Pain in the glut!

Hi I'm hoping I can get some sense from my "injury".

I play rugby union, and the morning after a game 5 weeks ago, I noticed a pain in my glute, when sitting. I was advised this was just bruised muscle and played the following week, where my hamstring started to tighten aswell.

I have now had 3 weeks rest, have started training again and find the pain is still there when sitting, driving or over extending my hamstring whilsts sprinting (eg. starting, stopping or changing direction) and diving to make tackles.

I have no pain walking or running and my hamstring is almost as supple as normal.

I look forward to your input.

Many thanks in advance.

Grant

Hi Grant

As I don’t know what you did at the game before you developed the pain, it is a bit hard to know what is involved. A number of structures can refer pain to the area you describe including the lower back joints , sacroiliac joint, hip joint and a number of associated muscles can also refer pain there.

If you think the injury may have been from a stretch to the hamstring a very common underlying problem is not the hamstring muscle but rather the sciatic nerve. The dura – the tissue around the nerve or the nerve itself may have got stretched. When you bend the hip while straightening the knee you not only stretch the hamstrings but also the sciatic nerve. sitting, driving or over extending my hamstring whilst sprinting are absolutely typical positions and movements which can aggravate an injured sciatic nerve or its dural sheath and the dura typically refers pain to the buttock and down the back of the thigh as if it is an injured hamstring.

A physio with a sports of musculoskeletal speciality can examine you and sort out what is really going on. If I am right (which I may not be) about the nerve problem the physio can mobilise the nerve and advise you on rehabbing your leg. In the mean time don’t do any stretching to it.

Geoff

I agree with gcoe. u need to get a thorough exam of your hip. and i would also suggest u avoid vigorous sport/training untill u get better informed advice from the physiotherapist who will have assessed you.

Listen to Geoff, he knows wassup. In terms of other tissues that could be the culprit, try piriformis stretching. But best to get a physio to do an objective assessment because of the possibility of it being SIJ or Lx Spine being quite high.