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Diagnose My Butt Pain - 99% Sure Sacral Stress Fracture

jmoss70jmoss70
in General Training Discussions

History of mild sciatica, degenerative disk disease, etc for past 10 years.  Really came on and was problematic in April-July during IMCDA prep and post race recovery.  Got it under control, started ramping late for IMAZ (around Labor Day).  At Coach Patrick's suggestion split the Long Runs up into two medium runs on Thursdays and Sundays.  Made huge mistake and doubled my mileage in 4 weeks - 100% increase...exactly.  Bam!  Pain in butt/hip/low back hit me during a run out of nowhere.  I haven't run in over 2 weeks and could barely walk for 2 days after the onset.  Pain starts as sharp glute pain and then literally grips my low back right above my pelvis DURING activity - it's pretty sane at rest.  Hobbled around for a few days, took a big 10 day round of Ibuprofen.  Done several ART treatments - no help really.  This is not sciatic or disk-related pain...I know what that feels like as I have had that condition for over a decade.  This is something else.  I start out walking and walk a block, then two, three, four and it gets worse and worse.  Sciatic and soft tissue pain for me is responsive to brisk walking and it usually subsides or goes away completely with walking.  I have pain straight out of bed, going downstairs, down hills and walking longer than maybe a half a mile.  Walking through the airport terminal yesterday was a chore - on the other hand riding in coach on a 3 hour plane ride didn't bother me one bit.

I have an MRI scheduled for next week.  I'm 99.9% sure this is an SFX of the sacrum or somewhere near my pelvis.  If it is a Sacral SFX I will be somewhat happy/relieved to have at least identified the issue.  Docs are famous for mis-diagnosing Sacral SFXs as sciatica in runners.  

I've pulled out of IMAZ and just want to get better.

 

 

Comments

  • Robert SaboRobert Sabo
    What do you mean by SFX?
  • new2703new2703
    SFX = sacral fracture. Sacral fractures are pretty rare but do occur in long distance runners especially if there are some changes to the program. Bump up in running mileage, changes in surface, leg length discrepency etc. Course of treatment is rest 4-6 weeks with a gradual return to running as symptoms dictate.
  • Paul ScholzPaul Scholz

    may be rare to happen in training, but I did this once when I fell on a stair and had a SRX. It was really painful to run at all for 2 months and I did a lot of biking at the time. There was nothing that could be done to relieve the pain except time off of running.

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