It's Not an Injury. It's a Situation.

I mentioned in Monday's post that I went to a physical therapist for evaluation of some hip and sciatic nerve pain last week. Of course, anybody and everybody I told about this immediately freaked out about my "debilitating injury." Example: the conversation I had with the very caring and concerned significant other who consulted with his M.D. dad.

"My dad said that this kind of pain could be due to some pretty nasty stuff."

"The PT poked around my vertebrae, and given the lack of pain there, it's highly unlikely that the issue originates in the spine."

"My dad also said it could be a fracture in your pelvis. DOESN'T THAT SOUND BAD? YOU NEED TO GET THIS FIXED RIGHT AWAY BECAUSE OTHERWISE YOUR HIPS WILL COLLAPSE AND BREAK AND YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO MOVE FOR MONTHS."

"Honestly, everything indicates that the issue is muscular and there's no reason to be concerned about broken bones."

"He told me that's probably the case if the pain goes away when you stand up, but YOU NEED AN X-RAY OR YOU WILL DIE."

"It goes away when I stand up. Every time."

"Oh. Carry on, then. Did you want me to use beef or chicken when I make stir fry tonight?"

Which is why I am calling the source of this pain a situation rather than an injury. An osteopath diagnosed me with minor piriformis syndrome on my left side several years ago, which answered the age old question of "why is my ass twitching?" I've kept it under control with some self-administered trigger point work and good strength training, but over the past few weeks, I've started having some pain shooting down the back of my left leg. It's likely that it's due to sciatic nerve issues; if you look at the picture below, you'll see why a tight/spasming piriformis could irritate your sciatic nerve.

 

  (source)

Yes. That red muscle (piriformis) and yellow nerve (sciatic nerve) are not friends. But addressing the piriformis problem, along with any other muscular issues exacerbating that situation, should clear it up. And in the meantime, I really have no restrictions on my training, save some short-term (<24 hour) running restrictions following specific PT work.

Which is why this is a situation and not an injury. 

P.S. I went for beef stir fry.