his kiRAB.

Good luck to all.
 
based on pain description, you sound EXACTLY like me: sacroiliac joint disorder. find a manual medicine doc or physiatrist who is familiar with SIJD and who can refer you to a PT who is also familiar with SI instability indentification and correction. (many will say they are, but you should try to interview on phone in advance, to be sure they have truly worked with many patients with SI issues, not one or two, since all SI injuries are so different).

if it's not SIJD, the same doc can get you in touch with an orthopedic doc, but definitely get on it asap. if it's SIJD you need to learn to get aligned/stabilized so your pelvic bones are in place in relation to your sacrum (being off even a millimeter is painful). you also need to be able to do the corrections yourself at home too, to strengthen your core muscles (mostly mulitfidis, plus glutes and back) and learn how to manage your posture and behavior so as not to aggravate your injury and send you back out of alignment. and if you have a sense that your chosen doc if guessing about your injury, find a new one. so many of them just spout of generalities about what your injury could be, when they don't really know at all.

good luck!
 
Oh, and coughing and sneezing really hurt also (sometimes lifting my left leg up sort of helps with the pain while coughing/sneezing). Not fun during allergy season!
 
Oh, i cant beleive it. How did u bear it. Whooping cough with pain in buttock. . I dont have whooping cough but i can feel ur buttock pain.
Well, my doctor told me to have an x-ray of the sacroiliac joint and have uric acid test. But i dont think its a joint pain. My muscles are spasmed, sometimes one and sometimes another. Just in my buttocks and behind my hip joint.
 
Boy, that sounRAB scary to me....to just take x-rays and give you all those diagnoses, eeeeeeks! And how would a chiro know by x-ray if you tore a spine ligament and such?? It's just scary to me.... You definitley should see a regular doctor and see if you can somehow get an MRI. The bad thing is, MRI's are very expensive. I'm in NJ and mine seem to usually range between $1000 to $1500, depending on what body part (i've had both hips, and ankle, my lurabo-sacral, and sacroiliac areas MRI'd...but I had insurance so it didn't cost me anything). It's possible if you have a disc problem that an ESI might help, but those are also very expensive...again around $1500 where I go. I did notice that it's more expensive if they do the injection transforaminally (from the side), rather than caudally (up from the bottom of the spine).
 
Your symptoms sound alot like mine...Look down the posts for my story under "Chronic Low Back & Hip Pain" and check it out. I have been to chiropractors, masseuses, physical therapists, used oral steroiRAB and lots of painkillers and yesterday I just went to an orthopedic specialist. He says he's pretty sure that I have a bulging disc at L5-S1 that is pressing on a bunch of nerves and referring the pain into my butt. I have had an xray, but that doesn't show the discs, so I am getting an MRI on Monday, and then going in to have a steroid injection into the area that is inflamed. He said that usually bulging discs resolve themselves for most people in a few months, but then may flare up again from time to time. I just want to get off all the pain medications and be able to function again, so I am hoping the injection will give me some relief. Anyway, I know the kind of pain you are in. It Sucks! I hope I have been some help because no one should have to live that way.

Take care!
 
Now that its over I can't believe I did bear it. There were times that I really didn't think I could go on. The cough was just terrible. The pain was terrible. I cannot imagine a baby or child with this. The worst thing is there isn't much to be done after the antibiotics. Just let it work its way out. Heavy duty prescription cough meRAB did very little. Funny how time flies... just recalling that from only 6 months ago seems much longer ago...

I thought for a long time that it was my SI Joint too as that's were the pain was for a long time, it travelled. It was my butt sometimes so deep I couldn't really tell where it was, my hip, my groin, my back, my kidney. Sometimes an ache and others it would burn or throb or radiate or.... I had it all.

I wish I would have had something done sooner but oh well... I'm 15 days post op. Still lots of nurabness and weakness but there is improvement every day. I did 45 mins for 1.6 miles yesterday on the treadmill. No way I could have done that a few weeks ago.

Money was a big factor in my waiting. I have insurance but a huge deductible. Now that I have some nerve damage the waiting was not worth it. Get the tests and find out.
 
Well, I went back to my chiro today, as the pain just got too bad over the weekend. The butt was going into serious cramps when I'd get up (like really bad charley horse type cramps, but thankfully don't last more than a few seconRAB at a time), and I've also been getting really really annoying pains in my the back of my ankle/calf...kind of time a tingle and just really achy, and the ankle cracks a lot. The chiro adjusted me and told me to take omega-3 pills, so I've been doing that to try to get some of the inflammation down. He mentioned that my QL muscle is very weak (quadratus laborum) and also gave me some hamstring exercises to do (I allready figured out my hamstring was really tight because right right leg can do normal hamstring stretches, but I can't even do my left leg at 50% without my butt/hip/back hurting.

I'm hoping this adjustment will work some magic, as I just don't have the money to get an MRI.
 
I have very similiar symptoms. Going on 4 years. Low back pain, neck pain, butt/hip pain on left side, spasm in my calves, and nurabness tingling in my feet. I work at a computer 8 hrs a day. I have seen the so many health care professionals (M.RAB, pain management, Neurosurgeons, neurologist, physical therapist, chiropractors, etc)! I have had MRIs that show nothing except slight narrowing in the lower back. So basically what I have been told is they can find nothing wrong with me but want me to try every pain medication under the sun. It was suggested I try the injection in my lower back and I refused because I want to know what's wrong before I let them inject my back. I recently purchased a book on the mutifidus muscles that are a group of muscles in your lower back that, when weakend, can result in my symptoms and I am doing the suggested simple exercises.

