Pain In The Bum And Down The Leg – What Should I do?

Thank you for joining us for today’s livestream where we talked about pain that travels from the buttock down to the leg, sometimes into the lower back as well. This type of pain can occur in just the one leg or in both so we’re going to explain why this happens.

This buttock pain is in the gluteal muscles but it’s not the site of the injury despite the fact it’s there that’s causing you pain. Often this is blamed as the piriformis muscle, but the likelihood of this happening is very small. It’s such a small structure and it may well be problematic but it’s likely to not be the main cause. The L4-5 and L5-S1 are the areas that are most commonly injured in the spine.

Often people try to treat these issues as a muscle issue rather than what it is, a spinal issue. You need to address it as it is, a spinal problem.

Massage is often one of the treatments that people opt for, and it can have a place but if you’re someone with a lower back issue then it needs to be treated differently than say an athlete that has injured themselves during training. Deep massage that can respond well in an athlete is not helpful for someone with back pain.