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It started at sept. 17 when I was squatting. I had some muscle spasms and odd feeling in a small muscle in the upper leg near the separation between the quads and the hamstrings, the muscle itself cannot be seen. When touching it afterwards it felt like there was partial sensory loss in the region, and a slightly odd feeling remaining but not really painful.
A few days later I tried deadlifting.When I came to the somewhat heavier weights, I felt the same place again and recognized the feeling: it was very much like when a needle is put into a nerve (i know this because a doctor did this once for injection of local anaesthetic).
After that I decided to not try to lift real heavy untill it is gone but now it is still not gone.I have not observed the spasms again but the pain will be there anytime when I squat, legpress or deadlift with some weight on it. Only when doing it really light it won't come. This was actually the case from the start: it seems to be weight-on-the-bar dependent...above a treshold level more weight is more pain.Multiple repetitions of a near-treshold weight will also do the job.
Hi,
I stopped by your post because your title sounded just like my own situation. I'm looking around here to see if there's more to learn about what the doctor's think I have--sciatica. It seems that I've been having minor issues with this since giving birth to my second son 8 years ago. Last month, I ended up in the ER with a severe muscle spasam focused on my hip. While in the ER, I felt numbness on my lower leg and foot. My hamstring siezed up. No pain relief in the ER had any impact. They gave moderate than heavy muscle relaxers and finally morphine.
What I read in your post that reminds me of my situation is the partial sensory loss, slightly odd feeling remaining (which I have in my foot), the odd feelings, the needle precision pain. You might learn more at http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec06/ch093/ch093a.html. There's a map sort of like what my doctor gave me. It shows the exact nerve that my sciatica is impacting (which goes from my hip down my outer leg and covers the top of my foot). I also have weird feelings behind my knees where it feels like ligaments are moving over bumps and kind of snapping back in place. It's been happening for a few months but not sure if it's related or not.
Because I had issues with my various doctors and their staff to finally get them to see my pain had intensified enough to allow for new symptoms that could easily show sciatica, I talked with my "doctor friends". I told them my symptoms and they easily told me it was sciatica. I got my PCP to see me and rediagnose me and start a new care plan. I just had my MRI last week and will see my specialist on Tuesday. So, I'm finally getting medical support. I need a plan of action and such but the web has been very helpful and I'm stable now & off meds.
However, my friends knew sciatica because of their medical training and both spouces have it. They said exercise and stretching are important. I've been doing back, hamstring, and quad stretches. Your picture suggests your on a totally different fitness regime than me so I am not sure what you do already. Look on-line in google for sciatica stretches. Here's one that contains two stretches I think are good: http://www.wellsphere.com/back-neck-...-relief/427595. I use a high impact/intense cardio video from "The Firm" (500 calorie burn with Kelsie Daniels). This one has awesome lower back and upper leg stretches that are perfect for me. I combine these with another yoga/fitness stretching regime I got from another video. These together have been so helpful.
Stretching may work very well, but in this case it's more like an acute injury than a chronic one, so perhaps a more acute measure would help too?
Could be talking out of you-know-where, but somehow accupuncture seems like a good solution to me. Trouble is: accupuncture is an area of medicine I have *no* familiarity with or knowledge about, just know it can work wonders & is even used for anesthesia.
The major question would be: how to find a GOOD (non-quack) accupuncturist!
Seeing your doctor would also be a good solution but it's going to take weeks if not months to find out what's ailing you.. a pinched sciatic nerve does sound very likely.
In any case: do be careful with it & start stretching ... you're now also one of the oldies, needing warmups for stretching & other 'boring' stuff
eh, yeah at least i hope it is not going to get chronic
my first thought was the nerve is "stuck", but in the leg itself and not in the spinal cord! And it better not be in the spinal cord I guess!
But it is also more likely to be in the leg, also because the pain is only really induced when flexing hamstrings and quads at the same time! This was analysis from people in my gym about the fact that it happens in squatting ,DL and legpress but not in stiffleg deadlift, lunges and isolation stuff.
I can also point an exact spot which could be a small inflammation herd, so if this is so the doctor will not have to seek for it very long because I can say where it is..just not exactly WHAT it is and not at all what to do about it.
If I want to stretch this, what should I be stretching ?
What you say about the accupuncturists,
Quote:
The major question would be: how to find a GOOD (non-quack) accupuncturist
is just what I was also thinking. And of course there is the fact I don't know anything about their methods, what a doctor does I would most likely understand.
All nerves come out of the spinal cord of course, so what would happen that this specific nerve only gets 'pinched' under certain circumstances. Your explanation sounds equally plausible though.
Non-quack accupuncturist as in someone who holds a license that is recognized among all/most accupuncturists & ideally also has another Western medical degree. Plus a good reputation...
