Discussion: Gluteus maximus injury

Hi attackpointers,

I am appealing to your collective wisdom to see if anyone has any experience with the injury I am trying to recover from.
After a race about 6 weeks ago, I felt a somewhat dull pain in my butt when running or walking. In the beginning it was so bad that I couldn't extend my stride at all, but then it stabilized in a way that it hurts all the time during walking or running, but not forcing me to limp visibly.
The physios I have seen have said that the injury is probably a tear of a gluteus muscle, such as the gluteus maximus. They have tried various things, such as stimulation using current and massage, and telling me to stretch (or not stretch, depending on the physio.) Nothing seems to make it better or worse. I can rest, train at an easy pace, or race, and it feels just about the same afterwards.
This injury is in the process of ruining my season, and I have no indication that anything I've tried can make it better. So, if anyone has any ideas or advice on how to deal with it, I would be very thankful!

I have the exact same thing Boris!!!!

For me so far, massage, stretching and heat seem to make it better when walking, but once I start running it does the exact same thing yours does. I need help too!!!

wait...do you have to pay extra for butt massages??

I had what sounds like the same, or at least a similar injury last spring. Stepped in a hole during a sprint. Strained the glutes and hamstrings in the right leg.

I'd have to go back in my log to see exactly what I did, but I remember stretching (a lot) (lower back, glutes, hams), foam roller, tennis ball (use it like the foam roller to isolate the sore spots), more stretching, back off on distance and speedwork, and time to heal. Hopefully, since you're younger, you will heal faster; I took 3-4 months.

Do some investigation on the piriformis muscle that is sometimes associated with sciatica. The stretches for this muscle are simple.

http://www.halhigdon.com/15Ktraining/Stretch.htm

I had similar pain but mine was caused by too much piriformis development from speedskating.

Does driving aggravate it? I've got a raging psoas injury (literal pain in the rear) due to not having much in the way of lower abs any more (darned kids!), which results in glute and hamstring pain as well. In fact, that was what I felt first, although a doc was able to isolate it to the psoas (connects top front of hip socket to 12th vertebrae in back). I have found seeing a massage therapist who deals with sports injuries to be well worth the money. I've also backed off my training since January (grrr...), and I'm finally starting to feel like I can step it up again. My doc had me on low dosage ibuprofen 24/7 for a few weeks, too.

Good luck - this stuff is no fun at all!

http://www.injuryupdate.com.au/

Try this site. It is Australian but has a great forum to discuss injuroes and treatments/ cures. Good luck with it.

Lyn and I both have the glute soreness. I had it all last year and got better only when I rested most of Dec-Jan and then started up running slowly. Unfortunately it has returned along with a sore back muscle and possibly a psoas or similar problem, though not caused by the above mentioned issue.

I have been running pretty well in meets so far this spring following a routine of an easy warm up and then stretching, a similar routine to the Hal Higdon article. The butt is a very dull ache and not my issue as much as the back and front of the hip muscle.

Boris, given the physio advice has been stretch - don't stretch, split the difference and try and relax the potentially tight/spasmed muscle by (as somone else suggested 'foam roller') trigger pointing and trying to stimulate a reflex relaxation of the muscles involved. eg. foam roller, or tennis ball. Email me if you want more info / suggestion as it may be what works for you?

It sounds like a specific injury rather than an insidious postural/pelvic alignment issue so this approach may be the silver bullet that helps.

I was going to ask how long it took for a glute muscle to heal. Reading all the above is really depressing, more so because I am 67. I "pulled" it about 7 weeks back (my dog ran after a squirrel and in steadying myself is felt the muscle go in as a sharp pain) the next day I a ran a 4km cross-country and had to limp the last 50 odd metres as I could not lift my leg. Went to a physio for treatment immediately, am able to run again but not without a pain in the butt! SO irritating! Even when I walk I feel it, and it gets stiff afterwards. Never in my life have I had stiff muscles, as I am very supple. I suppose at this age I may as well expect to follow me to my grave! Will it ever heal? I have no intention of resting, it takes too long and it's too difficult to start over. And I want to run the 21km half in April 2011. I did a fast 20km walk a couple of weeks back, which took me 2 weeks to recover from. Looks like I should keep stretching .........................

I have been using a golf training device the last few months and I have had great results in terms of reduced pain in the glute and piriformis areas. It has also resolved greatly my chronic (13 yrs) low back pain. My physiotherapist had one of these in his office and it seemed like a good idea so I got one. I use 3 of the 4 resistance bands and I do 40 reps on each side, generally once a day, or at least once a day when I am home. I don't use a golf club with it, and I haven't played golf in a long time, so I can't report whether it has improved my swing.