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miraclegro
07-23-2006, 03:48 PM
Okay, just after getting back on the ice and getting strong from my broken ankle, my sciatic nerve is acting up some. Mostly when i attempt my camel, it pulls on my left (skating ) leg when i go into it, and when i sit for too long, especially in a hard chair or church pew. It doesn't bother me when i'm just walking around.

I know nothing about helping the inflammed feeling go away. ANy tips will help. Aargh!

jazzpants
07-23-2006, 03:55 PM
You're already doing the right things:

Don't sit too long.
Skating around actually helps!!! (Good deal huh?)Also...

If you have a chiro, go to him/her! Regular monthly adjustments helps!
Access to a hot tub also helps. Have the jet stream hit the lower back! AHHHHHH!!! :mrgreen:
Have ice packs ready for really bad days at home.

skateflo
07-23-2006, 04:21 PM
You are probably experiencing piriformus muscle tightness - and it is called 'skater's butt.' The muscle goes from your hip across the back to your spine. The sciatic nerve lies underneath. If your muscle is too tight it compresses the nerve and gives you the symptoms you describe.

Streching is your friend.....there are specific exercises for this. The easiest, taught to me by a MD who treats a lot of skaters (Calif.) is to lay on your back, bend your legs up. Now take the right leg and put it across the left bent leg so that the ankle rests on the left thigh just above the knee. Now gently use your hands to raise the left leg toward your chest - just a little! You will feel a stretch in your right butt.

I'm sure if you do a google search you will find many pictures of how to do this exercise. I suffered for 20 years (and multiple docs) and no one told me about this until I flew from CT to Calif. to see Dr. Garrett. Four weeks later I was totally pain free! I still have flare-ups and get right back to stretching.

Sorry you are hurting so much - truly I feel your pain. Hope you are feeling better real soon.

miraclegro
07-23-2006, 04:37 PM
Thanks for all the tips...

with the one exercise, does the back stay on the ground, or do you roll to the side to grab it?

miraclegro
07-23-2006, 04:40 PM
Wow! My daughter helped me figure it out! That really DOES stretch it!

I will work on that a lot this week! But why did it happen in the first place when i have never had this problem before?

mikawendy
07-23-2006, 04:54 PM
You are probably experiencing piriformus muscle tightness - and it is called 'skater's butt.' The muscle goes from your hip across the back to your spine. The sciatic nerve lies underneath. If your muscle is too tight it compresses the nerve and gives you the symptoms you describe.

Streching is your friend.....there are specific exercises for this. The easiest, taught to me by a MD who treats a lot of skaters (Calif.) is to lay on your back, bend your legs up. Now take the right leg and put it across the left bent leg so that the ankle rests on the left thigh just above the knee. Now gently use your hands to raise the left leg toward your chest - just a little! You will feel a stretch in your right butt.

I'm sure if you do a google search you will find many pictures of how to do this exercise. I suffered for 20 years (and multiple docs) and no one told me about this until I flew from CT to Calif. to see Dr. Garrett. Four weeks later I was totally pain free! I still have flare-ups and get right back to stretching.

Sorry you are hurting so much - truly I feel your pain. Hope you are feeling better real soon.

ITA with skateflo--I do this piriformis stretch often--even when I'm not having a flareup. Usually I do it in the morning after waking, and at night before going to bed, and also after exercising or skating. Then if I'm having a flareup, also at other times.

I also find that the child pose in yoga helps me (see this thread (http://www.skatingforums.com/showthread.php?t=21080&highlight=child+pose)). That's another one that I do whether I'm having a flareup or not.

