Injury Question

Ok, I’ve got a question about an injury…well, I guess it’s more of a nagging pain. No, this isn’t a request for free medical help, just wondering if anyone out there has or has had this problem.

I’ve talked to a couple of physical therapists about it and had it checked out by them, but they seem a little unsure. It’s supposedly my sachro illiac(sp?) joint, where my back meets with my pelvis. It feels more like it’s in my hip, but just a little higher. Stretching my hamstrings is almost impossible when it’s really inflammed. And before I get this from everyone, it’s not just tight hammies, trust me.

I’ve heard everything from an upslip in my right hip to inflammation caused by the pressure from a bulging disc.

I know I need to see a doctor and people can’t tell me what is wrong from a simple description on here, but I don’t have much faith in a lot of doctors, and the most intelligent conversations I’ve seen on issues like this have been on here.

Thanks a lot for any help.

Hi Brian. The first thing I would do in your shoes would be to go get an MRI of that region of your spine. If you do have a bulging disk, there are a lot of things that can be done to help. If that is the case, go interview several orthopods and find one you can trust. What do you mean by and “upslip”? Joint degeneration, shortened leg, hip malformation?

Well, my sister is a pt, and she says it’s an upslip. Apparently, it’s just my right leg I guess shortening would be the word, but I don’t know whether it’s in the hip joint or a pelvic tilt to the side or what. But that is forcing the left side to do more work and when I do cardio or some kind of activity with jumping, etc., it gets really sore.

Thank you very much for your response, though!

Brian, the reason I ask is that ‘upslip’ is not a term I’ve heard before, and, no disrespect to your sister, I’m not sure it means a lot. You really need a good diagnostic survey to clearly identify the problem. An MRI would tell you quite a bit about what is and isn’t going on. You could have a strength imbalance, a neurological problem, a nerve entrapment issue that impairs function, structural problems that influence your gait and posture (scoliosis comes to mind), a herniated disk, osteo/rheumatoid arthritis, a tight ilio-tibial band, joint/bone degeneration, overuse syndrome, etc. A lot of different and sometimes unrelated things! I really think you should get a good ortho to look at it. After all, if a good massage can make the problem go away, why let a surgeon cut on you?

Greg D,

Thanks a lot for all your help. I know I can’t really get a diagnosis on here, and I also know that I can’t expect my sister to tell me what’s wrong when all I do is tell her at Christmas dinner that my friggin hip/back hurts.

Regardless, I was hoping someone could either have some ideas of what it might be or maybe someone with a similar problem. Anyway, thanks a lot for your help, I guess I’ll have to go see someone about it…

There is a group of muscles that rotate the thigh outward. I had a spasm or shortenening of the piriformis muscle. Try this. hang from a chinup bar and totally relax your lower body. Have someone look at the resting position of your toes and where they point. You can do this too-- if you are wearing jeans, push with your fingertips firmly at the opening of the back pocket. third thing, in a lying positionwith your opposite leg straight, pull your knee across your body, checking the range of motion against the other side. good luck