Knot Your Regular Pain In The A$$...
Know anybody who’s got tightness or a weird, nondescript nagging pain in their glutes, hammies, hips or lower back?
Is it YOU?
I think we’re way overdue for a blog post to help you relieve some of those annoyances, so without further adieu: Let’s dive into one surprisingly simple and common cause/contributor: KNOTS IN YOUR GLUTES.
First of all, WHAT ARE KNOTS?
Knots are tightened spots within a muscle and its surrounding tissue called FASCIA. They are formally called MYOFASCIAL TRIGGER POINTS. CLICK HERE for some photos (all credits to their respective creators) so you can see what you're dealing with.
WHAT MAKES KNOTS SO PROBLEMATIC?
These knots are areas where the muscle stays contracted and consequently hold within them all of the waste products normally flushed out after a muscle gets used.
They are usually painful to the touch/pressure, cause referred pain/discomfort to other areas of the body and act like a tether to the muscle it lives in as well as the surrounding muscles--making you tight.
When it comes to your glutes, you've got a bunch of muscles and they lay in two layers across the back of your pelvis.
GET YOU TO KNOW YOUR GLUTES:
Today we’re looking at our little friend, PIRIFORMIS.
CLICK HERE AND FIND AN IMAGE THAT SHOWS THE PIRIFORMIS SITTING AMONGST YOUR OTHER GLUTE MUSCLES.
See him there?
He’s pretty cute, isn’t he?
...Just kinda nestled in there all nicey-nice?
Well, don’t let his cute looks deceive you. He is small but mighty, and can be a REAL PAIN IN THE A$$ if he doesn’t get the attention he needs.
And who can blame him?
After all, he does carry a lot of weight and have some pretty significant responsibilities. He stabilizes your hip and is one of the muscles responsible for allowing your foot/leg/hip to rotate outward.
Remember: you have one in each cheek.
So here’s what’s up…we’re gonna start taking a look at this little dude and getting him into shape.
Look down at your feet. Do they point outward when you walk, sit or SQUAT?
Peek-a-boo! GUESS WHO?
Do you have pain in the glutes in and around the area where that little piriformis lives?
On a good day, that little piriformis lets you do all kinds of fun stuff.
On a bad day, he’s a tightwad. LITERALLY. And not only does he place you on restriction, he causes PAIN.
When that little piriformis is tight, he causes your foot/leg/hip to turn outward, and can make it difficult to squat or cross your legs.
Sometimes he gets up in other people’s biiiz-ness, too. You’ve heard of the sciatic nerve, right? Well, the sciatic nerve lives next door to the piriformis, and sometimes runs right through the piriformis.
And let’s just say-those two are like jealous lovers, because the piriformis can wreak holy hell on the sciatic nerve and give you that ridiculous pain that shoots down the back of your leg that we all know and love called “sciatica.”
(Be Advised: This is no way establishing me as your Health Care Provider, or assuming any sort of contractual bond between you and I. Neither is this an exclusive diagnostic assessment or a treatment protocol. For f*%&’s sake-anything involving your nerves, or what you remotely think is your nerves is serious shit. If you have pain that resembles anything like sciatica, don’t be an idiot and just blame it on your piriformis. Get that shit checked out by a QUALIFIED, PROFESSIONAL healthcare practitioner.)
Sciatica is not the focus of today’s training. Dropped it in there, because we need to distinguish what we ARE talking about today, which are some annoying little “knots” in your piriformis that make it act like a tightwad.
So here's what happens...
The piriformis (aka Mr. Tightwad) gets a few of these "knots" throughout him and causes you to be tight in and through the glutes. He also has an extensive network which causes tightness throughout the lower back, hammies and hips-just to name a few areas. He's also been known to be a contributor to the common affliction encountered by many endurance athletes known as IT BAND SYNDROME.
I told you...he is small but mighty and is not your regular pain in the A$$!
SO WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT IT?
Again, I want to emphasize the fact that this is only ONE POSSIBLE contributor to your issue.
One thing you can try is to roll it out using a ball. They make special "myofascial release" balls you can purchase, but a lot of our athletes get great results using a simple golf or lacrosse ball.
Sit on solid flooring (NOT NICE HARDWOOD FLOORS, THOUGH! You'll ruin them!) with both knees bent. Take your R ankle and drape it over your L thigh (ABOVE your left knee!), allowing your R knee to flare out to the side like a frog leg.
Use your hands to lift yourself up and place your R glute on top of the ball.
Roll yourself along where you envision the piriformis to be. If you've got little knots in there, you'll find out real quick. TRUST ME ON THAT.
Sometimes it takes a few passes back and forth to find it, but I PROMISE YOU-there will be no question when you do. Be advised: Most people are tighter/have worse "knots" on one side than the other. Things like your posture, arm dominance and your daily movement patterns, nutrition/hydration status, injury/trauma and even how you respond to pressure/stress affect which side develops worse knots.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR THE KNOTS TO GO AWAY?
Lol. In my experience, they don't ever really "go away." What happens is that you become more involved in mitigating them, and congruent in your daily myofascial care to keep Mr. Tightwad and his homies at bay.
Additionally, the importance of adequate hydration cannot be overstated, ESPECIALLY once you begin to release these nasty little buggers (aka myofascial release). Remember-trapped inside of them are all of the waste products of your muscle's metabolism. Releasing the knots releases those waste products and they need to be "flushed" from your body. This is done with drinking what we call "free water" (water not bogged down with caffeine, chemicals, sugars or other $#!+).
Train Hard and Recover Yourself Well!
