Pain in the butt.....literally

JeremyBehler

I've been slowly easing back into things since IMMOO last month.  As some of you are aware I took a pretty nasty spill during the race and while I didn't break anything I came away with some deep, serious road rash that to this day over four weeks later still has a lot of healing to go.

What I've noticed since the race is that after a run I have a lot of soreness in my butt.  The soreness is on the left side which took the brunt of my fall as I slid along the pavement at 30MPH.  It doesn't bother me at all on the bike, and doesn't bother me much before a run, and is only slightly noticeable during a run.  Afterward is another story...I ran 7 miles this morning and after about 45 minutes it is incredibly sore when I sit, walk, etc.

It feels like it could be a deep bruise that is somehow irritated when I run.

Any concern that running will extend the recovery time or is this one of the times to take the 'no pain, no gain' approach?

Caltri

@Jeremy: When I was riding with Al in Colorado about 7 weeks ago, I was forced off the road by a truck and went down on my left side. A few of my left ribs were sore afterwards, but when I sneezed, wow! that would hurt the ribs. To this day my ribs still hurt when I cough or sneeze. Even though I do not feel I fractured any ribs, I am confident that I bruised them. A bone bruise actually takes longer to heal than a ligament after surgery. I had a patient who while playing lacrosse tore his ACL and had a bruise of his femur that could be seen on MRI. The surgeon told me that he will fix the ACL, but it will be the pain from the femur bruise that will cause my patient to not to be able to get back on the lacrosse field for 8-9 months. And he was right. So, odds are, you have a significant bone bruise that should heal with time. Hope that helps.

jfields74

By no means am I an expert but I've had a similar issue with my piriformis. Like you described, it rarely hurts during a workout. Sometimes is would bother me on the bike but rarely on the run. The next day you have that deep soreness in your butt and it's a irritating sort of pain. Does the pain radiate from the location? My massage therapist has me roll on a tennis ball to attempt to get it to release. Most of time this does help but it may take several attempts to get it. Hope this helps.

Al Truscott

There's a lot going on in the butt. As Bob notes, it could be a bone "bruise". The pelvis - which is actually eight separate bones - has a lot of area for injury. Then there are the ligaments holding those 8  bones together, IOW, a "sprain" of the pelvis. Then, most of the core muscles and thigh muscles attach somewhere via tendons to the pelvis or femur. Finally, of course, there are the big muscles and the little ones in there which could have deep bruising in them.

Trying to sort all that out by one's self or online is almost a hopeless task. I was dealing with a Pain In The Butt ever since Lake Placid, which turned out to be high hamstring tendonitis - every time I ran it hurt, it even hurt when I would "paw" at the ground with my foot. Then there was the time I fell on my hip slipping on black ice in December five years back - the little cyst I got is still there. And on and on.

If it's not feeling ready to train on after six-eight weeks of reduced activity, I'd think a Sports Medicine MD specialist would be my choice to evaluate it. PTs don't have the depth of knowledge required, Chiropracters have only one frame of reference (manipulate the spine), Orthopedists are really just making one decision: "Do you need surgery or not?"

JeremyBehler

Thanks guys. A bone bruise could certainly be the culprit, but sounds like the butt is more complex than I thought so I guess I'll have to find an MD. Haven't been to an MD in about 10 years!

Dawn Cass

Jeremy, sorry to hear it's still painful. I personally stay away from the doc as possible like you. After last year however, I feel a bit differently. With the high hamstring tear, I spent the best part of 7 months trying to "fix" it myself...and hope it would heal. In the end those in the medical field did wonders. I think back in the event I would have gone sooner, I could have started healing a lot earlier and lost a lot less time from training. Just my 2 cents!