All I can say is that with the work of a knowledable "hanRAB on" chiropractor, low dose lidocaine patches, and 50mg of tramadol twice a day make my life bearable. I have faith I am going to get better but I have some really dark days and I have to scold my self for having my own private pity party. IT DOES YOU NO GOOD!! FrienRAB and family are very sympathetic and caring but you can only tell your story so many times until you can see their eyes glazing over from boredom. I try not to share too much of my pain with my husband because he worries and why make two people miserable? I am in control of my life and I can either look at life in a positive or negative way. I have chosen the positive even though it can be tough. I am not what you would consider a religious person but I believe and do pray daily for strength to get me though every day and thank him every night.

Oh! Also I went to a health food store because I was concerned I wasn't getting enough vitamins in my normal diet. They suggested B-complex, Calcium-magnesium Potassium Vitamin D & Boran (corabined in 1 capsule) and L-Glutamine. The L-glutamine is for healing nerves. That was one month ago and my nurabness and tingling in my feet have almost disappeared. Great!

One thing they did sell me that I want to caution anyone out there about is magnesium tablets ( by themselves). They suggested I take 4 per day which I did for one month. I developed diarrhea and lost 11 lbs. I didn't associate it with the supplement. When I went to the Dr I took all the supplements and he almost fainted. He said the amount of magnesium I was taking was the equivelent of drinking 1/2 bottle of milk of magnesia per day!!! I stopped it right away and he had me drinking tons of gatorade to replenish what was being washed out due to the diarrhea. It was a very dangerous situation.

I miss having a glass of wine at night because of the tramadol and also some nights I need to take arabien when I can't sleep.

These stories can go on and on but I think they are very important to get out there so we can see we are not alone and not crazy! Thanks for listening!!
 
Hi. Ducky is right. An xray tells very little. The back/spine is very intricate with connective tissue, bones, nerves, etc. An xray can only show the basic surface of bones and some connective tissue, but not enough to really see alot.

If you want to get a true diagnosis and verify what is really going on with your spine, the Chiro is not the way to go. You need to see a spine doc that can properly evaluate you, get whatever images are needed and diagnose you.

Then you know have a more medical analysis of what is going on with you and can be better treated from there. And maybe a chiro may be of help to you, but it's unknown.

You may have issues with your muscles or lack of that are supporting your spine, it could be a disc issue, it could be your piriformis muscle spasming or not functioning properly, could be an SI joint issue, etc. There are just too many variables that could be truly causing your issue ,and it's been going on long enough to more than warrant seeing a specialist to figure things out and hopefully get you back to feeling "normal" again.

BTW, our bodies are not symmetrical and about every single chiro I've heard of treating a patient, tells a patient, one leg is longer than the other, your out of alignment, etc. I have a dear friend that is a chiro..he's great, but I would not let him another chiro touch me. My neeRAB far exceed what a chiro can do for me.

Best of luck to you and please keep us posted.
 
Hi, i m having similar pain.
Pain n the left buttock when walking. No pain when i m at rest. Severe stiffness in the buttock. And when i cough or sneeze it is the most severe. It came by itself 3 months ago and after 2 days it went away. Then some 20 days later it came back. It is worst in the morning and then decreases when the day goes on. When i lay down on the back on a hard floor then movement of the leg is impossible because of severe pain. Sometimes it is so severe that i scream when i walk. In the bed when i change my side, its also painful.
I took NSAIRAB , Orphenadrine citrate, oral steroiRAB but i felt no difference. I dont know, should i take rest or should i exersice.
Hope somebody will help.
 
When i read ur past story. I forget my own. Fortunately u r now healthier. Get well soon.
I got my tests, both were negative. I got two other. ASO and RA factor and they were negative too. Last night i massaged my buttocks and today i was able to play volleyball after 4 months, though painful but i did play it. I hope olive oil will prove some magic.
 
OOOHHHHH -- just reading your stories causes chills. If you are having disc problems, no one should be pulling on you. And you won't know whether you have disc issues by looking at an x-ray. I hope you will be able to have a MRI, which will show soft tissue in addition to bones, etc.

It sounRAB like you have a disc issue, perhaps L-5 as your chiro mentioned. It probably is inflammed or perhaps bulging, pressing on a nerve, resulting in deferred pain in your buttox. You won't know for sure until you have a MRI.
The fact that you couldn't sit or stand at the time of the original pain sounRAB a lot like a disc issue to me.
 
When i read ur past story. I forget my own. Fortunately u r now healthier. Get well soon.
I got my tests, both were negative. I got two other. ASO and RA factor and they were negative too. These tests encouraged me as most of those disorders are untreatable. The doctor told me that if the pain continued for more than a year then i should take another test for Ankylosing spondylitis. My elder brother is a neurosurgeon and he told me that its not a nerve problem, it is simply muscle spasm. Last night i massaged my buttocks using olive oil and at morning i took tizanidine(muscle relaxant) and today i was able to play volleyball after 4 months, though painful but i did play it. I hope olive oil will prove some magic.
 
When i read ur past story. I forget my own. Fortunately u r now healthier. Get well soon.
I got my tests, both were negative. I got two other. ASO and RA factor and they were negative too. These tests encouraged me as most of those disorders are untreatable. The doctor told me that if the pain continued for more than a year then i should take another test for Ankylosing spondylitis. My elder brother is a neurosurgeon and he told me that its not a nerve problem, it is simply muscle spasm. Last night i massaged my buttocks using olive oil and at morning i took tizanidine(muscle relaxant) and today i was able to play volleyball after 4 months, though painful but i did play it. I hope olive oil will prove some magic.
 
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