On the mend again – BionicOldGuy

It’s been a little over a week since I posted about my relapse when I became too confident and started exercising too much. This time I was more careful in returning. I am now on the verge of returning to how I was before the setback. This time I’ll be more careful not to overdo it. I can ride for at least 30 minutes at a time without pain and it is fun and relaxing. I can reach some beautiful views here in a 30-minute ride;

I am also able to do well in my physical therapy. I can’t say it’s completely painless, but I learned the important concept of “centralization” in my reading of this: When you have sciatica, the pain originates somewhere and then travels down the leg. In my case, this central point of origin is the center of the hip, perhaps Pear muscle. It’s okay if you feel pain in your midsection while doing push-ups, but it shouldn’t make the referral down your leg worse, because that means your sciatic nerve is being compressed by the exercise. I’ve done a good job in the last week or so following this principle.

I had to have an MRI of my pelvis because I will be seeing an orthopedist in a week. That turned out to be painful. For some reason, it still hurts me to lie on my back for long periods of time, even with a pillow under my knees. But the useful information from this is that the pain was clearly coming from my left If attached. Until now I assumed I had piriformis syndrome (now also known as deep gluteal pain). If my SI joint is also inflamed, there are additional PT exercises I need to do. So I added those that hopefully help. I also began carefully adding in strengthening exercises, such as glute bridges and band shells, which is critical in the long term for strengthening the piriformis muscle and stabilizing the SI joint.