Need advice. Glute injury.

[Mai72]

This is going back about a month ago. I did back exercises that day (deadlifts, barebell pullups) and I was fine when I was in the gym. But, a day later I had sharp pain left side, lower buttock.

I figured I must had injured the glute muscle while doing deadlifts or the pullups. I know both exercises can be risky if the form is incorrect and heavy weights are used. I've stopped doing both and have gone to the T-bar row instead.

So, I was actually feeling good. It seems that it takes a while for a glute injury to heal. But, today I started to get that sharp dull pain again. I went to the gym after work, warned up with the elliptical machine and hit the weights. I did squats, calf raises and leg presses. Plus a few other like bench presses.

My question is would you stay away from squats, leg presses or anything that involves the lower back/glutes? I feel great when I'm in the gym and warmed up. It's only when I'm home and I'm sitting or in bed. That's when I tend to get the pain.

Thanks.

 

[cbrunny]

Have you been stretching/rolling it?

 

[Mai72]

Have you been stretching/rolling it?

A little. Not much TBH.

I use the elliptical machine as my warmup. I'm on it for about 13 minutes before I start my weight training. I know I should devote more time to warming up.

 

[cbrunny]

Its always very difficult to provide injury advice over the internet, so obviously you should see a doctor. That being said, you should consider stretching your muscles thoroughly even when not warming up or cooling down. Almost daily I will take 10 to 15 minutes and do some basic stretching - very slow, very light, very easy since I'm not warm - in front of the tv while watching something with my wife. That kind of stretching should promote blood flow to the areas which can drop nutrients on injured sites, generally speeding recovery in all forms including injury. It should make you more flexible, which (depending on which science you believe) should make you more injury resistant. Stretching as warm up is good too, but serves a different purpose.

My current opinion on rolling is somewhat convoluted, but basically my advice is to not roll unless you have average or better flexibility. If you have average or better flexibility, roll away, using more pressure the more flexible you are. Rolling can have huge advantages too. But glutes are a bit tough to roll. FWIW, I only roll my calves and very lightly on my quads.

 

[blackdogdeek]

I am not a doctor.

What I've always read is that if warming up the muscles makes the pain go away then it's probably some form of DOMS and it's ok to work out. If after warming up the pain is just as severe as before then it's probably some kind of injury so don't work out.

 

[Mai72]

I am not a doctor.

What I've always read is that if warming up the muscles makes the pain go away then it's probably some form of DOMS and it's ok to work out. If after warming up the pain is just as severe as before then it's probably some kind of injury so don't work out.

I only feel the pain when I sleep for long periods or when it's damp and cold outside. That's because the muscle is contracting when cold. When I'm in the gym I'm fine but I don't want to go real heavy and do something I'll regret.

I'm at work now and it feels good. Maybe it's because I worked out yesterday?

 

[Mai72]

Its always very difficult to provide injury advice over the internet, so obviously you should see a doctor. That being said, you should consider stretching your muscles thoroughly even when not warming up or cooling down. Almost daily I will take 10 to 15 minutes and do some basic stretching - very slow, very light, very easy since I'm not warm - in front of the tv while watching something with my wife. That kind of stretching should promote blood flow to the areas which can drop nutrients on injured sites, generally speeding recovery in all forms including injury. It should make you more flexible, which (depending on which science you believe) should make you more injury resistant. Stretching as warm up is good too, but serves a different purpose.

My current opinion on rolling is somewhat convoluted, but basically my advice is to not roll unless you have average or better flexibility. If you have average or better flexibility, roll away, using more pressure the more flexible you are. Rolling can have huge advantages too. But glutes are a bit tough to roll. FWIW, I only roll my calves and very lightly on my quads.

What's rolling? Is that when you rotate the side of your body back and forth?

I'm going to do more stretching before and after my workouts for now on. Thanks.

 

[deadlyapp]

Get a lacrosse ball and get it up in that muscle tissue. Might help to do it elevated (eg on a box, then sit on the lacrosse ball). There are plenty of video tutorials on this to help you with placement.

The other poster that mentioned rolling is talking about rolling out the tissue to help with myofascial release using a PVC roller or foam roller.

 

[KIAman]

That's amazing you got a glute injury. That's a damned big and strong muscle to be the one injured in a compound movement like that. I would not rule out a lower back injury. Does the pain radiate down the glute and legs at all? Does it get better or worse depending on your posture? The reason I ask is that you only get pain when you are not really using your glute muscles at all.

To give some anecdotal perspective, I injured my left hamstring and for the next few weeks, anything that related to that muscle, be it stretching or walking or the motion of sitting down and getting back up fired up the pain receptors in the muscle. When I was casually relaxing in bed or sitting or anything that didn't cause a contraction or stretch, there was zero pain, just small dull sensation and even that lasted a week.

 

[cbrunny]

What's rolling? Is that when you rotate the side of your body back and forth?

I'm going to do more stretching before and after my workouts for now on. Thanks.

foam rolling, usually. you can do it with a golf ball or a hard ball of some kind too, but most commonly it is done with foam roller. Lots of info on the google and tons of how to videos on youtube. you can do it wrong, so be careful, but if you do it right it could help.

 

[Mai72]

That's amazing you got a glute injury. That's a damned big and strong muscle to be the one injured in a compound movement like that. I would not rule out a lower back injury. Does the pain radiate down the glute and legs at all? Does it get better or worse depending on your posture? The reason I ask is that you only get pain when you are not really using your glute muscles at all.

To give some anecdotal perspective, I injured my left hamstring and for the next few weeks, anything that related to that muscle, be it stretching or walking or the motion of sitting down and getting back up fired up the pain receptors in the muscle. When I was casually relaxing in bed or sitting or anything that didn't cause a contraction or stretch, there was zero pain, just small dull sensation and even that lasted a week.

It could be lower back but the pain radiates down from my left butt. Not from my lower back. I've had back pain before so I know what that feels like.

Thanks.