HIP PAIN/SCIATICA
Hip pain can be from overuse, not enough use or injury. The ball and socket joint of the hip really takes the load of most force and pressure through out a lifetime or...less. Tight muscles crossing the hip joint can compress the joint itself. The joint is encapsulated in a bursa. Bursitis is a common diagnosis for hip pain but what does it really mean? Bursitis is a combination of two words. One is a noun, a physical thing. The bursa. The other, a description of a condition or syndrome. Hence, the "itis". The bursa is the capsule around a joint, like a shoulder or elbow. It holds a slippery fluid to keep the joint "oiled" if you will. Inflammation and "itis" generally mean the same thing, which is Oww!..should I use heat or ice!
Applying ice packs on the painful area of the butt and low back for 15 - 20 minutes can relieve some pain by reducing the inflammation. Warming up the area by walking or soaking in hot water and then stretching afterward can help to heal more than stretching alone can.
Stretch the hip muscles by laying down and cross 'bad' leg over good leg, with the 'bad leg' knee bent and foot planted on outside of good leg. Use "good leg' arm, to pull ' bad knee' toward bed.
Pseudo Sciatica
The sciatic nerves exits the spine in the low back and then branches off many times in many places as it innervates muscle groups all the way down to the foot. Often the pain we feel is in the hip and runs down the side of the leg, possibly to the outside of the ankle. Sometimes it affects the main branch of the nerve and runs down the center of the rear and center of the afflicted leg. The pain may refer all the way to the bottom of the foot. Both of these pain patterns are usually an entrapment of the sciatic nerve branch that runs through three problematic areas. These muscles are rotators of the femur called the piraformis, gluteus minimus and gluteus medius. Oddly enough the gluteus maximus rarely develops problems.
IT'S DRIVING ME CRAZY!
Don't resort to anything too crazy now! It is life disrupting to say the least. You have to sit down, right? The sciatic nerve is very necessary to keeping you mobile. Be nice to it. Remember, it's usually just a hip rotator muscle, not a vertebrae in your back. Sometimes it is coming from sustained damage to the disk/nerve in the lower vertebrae. It is a good idea to find out from your doctor if their is stenosis or a bulging/herniated disk that may be the source of the pain. MRI's may be a crucial tool to determine this.