As much as I whined about my recent business trip, and as exhausting as it was, I was pleased to be relatively pain-free most of the time. That was a bit of a surprise in view of the long airplane trips, long days spent in heels, and nights spent in unfamiliar hotel room beds, but I credited the deep tissue massages I had gotten before I left, my renewed dedication to stretching and foam rolling, and my slightly less intense workouts.
I was home for fewer than 48 hours when my piriformis pain was back.
I felt it when I sat down on the sofa Monday night–a painful knot in my butt. It is even tender to the touch, just like it was before my trip. 🙁
Was it the hours on Sunday I spent sitting at my kitchen counter catching up on emails?
Was it the hours on Monday I spent sitting at my desk at work?
(I have a fancy new ergonomically correct chair, but it doesn’t do much good when I sit askew or slump with poor posture).
Was it two nights on my own mattress?
(I told my husband we need to put “new mattress” on our long-term to-do list)
Was it any of the exercises that I did on Monday that I hadn’t done at the hotel gyms?
The glute bridges are the most obvious culprit. I started doing them a short time before my trip, but I can’t remember if my piriformis issue started before or after I added them to my routine. I will cut them out again and see what happens.
Have you ever had a mystery pain disappear and reappear without warning?
Have you dealt with a pain in the piriformis?
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Bum(mer). Sorry, weird sense of humor this morning. Anyway, hope you get this puzzle figured out. It's not fun to hurt like that.
LOL!
Oh man. Piriformis pain. I travel with a tennis ball because of it. Sometimes I sit on it on airplanes. Hope yours clears up soon, I do find that travel aggravates it so that could be a contributing factor.
Coco you know I have struggled with this off and on for years. I too have found that mine is better when I am away from home, so I do think sitting at my computer desk at home is an issue. Right now I have been stretching it a lot..maybe too much..in yoga. We spent a lot of time on the pigeon this morning. This too aggravates it in the short term, it seems.
The 'best' thing about this vs. another injury is that I can usually still run with it.
I think Mizfit has the solution to the piriformis puzzle!
The tennis ball? Yes, I've done that a lot! and in fact will go do some now, but it has not been enough to get rid of this problem.
Oh NOOOOOOOO! i'm so sorry… sigh… I'm thinking fit stanley is a bit too shy for a massage? xoxo
Just last weekend I suddenly got horrible, practically couldn't walk pain in my right Achilles tendon FOR NO REASON whatsoever. No intense workouts, no injuries, no nothing! Plus it was swollen…could I have injured it in my sleep? All the signs / symptoms made me think tendinitis / bursitis that responded to ice, anti-inflammatories and an elastic support. Now it's intense cramping in the right calf…could these be related?
Yes, definitely related. A tight calf pulls on the Achilles..massage that calf!
stupid butt knot!! 🙂 I hate dissecting the days leading up to my randoms pains here & there, it's so frustrating. But those bridges are tough on the butt!! It was after doing those that my hamstring acted up. Hope your bum cooperates with you soon!
I have a friend who SWEARS by new mattresses. She was having some hip pain and unable to run. Seeing doctors, having tests done, going to PT, etc. etc. This was going on for months. She got a new mattress and is fine. She started running again and tells everyone to get a new mattress.
Hope it gets better.
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