sore sitting muscles

[darkoshi]

For over 4 months now, I've had an odd ailment.

My legs (only the bottom side of the upper thighs) and my butt have been feeling sore/achy/stiff/strained. Sometimes I feel the nerves tingling. Not the top of the thighs, not my calves, nor any other part of my body. Only the parts of my body that I sit on.

In the beginning, the soreness was worse lower down towards the knee - sitting in a car with the front edge of the seat pushing against the bottom of my thigh felt very uncomfortable. Now it is worse higher up near the butt joint.

The soreness is fairly symmetric in both legs, but not completely so. The left leg is stiffer than the right. During the last 4 months, the level of soreness has fluctuated, but has never gone completely away.

It may well be caused by sitting too much. It feels worst when sitting. But I don't understand why I've never had this problem before now. For the past 20 years, I've sat just as much. Maybe it is just old age, and I've passed some tipping point.

At least with how I've got my 2 monitors set up at work, when it gets too unbearable sitting down now, I can alternate between standing and sitting.

Have any of you heard of anyone else with similar symptoms? I've read about things like Piriformis Syndrome, but as my issue is in both legs, it seems different.

During my leave, I may try to find myself a primary care doctor. If so, I'll ask them about it. But so far, it doesn't seem worth going to a doctor for.

Comments

Could be Sciatica? Try lower back streaching exercises

[(Anonymous)]

Could be Sciatica?

"Sciatica" means inflammation of the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in the body and runs from the lower lumbar spine down the back of the leg to the foot. Irritation of this nerve is often caused by a vertebral disc bulging or herniating. A herniation or bulging disc puts pressure on the nerve as it exits the spine and causes a radiation or shooting discomfort along the course of the nerve, creating sciatica. A person may feel numbness, burning, or sharp shooting pain that can go down the right or left side. The pain typically radiates through the buttock area down the leg- sometimes involving the foot. Irritation of the nerve often increases with activity. It is not uncommon to have no back pain when sciatica is present.

Re: Could be Sciatica? Try lower back streaching exercises

[darkoshi]

I don't think so. Based on this page: http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/sciatica/sciatica-symptoms,
sciatica rarely affects both legs, and tends to be a sharp pain rather than dull.

Re: Could be Sciatica? Try lower back streaching exercises

[darkoshi]

Oh, and I normally do leg and back stretches several times a day. For a while I tried doing less, as I read that if something is strained, stretching can make it take longer to heal. But that didn't seem to help any, so I'm back to my normal stretching, though I'm trying to keep it gentle so as not to strain anything worse.

Re: Could be Sciatica? Try lower back streaching exercises

[marahmarie]

Sciatica is a pain you'll know once you have it (the burning, shooting ouchiness of it is unmistakable, like a fireball shooting through that part of your body). I had more sciatic bouts (and back problems in general) when I was thinner (in my 20s) than I've had since (I speculate because the load-bearing properties of carrying more weight have strengthened bones and surrounding muscle) but it's a sensation of its own and probably not too easy to mistake for other sorts of pain (at least, not once you know what it feels like).

[marahmarie]

OK, so I won't top level post about it on my DW now (I may never do so at all, given how long I've delayed any discussion of it, and now that you've wrote this I don't want to seem copycat, and I don't think I was ever going to really bring it up, anyway) but I can sympathize and empathize about the pain you're feeling. I hope it passes soon.

So, I'm going through some similar problems. As a result of my left foot getting crushed last year (which still hurts, and forced me to stop walking two miles a day to my jobs by last March because after a few months of that I was in so much pain in both legs I could barely take it anymore) my right leg got messed up, too. I have a constant - since January or February - cramp in my lower right calf with pain that shoots up over my kneecap into my lower thigh. The left leg cramps, too, but that's more a hip to foot light, general cramp that doesn't hurt too much - but the left foot and right leg does.

The right leg is a mystery but I suspect that walking funny - rolling my left foot inward a bit to compensate for and minimize the pain of walking on it - messed up my right leg by altering/rolling out my gait which forced/forces my bones - and tendons and muscle - off balance.

Before I'd figured that out, one morning late this February I woke up with a bizarre amount of shooting, cramping pain in my left arm which has never gone away, either (this is why I don't top level post about, it, btw, and probably never will; I don't want anyone's pity, and there's fuckall I can do about it, except hope it gets no worse).

So pain, yeah, I feel ya on that. Hope it gets better. :(

[darkoshi]

Your problems sound similar to Qiao's. It seemed like he was doing so (reasonably) well with his recovery, until earlier this year when he started having extreme pains, which the doctors can't seem to explain. At the moment, it seems to be improving somewhat for him at least.

I wish you could afford to get your problems treated by a doctor. And that Florida and the other states would pass the expanded Medicaid, and that medical costs weren't so high.

Have you tried heating pads? Qiao gets some relief from them.

My current aches and soreness aren't anything compared to that. I was only wondering if anyone had heard of these kind of symptoms before.

[marahmarie]

Haven't tried them for this particular range of problems, no (the last I used one was years ago, for my back, which has not given me a lick of trouble in a while). I don't like heating pads. I have to rest and sleep cold or I get cranky and uncomfortable, and never got as much relief from using heat (or cold, for that matter) as other people seem to.

I use ibuprofen only sparingly, when I just can't take the pain anymore or at night when maybe the pain isn't so bad as usual but I just want total relief from it so I can relax and enjoy my evening without worrying about it so much. But thanks for the suggestion.

I hope you and Q. both take a turn for the better real soon.

Sciatica

[(Anonymous)]

If it's not Sciatica then when you figure it out let me know. I've had similar symptoms for many years. Twenty years ago a neurologist told me it was a pinched nerve in my leg. Last year I thought I need a hip replacement, the doctor I saw an orthopedic surgeon said it was Sciatica. Forty five years ago I had a spinal injury, compressed vertebrae in an auto accident. Most of the time, exercise, stretching and weight loss make it feel better, but I'm also afraid that exercise could make it worse. The numbness is worse when I'm laying in bed or sitting doing nothing.

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

I have something similar but I know the cause: tons of serious bike riding and resulting stiffness/soreness/lack of flexibility. For me, tons of stretching and foam roller work helps. I don't think yours is the same cause, but maybe stretching might help.

[darkoshi]

I generally do leg & back stretches several times a day. For a while I tried doing less, as I read that if something is strained, stretching can make it take longer to heal. But that didn't seem to help any, so I'm back to my normal stretching, though I'm trying to keep it gentle so as not to strain anything worse.

I haven't used a foam roller before; that might be worth trying.

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

Hrm. That's the only suggestion I have.
Well, that and how much aging sucks, but we both already know that.