Notes
Spent these 6 miles trying to figure out and pin point exactly what is hurting on my butt/hip. The pain is definitely the worst right at the beginning of the run, or after stopping at a stoplight for a few minutes, etc. At those points the pain is about a 6 or a 7. Then after about 100 yards or so things loosen up, and for the remainder of the run it hovers around a 2 or 3. After about 5 miles or so today, it started to just feel weak, and actually started to go numb I think? Sort of a cold/numb sensation? I'm definitely stumped. And I think I've decided the side ache yesterday was a manifestation of the tightness in my hip and butt moving up into my back, because even sitting here typing a couple hours post-run, I can feel the tightness in my back on my right side, posterior and laterally. I've spent enough time with Shauna to know the tightness in the hip/butt and in the back are surely connected somehow.
The pain is sharpest just as my right foot hits the ground, that's what I decided this morning while I was out.
It's bothering me walking around the house, standing up and sitting down, even rolling over in bed.
Rolling out still seems to help, although I'm not entirely sure what area to focus on. Everything on my right side from my low back down through my IT band is really tight, so I'm trying to just spend time on all of it on the roller.
Afternoon Add:
At first I was thinking IT Band. Personally I've only had IT Band problems manifest in knee pain, and I think that's definitely the more common location. However I have heard of IT Band tightness manifesting in hip pain, and when I roll on my IT Band right now its really tight. I looked into that a bit and it sounded like a potential. But after a bit more research I think my symptoms sound more like piriformis syndrome. I've never had it myself, and I'm not sure what I would have done to make it come on so suddenly, but it sounds exactly right. The numbness and weakness I reported this morning is almost textbook piriformis syndrome. The piriformis gets so tight it creates tightness in the butt and lower back, and sometimes gets so tight it actually starts to press down on the sciatic nerve, which creates a weak feeling and a numbness in the butt. It almost made me laugh to read that this afternoon because of how similar it is to what I wrote. A person might think I researched piriformis syndrome before I wrote that log this morning, but I didn't.
I've been stretching the hip a lot, so I'll probably continue that, but focus on the piriformis specifically, and work even more on hip abductor strength. I think my butt is generally really strong because of all the pilates we do as a running program right now, but who knows. We'll see what happens if I treat it as that for a bit.