Well, it's only been 5 weeks off ice, but it felt a lot longer. The torture was intensified by having to take my daughter skating, so having to watch everyone, all the while longing to be out there.

My torn hamstring turned out to be my Piriformas , which is a muscle in the butt. It is getting better, but I still have to be very careful on my left leg.

I have skated twice, very gently, mainly edges and turns. Last night I risked a couple of one foot spins. My timing is off, and I couldn't tell if I was centred or not. Backspin has deserted me completely, like beginning them again. Sigh.

I don't want to aggravate the injury, but I do need to get my balance and timing back, and to build muscle strength again. Has anyone had piriformas syndrome, or a similar injury, or just any ideas about regaining balance and building strength around the hip, buttock hip flexor area?

(but please remember I am a fat middle aged woman who works full time, has a family, and has little money and even less time I'm looking for simple things I can do in the office or at home when I get a moment, or while skating.)

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am

From one "fat middle aged woman" to another - be careful! It is better to skate forever than to skate too soon.

I have no experience with your type of injury but I wrecked my knees at age 19 and it took 15 years to get over the knee problems. Since returning to skating this year, I am VERY careful not to stress my knees - well, ok, except for jump takeoffs in the kitchen the other day - DUMB!

Go slowly. Go carefully. Skate long and prosper! (Sorry, stolen from Star Trek )

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

I second what Rusty Blades said. Take your time and don't rush back. It's not worth going back too soon and re-injuring the part of your body that is healing.

As for your torn piriformis...Owww! I suffer on and off with piriformis syndrome - different I know but the same muscle and boy it hurts sometimes. Take care and ease back into skating gently.

Nicki

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I absolutely can't resist saying this, but it strikes me that piriformis syndrome is a huge pain in the bum!

Sorry....

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Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

hahahaha!!!! LOL!!! I'll tell you what...I suffer with a pain in the bum and a pain in the neck and I can sure see where the sayings come from !

Nicki

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are you going for physical therapy? i just spent 2 months in PT and I feel a lot stronger in my legs. the therapist also put me on a streching program for my glut muscles and especially my right piriformis which was so tight it gave me pain just from driving.

good luck!

The piriformis isn't torn Nicki, it is piriformis syndrome according to the phsyiotherapist. It is ressuring to hear others have had this too.

I was seeing the physio, but last week she said not to make another appointment, just call her to let her know how it was going. Which didn't impress me.

I hear what you're all saying about taking it gently and not rushing back into things. I have to say that the injury seems to be getting better because I am skating. But gosh it is hard not to jump, I love jumping. It is actually spins that seem to hurt most, because forward spins I do on the left leg.

Seems to be a stability problem, maintaining balance especially when I feel I am losing a spin. I suppose after not skating for 20 years, I have rather rushed back into things like sit spins and flips, loops etc. I would lack the core body strength to cope that a beginner develops as they are learning things step by step.

And yes, it is a pain in the butt !!! Major.

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am

You have my full sympathy. Mine is back which is really weird. I competed last week and managed to get through all the increased training and the competition itself without any problems at all. What with one thing after another, I didn't skate until Wednesday this week so had a week off the ice, but on Tuesday night I took part in an off-ice rehearsal. That night I felt that familiar pain in my butt/hip and it's continued. I took ibuprofen before skating today which I think took the edge off it, but I'm baffled as to why it's returned after a week off the ice. My only explanation is that I aggravated it in the off-ice routine. It makes me wary of doing my jumps though it's going into spins that really hurts - holding that back edge.

Anyway take care of yours and remmeber to stretch out that glute muscle!

Nicki

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SkatingOnClouds--owwwwww, I hope you're feeling better soon!!! I'm also an on-and-off sufferer of piriformis syndrome (in fact, I've PM'd NickT and others in the past for advice ). The key for me has been having a great PT and following his recommendations between flareups (when I'm not feeling bad) to keep the piriformis stretched. Also, the child pose in yoga is very helpful to me, both when I'm having a flareup and when I'm not. I usually do it in the morning after waking and at night before bed and other times as needed.

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I'm interested in the child pose from yoga. Since I don't do yoga I'm unaware of this but if it helps it's worth adding to my routine when I have a flare-up. Please could you enlighten me on how to do it?

Nicki

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www.myspace.com/insatiableskater

If they call things by the same name at the other side of the world, it's this (and a lovely stretch too! - I learned it in yoga and found my pilates teacher uses it too):

*aussieskater leaves keyboard to work out how to describe this move...and wishes for a drawing! *

I hope I got this right:

You kneel on the floor (try a soft surface like a cushion if your knees are dicky like mine; then bending your knees so you're sitting on your calves and your heels, you place your hands on the floor and stretch your arms forward sliding your hands along the floor, so your forehead touches the floor. It stretches your back and your buttocks beautifully.

Thanks for that aussieskater. I know the move. I'll add that to my stretches!

Nicki

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It's a brilliant stretch to do at the end of a routine - very relaxing. I do it, too.

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Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

I have the same problem. My left glute/hamstring feels like it is stuck to the top of my femur (thigh bone) deep inside my left butt cheek. I feel it the most on the entrance edge to my camel spin, and I know I risk pulling something if I do camel spins before thoroughly warming up and stretching that area. So I always warm up with power stroking, then do some left forward outside spirals until I feel that the stiffness is gone and the range of motion has freed up in that glute and hamstring. Only then do I do forward pins, starting with the upright or scratch and then moving on to the camel, making sure to bend deeply on the entrance edge and also making sure I don't pop up prematurely. I also limit the number of sitspins I do, since last year I developed a knee problem in my left knee, probably exacerbated by a weakness or misalignment in the left hip.

P.S. It helps to do hip stretches and pyriformis stretches after I skate.

skatingon clouds,

Just curious what you were doing that caused injury to your piriformis. I would say that my most tight muscles from skating are piriformis and gluts. I really need to stretch them out the most.

I am a big fan of physiotherapy.

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To tell the truth, I am not even sure. It seems to me it was a combination of things.
Firstly, I was going into a waltz jump of all things, but a bit faster than usual. I think I stepped into the take off edge too far from my skating foot, didn't get it under me, and it felt like I pulled a hamstring.
Then I fell on the ischial tuberosity (the bone at the bottom of the pelvis, not the cocyx.) where that hamstring joins on. I did this twice, hard, and it hurt.
Then I just kept skating on it, ignoring the pain. I think doing sit spins finished me off, when I felt myself falling in on them, it was a big effort to correct it. In the end there were so many muscles in my left buttock, hip and thigh which were in spasm, it's hard to know where it started.

For a long while I and my doctor thought it was a torn hamstring but two physiotherapists said not. Piriformis syndrome is their diagnosis.

As for treatment, I don't know if this thing just goes away in time, but mine has improved rapidly since I started skating (gently) again. On Saturday I was jumping again, though I left flips and loops out, and am doing only stork spins on it.

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am