Hip, glute and thigh pain - help!!

[Cricketmac]

For about six weeks now i have been having alot of pain in my hip, glute, thigh - that while area. Sometimes pain in legs and feet. Lower back soreness. When I get uo from sitting I am so stiff and sore , i have to waddle from side to side like a penguin. Getting in the car i cannot use the muscle that lifts my leg in . There is just no power . When i walk i often have pain and shifting tendons etc.
Physio tried a fee things, but could not find any particular issue , rather a general irritation throughout the whole area. GP did ultrasound on hips to look for bursitis, ive had a CT scan of my lumbar spine and an MRI on my hip. Nothing but mild tendon and joint irritations showed up.
I have been on anti inflammatories for a couple of weeks but my blood resuts fron just yesterday have come back with quite elevated inflammatory indicators Gp says. Everyone seems a bit baffled. Blood results show liver and kidney function normal. No masses shown up in scans.
But still i am sore and it feels likes my muscles are tight and ofren go into spasm ( in glute area mainly for the spasms).
Doc says i should take the anti inflammatories for at least another month.
Stretching does help and i am sranding up mostly at work these days with adjustuble desk.
Anyone elsd experience anything like this??

[outnabike]

Hi Mac and welcome.....Are you saying you started riding six weeks ago.
Because I restarted 5 years ago and after a 50 year break. I did two kays and getting off my bike, my legs felt like jelly and my first thought was .....What have I done buying this bloody bike?

[Cricketmac]

No I have been riding for about 10 years. The pain started about 6 weeks ago. I have never been good at stretching and now it seems I have muscle, tendon and nerve inflammation. Really painful!!

[mikesbytes]

Hi Cricketmac you have been to the professionals and have not resolved the problem. Hopefully someone here will have experienced similar and you can see if their corrective actions also will work for you. A word of caution, what worked for one person my have the opposite effect on you.

You mentioned several muscles are having problems and its possible there is a common element there, I'm thinking of the possibility of it being a nerve issue, either due to the muscles, in particular one of the hip flexors being too tight pressing on nerves , or even the nerve traveling thru the centre of the muscle. There's also the possibility that theirs a nerve issue in your lower back. These are things you can get checked with a specialist.

You say you are good with stretching but how good is your flexibility? have a look at the various flexibility tests, in particular ones related to the movement of leg in relation to the pelvis and see how you compare.

Also if you have any abdominal fat then get rid of it ASAP

What's your posture like when you are sitting on a chair, do you have your spine in netural? Oh and upper body flexibility can also impact spinal alignment.

[Thoglette]

Dumb stuff: do you have your wallet in your back pocket? I have a mate who recently aggravated a nerve (with similar symptoms to yourself) and one of the causes was his wallet, both pressure and the change of posture while seated. All that plastic....

He eventually nailed it down to a specific nerve site and now manages it (it's not fixed, just managed) through medication; massage and a few lifestyle changes (including putting his wallet somewhere else)

[vosadrian]

Welcome to my world!!

Unfortunately I can't offer much help and reporting on my situation would only make matters seem worse for you so I won't (I have been trying to resolve almost identical symptoms for years with no improvement). I will just report some of the things I have looked into so you can investigate them yourself:

* The sciatic nerve passes through the glute area (particularly Piriformis muscle). It can get compressed in this area and cause sciatic like symptoms down leg accompanied by general pelvic pain. I recommend finding a Physio who knows the pelvis really well to assess you. My Piriformis is really tight and sore, but most experts thing this is in response to another issue rather than the initial cause.

* General Pelvic alignment issues. Try and Osteopath to get pelvic alignment checked and corrected. I have a pelvis that is continually rotating up on the RHS

* Related to above.... SI joint dysfunction can cause general pelvic pain that can set off pelvic muscles that can trap the sciatic nerve and radiate pain down legs.

* A neurologist I am seeing currently thinks I have a Lumbosacral Plexopathy. Basically nerves getting irritated in the sacral region after leaving the spine. I am currently seeking treatment for this, but unknown of cause and difficult to diagnose. Nerve testing is consistent with it though.

Just a a few things to look into. If I was in your place, I would try the pelvic alignment thing first (Recommend a good Osteopath). My wife was getting similar issues for a couple of months and my osteo aligned her pelvis and she had a near instant improvement in many symptoms.

Cheers,

Adrian

[vosadrian]

Hi Cricketmac,

Please keep us updated on how you go with this. I would certainly appreciate seeing what others have tried and what results they have had. There is very little chance two people have the same issue even if the symptoms are the same, but you never know if something that helps one could be of benefit to another. Unfortunately the medical system does not handle well things that are difficult to diagnose and you feel like a pinball bouncing from doctor to doctor as mostly they put you in the too hard basket and look for a way to pass you on to someone else.

Cheers,

Adrian

[Cricketmac]

Thank you all for your input. I will try an Osteopath as suggested as the first port of call and see how I go!! Will update with progress.

[CKinnard]

For about six weeks now i have been having alot of pain in my hip, glute, thigh - that while area. Sometimes pain in legs and feet. Lower back soreness. When I get uo from sitting I am so stiff and sore , i have to waddle from side to side like a penguin. Getting in the car i cannot use the muscle that lifts my leg in . There is just no power .

Hiya Cricket. There's lots of holes in your story and the investigations to date.
If you want to PM me I might be able to clarify what you are suffering from, and how best to proceed therapy wise.
Osteopathy or any manual therapy is unlikely to help until inflammation settles.