Sometimes when I'm having a big flareup, ice on the area gives me temporary relief (providing some numbing and anti-inflammation effect). But check w/your doc first and also if you use ice, don't use it for too long at one time (no more than 15-20 mins usually).

froggy
07-23-2006, 07:16 PM
recently when i went for PT, my therapist introduced me to this piriformis stretch, it has helped soooooooo much! he had me doing a set of 5 each stretch held for 15 seconds, done 3x/day. only soon after initiating this my pain went away.

good luck hope you feel better soon

and yes do it with your back flat against a mat/bed

doubletoe
07-23-2006, 10:01 PM
Yes!! I have the exact same problem deep inside my left butt cheek, and the worst thing I can possibly do is to go into a camel spin before stretching the left hamstring, glutes and pyriformis! So before doing any camel spins, I always skate around, jump, etc. to warm up my muscles, then I do at least 2 very long LFO spirals followed by 2 LBI or LBO spirals. Then I go to the boards and do this stretch:

Stand on the right foot and rest the left foot on a surface anywhere between waist height and shoulder height. Bend the left knee at a 90 degree angle and bring your chest to your left thigh so it is resting flat on your left thigh. Now very slowly straighten your left leg without lifting your chest off the thigh. Stop and hold the position when you feel a pull in your left glute, then continue after it subsides. I am now at the point where I can eventually straighten the left leg while keeping the chest flat on it. When I reach this point, I try to hold it for 30 seconds.

After skating and taking off my skates, I do the same stretch again, repeating at least twice, and I also do this pyriformis stretch:

http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/piri.2.html

Then I do this yoga stretch to stretch out my hip & glute muscles:

http://www.yogabasics.com/asana/

samba
07-24-2006, 12:52 AM
miraclegro, I feel your pain, there are times in the day when at work I have to type standing up because of it, the only cure I have found for myself is regular visits to the chiropractor, which on top of skating fees has left me broke.

I will certainly try some of the suggested excercises on this thread, they certainly sound cheaper than a visit to the chiropractor at £28 per visit.

Thanks everyone

NickiT
07-24-2006, 02:48 AM
It sounds like piriformis syndrome which is something I suffer from. Maybe it's common amongst skaters who have broken an ankle because I never had it before I broke my ankle. I have to go to chiro regularly and my chiropractor says I have a twisted pelvis, probably as a result of compensating when I broke my ankle.

Unfortunately there's not much you can do to get rid of it, but you can relieve the pain by stretching out your piriformis muscles and by taking ibuprofen. Also easing off the skating a little. Mine always flares up after a series of intense sessions on the ice for example, in the run-up to a competition. I daresay going into a spin and backward crossovers aggravate it and sometimes I have to avoid spinning or spin from an inside three, because the pain is too much.

Nicki

SkatingOnClouds
07-24-2006, 04:01 AM
It does sound like piriformis syndrome, as others have said, which also affects the sciatic. I spent 5 weeks off ice recently with this, and ironically it did start getting better as soon as I got back on the ice until I aggravated it again by going into spreadeagles and ina bauers from the sliding my foot in front and turning into the position. (Some people are just not built for those moves - although t my ever-encouraging, optimistic coach doesn't believe it.)

I consulted a different physiotherapist since I last posted about this, and she gave me an exercise which helps even more than the cross leg thing for me.

Kneel on the floor, sit down slightly onto your calves pushing your butt away from you until you feel some stretch. Bend your elbows to lower your body and push your hip over towards the hurt side (in my case it is the left buttock, so I lean to the left), and really sink into it. You can let your body sink lower too if that helps. I found this gives almost instant relief, although it still comes back later.

Hope you find some relief soon.

skateflo
07-24-2006, 04:04 AM
Just a word of caution---if you have any knee problems at all, be very careful which stretching exercise you do. Do not bend or fold or pull on your knee if you have any past injury or other knee problems.

lovepairs
07-24-2006, 07:23 AM
Not to be an alarmest, but my husband was diagnosed with a Sciatic Nerve problem for two years. They never did an MRI (even though I was begging his Dr. to have one for him.) The pain never went away, but rather increased with time until it became an emergancy--7 hours of neurosurgery to remove a tumor from his spinal column. Everyone (including him) was shocked, but me.; I knew it was something more serious all along, but no one would listen to me...he wouldn't, his Dr. wouldn't, and no one from either sides of our family would listen to me, even when I was at the point of hysteria a few months before the tumor was discovered. I'm sorry I have to post this--I don't want to scare anyone, but if you have persistant "Siatic Nerve" problem and it is getting increasingly worse with time, please just go in for a simple MRI and play it safe. He came very close to loosing his life over an ongoing mis-diagnosis.