Pain in the...

I can’t say the word ‘buttock’ without thinking of Forrest Gump. In the film, Forrest goes to war, gets shot in the posterior and then says this fabulous line: ‘The only good thing about being wounded in the buttocks…is the ice cream’. Today’s soap-box/topic is the bum pain called gluteal tendinopathy. Which unfortunately cannot be helped (much) by a tub of Ben and Jerry’s.

Gluteal tendinopathy happens primarily to women over the age of 50 and is a close cousin to another nasty bum issue - bursitis. I’ll spare you the gory detail but basically the tendon gets overloaded, stressed and is connected to a weak muscle - this can then cause irritation of the are some signs this might be you: Can’t sleep on the sore side? Bit dodgy going up and down stairs? Pain going down the outside of your leg? Sore if sitting down for a long time?

Why does it happen? 1.Inactivity - strange but true. Less mobility and exercise leads to weak muscles which leads to tendon pain. 2. Hormones - add this to the long list of Horrible Hormonal Hardships. A drop in oestrogen can lead to tendons (and tempers) getting frayed. 3. Overload - either an increase in weight (thanks Ben and Jerry’s) or you’ve decided to become a long-distance runner in an overly optimistic time-frame.

What to do for a dodgy bum: 1. Don’t cross your legs - keep them parallel, even at night (pillow between the knees helps) 2. Don’t stretch your bum muscles - it’s not a short muscle that’s the problem - it’s a weak muscle. So stretching will do little to help the problem and may even make it worse. 3. Do some gentle strength training for your gluteals - within pain, simple, best under supervision of a physio or at worst in front of your friends after four glasses of Prosecco. 4. Do see a good physio to reduce your pain and give you spectacular exercises to help.

Hopefully you don’t have a painful cheek but if you do, Brightside Physio is a fabulous place to get help. Call the great glute team on 4062 8862 or book online www. brightsidephysio.com.au