Situation
Due to a one sided sport I intensely practiced for a good portion of my teenage years(rowing in a team with only one oar per person), I have ever since experienced an awkward tight feeling in my hip when I stand up in the morning. After intense exercises I regularly feel a burn radiating down my leg on the outside of my thighs. I extreme cases and when it's very cold, I have a tingling sensation in my toes that makes me want to kick and stomp everything - the pain is really not a big deal, it is just so annoying!
My very competent sports doctor diagnosed a piriformis syndrome. The radiating pain is caused by the muscle pressing on the Sciatic nerve. Unfortunately for me in addition to that, my entire gluteus is also extremely cramped up. My physiotherapist suggested puncturing the muscles with a needle that will causes the muscle to twitch and eventually relax. In my case the needles just bent.. this gives you and idea of how severely these muscles are cramped. The therapist said it is very unusual for these needles to bend, as they are quite thick.
I searched all over the place for ways to help my muscles relax: massages, needle therapy, ultra wave therapy, stretches, no running, more running, more bicycle,
Eventually I decided to take to extreme measures: at the local gym I used a machine to train external hip rotation with weights. I tried less weight and many reps until muscle failure/exhaustion, and I tried big weights with less reps, both slow and fast. I did this together with stretches and massages over 6 months now. It has become slightly better, but gluteus is still severely cramped, and in the meantime I have peaked on the weights (machine cannot do more than 110kg). I forgot to mention that I have no complaints whatsoever during activity, even under maximum loads.
My questions:
- There is the possibility of injecting cortisone directly into the affected muscles, which makes them lazy as a couple of drunk cats. Increasing load slowly after the treatment, I should be able to rehabilitate the muscles. Does anyone have experience with this cortisone injection (or similar)? I have quite an uneasy feeling about it, not sure why.
- Does anyone have alternative methods, procedures, exercises that could help me?
Thanks for taking your time and reading this, it means a lot to me.