A Pain in the Bum

Back in August I went to watch an Elvis impersonator in Holyport Village Hall.  Not just any Elvis impersonator, but Ben Portsmouth, a champion Elvis impersonator!  I had seem him perform before and he is pretty good (if you like that kind of thing), but even so it was one of the more surreal nights of my life!  Sitting at a trestle table in a village hall that had been decorated with an Hawaiian theme (including Hawaiian confetti) wearing a Lei and singing along to Elvis.
At the time I remember how uncomfortable I found the chairs, and spent all night fidgeting from one bum cheek to the other and moving around trying to get comfortable to no avail.
The following day I was off to the Olympics to watch Tom Daley dive (and win a Bronze medal as it turned out), and beforehand I went for a little run.  However when I was putting my trainers on I had real difficulty with quite extreme pain in the back of my right leg, starting in my bum and radiating down to my knee.  After a bit of hopping around and trying to walk it off I decided to just start running, and it didn't bother me too much during my run surprisingly.  However, the pain would come back every time I had rested and then started walking again, and first thing in the morning it was really bad.  So I went to the doctor who decided I had a dose of Sciatica and prescribed me some strong anti-inflammatory painkillers and told me it could take up to 6 weeks to get better.

It did take a few weeks to die down, but since then I have been pretty much OK.  Up until now.  The pain is back.  I can still run OK, but walking is often really quite painful, and for the past two nights I have found that it has been nearly impossible to get comfortable laying down in bed unless I take codeine.  I actually felt something go 'ping' in my bum when I was curling up in bed a couple of nights ago which was incredibly painful.

I have been googling this morning (as you do!) and have discovered a condition called Piriformis Syndrome which seems to exactly describe my symptoms.  Reading the wiki page it all seemed to fall into place with regards to where the pain is and possible contributing factors (over-pronation and issues with hip abductors such as in groin strain, ring any bells anyone?!!).
Luckily it would seem that I can fix this by doing some proper stretching, and also by strengthening my core muscles.  So it might be time for me to bite the bullet and head to the gym and get some proper advice.

Oh and perhaps that pair of new trainers I have been saying I would get since October would be a good idea too eh!!

Who'd have thought an Elvis gig in a village hall could have such lasting effects...........