| If it hurts to touch a point that's in the middle of one | | | | the back of your leg to below the knee. When you run, |
| side of your buttocks, you probably have piriformis | | | | the piriformis muscle contracts and squeezes the |
| syndrome. This chronic condition is very difficult to | | | | sciatic nerve underneath it. Repeatedly squeezing and |
| diagnose, because other injuries may produce exactly | | | | relaxing the piriformis muscle can damage the sciatic |
| the same symptoms. Similar pain may be the result of | | | | nerve and cause pain. This injury is thought to be |
| an injury to bones, muscles, tendons, bursae (pads | | | | caused by an innate tightness of the piriformis muscle |
| between the tendons and bones), the hip joint, or the | | | | or a structural abnormality in the path of the sciatic |
| sciatic nerve, but there are ways to determine from | | | | nerve. It can't be attributed to a specific error in training. |
| which condition you might be suffering. | | | | Treatment: Priformis syndrome won't ease until you |
| If you feel most pain when you land after hopping on | | | | stop running. Don't run again until you can run without |
| one leg, you might have an injured hip joint or a stress | | | | feeling pain in your buttocks. If it hurts to touch, it hasn't |
| fracture in your pelvis or upper leg bones. An x-ray will | | | | healed. |
| usually reveal a joint injury, but only a bone scan will | | | | In most cases, pedaling a bicycle will also be painful. |
| reveal a stress fracture. | | | | You probably shouldn't do any exercise that causes |
| If you feel pain in your buttocks, particularly when you | | | | you to bend at the hip while keeping your knees |
| touch your toes while keeping your knees straight, you | | | | straight, because this will stretch the sciatic nerve. You |
| might have a tear in the large muscles or tendons that | | | | might be able to swim, if it isn't painful. Medication |
| run down the back of your hips. | | | | doesn't usually alleviate the pain, and even if it does, |
| If you feel pain when you touch a spot that's either on | | | | the pain will return as soon as you stop taking it. |
| the lowest point of your pelvis (the part that touches a | | | | Sometimes, the pain will disappear after a rest of a |
| chair when you sit) or at the top of your femur (thigh), | | | | few days to several months; frequently it does not. In |
| you might have injured your bursae (bursitis) or torn | | | | this case your doctor will be able to make an accurate |
| the tendons that are attached to bones at these sites. | | | | diagnosis by injecting a mixture of xylocaine and |
| If your back hurts, particularly when you bend | | | | corticosteroid drugs directly into the piriformis muscle |
| backwards, and the pain goes down the back of your | | | | where it passes over the sciatic nerve. If the pain |
| leg to below your knees, your sciatic nerve is probably | | | | disappears, you may resume running only after a few |
| being pinched in your back. | | | | weeks, but remember that this injury tends to recur. If |
| Cause: The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in your | | | | you feel pain in that area, stop running immediately, and |
| body. It starts on the lower part of your spine, [passes | | | | don't attempt to run again until you can do so without |
| through a hole between the piriformis muscle above it | | | | pain. |
| and several other muscles beneath it, and goes down | | | | |