Any chance you could take a photo and point to or circle the spot where you have the sensory loss?
Is the sensory loss there all the time or only when you flare it up?
How's your overall flexibility (hams, glutes, piriformis, quadratus, hip flexors, quads, lumbar extensors)?
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We'll try to locate the exact spot this upcoming Sunday as MissDL will be training with my partner (if things work out..).
My hunch was tensor fascia latae or the actual IT-band as it was too low to be the muscle on top of it.
The location of the pain is likely not where the problem is ... referred pain makes pain a liar. A photo would help me a bit though as there are patterns and clinical presentations.
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Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
Any chance you could take a photo and point to or circle the spot where you have the sensory loss?
Is the sensory loss there all the time or only when you flare it up?
How's your overall flexibility (hams, glutes, piriformis, quadratus, hip flexors, quads, lumbar extensors)?
My flexibility is generally good enough.
I am not sure there is real sensory loss but it does feel different, and this proposed sensory loss is strange enough like upstream from, and in front side of the spot. Which is maybe not a really helpfull description without the pics. Espi was talking about we need this pic yesterday, but we did not come to that. And don't have a camera myself.
However I am pretty sure the tendon plate (if it is called that in english) is involved. It starts at the outside of the knee. There is the tendon connecting the hamstrings..that one it is NOT, it is the one just above that one, connected with the quadriceps. I can follow the trace almost all the way to the hip, it would be actually more towards the back side than towards the hip. Today it is a bit more sensitive again for whatever reason, so I can say. Sometimes it is only the "spot" I can also feel at rest,this is approx. one third of the way down along the thigh. When squatting, the pain goes all the way along the trace, also feels like this tendon plate is maybe too tight when the muscle contracts.
Sorry that we forgot about the pic when I needed to get my PWO -meal in & let you look up about the vastus lateralis trigger point.
The name of the tendon plate is IT (iliotubal) band.
So if I get it right, the painful spot is not so much at the front side of the IT-band, which is why I'd finally suspected the vastus lateralis , but the back side so perhaps one of the hamstring muscles after all?
Next opportuntiy is when MrEspi (AKA drSiegler) trains with you again.. I'll make him bring a camera
Since MissDeadlift is sweating away over an organic chemistry exam today I'll post up the pic MrEspi made this Sunday with a cross put on the place where the needle-nerve problem seems to be worst.
While we originally thought it was the IT-band and then the muscle leading into it (tensor fascia latae) it now appears to be a hamstring problem , esp. since her other Oly-trainer found the origo right below the buttock.
The only muscle running from there to the knee joint is the biceps femoris.
Ohoh. Maybe Espi can answer this. I don't understand much of it
Generally flexibility is not really a problem.
By the way it seems to get some better by now, but I'm not sure if it is entirely going away now. This must be because I have an appointment with the sports doctor friday, symptoms always seem to disappear when coming closer to appointments with doctors...
Had to look up the piriformis again as I keep forgetting where that dang muscle is.
It's a short muscle that is located between your 'sacrum' (heiligbeen in Dutch) and the bony 'knob' of the upper leg (called trochanter major, dunno the Dutch name).
Function is to rotate your leg outwards.
Trigger point handbook says:
Piriformis is the largest and most important of six short hip rotator muscles that are located between sacrum and greater trochanter in the middle of the buttocks.
With the leverage gained by the attachments to the sacrum & greater trochanter, the piriformis is able to strongly rotate the leg outward.
WHen the leg is stationary , the piriformis turns the body in the opposite direction. Overdoing either of these rotatry movements tends to set up triggerpoints in piriformis muscles.
Piriformis muscles cause an incredible amount of misery as much from nerve and blood vessel entrapment as from referral of myofascial pain. When the piriformis is to blame for your trouble, you're lucky if you ever find out..
The weird part is that the book now continues to mention the most common places of referred pain, which is the buttock. Nothing about referred pain down the thigh..
The weird part is that the book now continues to mention the most common places of referred pain, which is the buttock. Nothing about referred pain down the thigh..
And if you look under the Symptoms instead of just under the general description, the book also says:
Quote:
Occasionally, pain spreads to the upper hamstrings (not shown)
Besides that, it goes on to talk about the piriformis causing a tilting of the sacrum and pain from pressure on the sciatic nerve.
I'm sure given what you are studying that you should know that body compensations can also cause pain that can be root-caused from other areas (and not just trigger-point referred pain).
And of course Julie knows her stuff.
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It *is* probably the piriformis that is causing all of MissDL's problems, especially when I see the 'nerve' entrapment description & her tale of how her other Oly coach found the painful spot immediately, which was indeed located in the buttocks.
like a needle in a nerve
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