Buttocks pain is a very common complaint among people with sedentary jobs. The human bum is an intricate combination of muscles, fat, nerves, ligaments, tendons and blood vessels. Due to prolonged sitting, the soft tissues surrounding the buttock can become compressed resulting in trauma, inflammation and pain. Prolonged sitting can also cause postural adaptations to the tissues of the lower back, pelvis and buttocks resulting in injury and consequently pain.
Patients have described the pain they feel as soreness, stiffness or throbbing pain which is worse on sitting and walking and makes simple task such as wearing a sock difficult. For some patients, the pain is eased by lying down while for others turning in bed is a horror. The pain may be centralized in the buttocks or radiate down the back of the legs.
Causes
Identifying the cause of pain in the buttocks can be quite challenging. This is because a lot of times the pain is not created in the buttocks but in structures adjoining it. I will advise you seek consultation with a highly skilled Physiotherapist to get a correct diagnosis.
The major causes of Buttock pain includes:
1, Referred pain from the lumbar Spine. Prolapsed lumbar disc compressing on the sciatic nerve which runs through the buttocks is one major cause of buttocks pain. This pain referred to as Sciatica consistently gets the blame for all the pain problems in the bum but this is not so.
2, Sacro iliac joint /Ligament pain. This is a commonly overlooked culprit that might cause buttock pain in patients. The Sacro iliac joints are held together by tough ligaments that are responsible for absorbing the pressure of walking, running, twisting, jumping and more. Any Injuries or other problems in this joint will result in pain in the bum especially during movement.
3, Piriformis Syndrome. The Piriformis is a small muscle that sits deep within the hip and has the sciatic nerve passing inferior to it or through it. When this muscle gets tight and presses on the sciatic nerve the patients will complain of deep pain in the buttocks which is made worse by sitting, climbing stairs or performing squats.
Other causes of buttocks pain could be bursitis which is an inflammation of the fluid filled sac that allows tendons and muscles to glide over bones and Coccyx pain which is problems with the sitting bone that makes sitting down a great discomfort.
Treatment
The treatment for Buttock pain usually varies between individuals as it is dependent on the underlying cause of the pain. It is therefore not wise to prescribe exercises without seeing the patient first or to self manage buttock pain by downloading exercises from the internet. Most treatments will involve postural correction, strengthening of surrounding muscles, correction of mal aligned joints and stretching the sciatic nerve. A treatment plan that involves only the use of over the counter pain medication, heat or ice therapy and avoiding prolonged sitting while offering quick solution is fleeting as they do not address the root cause of the problem.
Nkiru Jibuaku
