A Pain In the Butt!

Do you have pain deep in your buttock muscle over your sitting bone? Insertional hamstring tendinopathy is a very medical sounding term for a condition that is very often misdiagnosed. The hamstring muscle is the huge group of 3 muscles that run up the back of the leg. They attach around the knee at the lower end and into the sitting bone at the top of the leg. The tendon is what attaches the muscle to the bone. It can sometimes rub on the sitting bone (ischial tuberosity) becoming irritated and sore. The pain is usually around the sitting bone and often refers down the back of the leg. Sitting can be a problem, especially on hard chairs. Walking up hills and stairs is also painful. People will often have to stop running or exercising due to the pain.

Most people stretch when they have a sore area. In this situation this is the worst thing you can do. If you stretch you will pull the tendon harder around the bone: it might feel great at the time, but long term it will make things much worse. It is essential you keep the muscles in the area loose. Massage through the hamstring and buttock muscle is extremely beneficial. Pop in and see Melissa and Dalibor at Physiologix, both who work for the ROAR and are extremely skilled remedial massage therapists.

Make sure you stop leaning over with you legs straight, for example, to pick something off the floor, or when doing the washing up. When you lean over your hamstring muscle is working hard to stop your body falling over but in a position where you stick the sitting bone back into the tendon, making it rub more on the bone. When you walk take shorter steps: long steps stretch and use the hamstring muscle more. Avoid hard chairs at all costs. And try and stay away from going up stairs and hills.

To make a full recovery, tendons need gentle careful exercise. There is extensive new research coming out on how to treat these sorts of tendon injuries; excitingly much of this research is happening here is Australia so we are at the cutting edge of it. At Physiologix, we specialise in tendon injuries. Our highly experienced physios will guide you through a rehabilitation program getting you back on track, pain free, and doing the things you want to be doing.

Please call at any time, with any queries you might have on (07) 3511 1112 or email us from the "Contact Us" page of our website