Hi ya,

Try massage, gentle heat, try and oxygenate the area.

Easy said. I too have bullets (feels like) in my buttock and groin. I just press really hard and keep going...sure I get strange looks holding my bum / groin but it means I can take those baby steps.

Some folks ice. I can't do that myself = cramps but maybe worth a try?
You seeing a PT? Get them to do triggerpoint massage. Its a pleasure pain one, but free's them up a bit.

Happy walking, I'll look for the other person holding their groin as they hobble down the road! (joke mods!)

I have been having that bum ache as well. So bad that some days I don't want to walk, but I do. PT did deep tissue massage and that helped a bit, then this week she used a acupuncture gun. It stings a bit, but not real needles and breaks up the tissue that is causing the pain. It is feeling better now, had that done Wednesday, so lasted more than 1 day so far. I also have been trying to stretch a little bit, gently especially after PT or walking to make sure it does't tighten up. She said she can feel a ridge across the whole cheek.(sorry for the graphics)

I am laughing because I find myself digging my thumb into the muscles at the top of my thigh/groin or if I have been up and downs the stairs too many times or walked too long! I also sometimes get the same kind of pain in my lower abdomen/pelvis. Sometimes ice helps and sometimes heat. I would LOVE to be able to take ibuprofen!

Yes that is normal hun.
This is a long road for sure.
I remember that butt/groin pain all to well.
Also not all the time but sometimes surgery effects our SI joint.
I did not have the injection till June?? Don't remember the correct date. It did help for a little while. But I also was 9 months out at that point for the injection.
All your muscles/nerves take so long to heal in this process. Plus once you start adding more things to your routine your going to feel odd and end things that you did not feel before.
This surgery is such a MAJOR TRAUMA to the body even for those that are "buff" and "in shape" before hand.

So hang in there we all have been where you are now, or are going through it now like my self,

And "hold your butt groin" person while walking

Just take your meds if you still have them as directed by your dr. Of course I was only allowed 1 script at 4 months meany drs. HELLO WERE U CUT OPEN?? NOOOOOO

Call your dr with any new increased pain out of the ordinary!!!!

ha ha, lol, Carol

My secret weapon and the ONLY thing that enables me to "tolerate" any sort of massage is...

Ultrasound after any treatment. Anything at all.
Makes the difference between treatment disabling me (can't walk the next day) to being "sore" after PT, as one would expect!

Sorry, I should have said that.

I feel like I am stuck in the same mode I was 2 months out (which would be the end of Aug.) I feel like I haven't made any progress since then. I also get the pains in the butt, but mine feels like a bee is stinging me and won't go away! It usually attacks me when I'm laying down. Like the rest of you, I try to massage it REAL hard and it eventually goes away. If we were all in the same place, we could identify each other by where our hands were...lol. We just got to hang in there, but, boy, am I tired of this whole mess. But, at least I can walk again!

I had it too. IT was my SI joints too, as a result of the surgery affecting the geometry of the lower back. My Physical Therapist worked on the SI joint for a couple of sessions and gave me some stretches to do at home specifically for the SI joint, and it came right in about a month.

Hi Carol,

Yes, massage did something awful, lol, but adding in the ultrasound (that is supposed to disperse the inflammation) it made it more tolerable.

The idea behind the massge is to promote warmth and blood supply but i think my muscle fibres have changed after so many years of spasm and pain so they are fibrous and not very good at flexing. (I think I am explaining this correctly)- The ultrasound just tingles, can't really feel it but defo does disperse any aggrivation to the spot.

My SI too reacted - just as you say to the increased strains put through the now rigid spine. Howver, this never stopped my sore butt and groin.

I am walking again, post-op 2 weeks and these same pains are back (or never left!) - Butt and groin. Needling, pricking, knife like. I do put a hard pressure on them as I walk (it feels better balancing out the stabbing feeling) but doesn't do anything else.
I am seeing a new PT tomorrow - I'll let you know what she suggests, if anything.

Stretching is important too - like all our basic exercises, i guess!

When I used to see a therapist for deep massage, he gave me the trick of putting a tennis or golf ball in a stocking and lying on the bed with it under your butt. You can then move it around till it hits the spot using the stocking.
It really works when you get the extrememly tight muscles.

With the tight groin muscles, if you can lower yourself by squatting down on one knee while placing the other leg behind you and stretching the leg back. You will need to hold onto a door jam or similar and if your balance is not good then place your standing knee on a chair and stretch the other leg behind.
Alternatively you can lie on the side of the bed and drop one leg over the side till you get a good stretch. To increase the stretch bend foot of the lowered knee back up.
This is a really good one to do before getting out of bed.

Blessings Sara

It's so funny about the exercise you mentioned about dropping one foot off the bed! When I wake up, I feel like if I could just do a really BIG stretch I would feel so much better. I noticed when I do my log roll out of bed, I'd just like to stay in that position of the one leg dropped! It feels SO good in that position. I never thought of it as a stretching exercise, but that's what it is. Cool!

OMG! I was ROTF reading this post...well not the parts about hurting and postop, but the rubbing or holding the low back and groin. I do this! subconsciously! I just thought about it. Now, I'm going to be self-conscious. No telling how many people have wondered what disease I have. I press on my upper hip spots when walking or after I get out of the car, then I sometimes slide my hand inside the waistband too and just rub the low back across. I'm 13 weeks post op from ALIF L4/L5 with BMP and cages only...these past two weeks have been killers with pain. Stiff, tight muscles, every movement, ouch. Trying to use the skaters (lifting one leg straight out) to bend for the laundry or to pick up stuff and that kills my hips and SI joint. I can't squat due to knee spurs and arthritis. My legs are still weak too...I have to lift my left leg into the car after getting in if I'm driving and then swivel to get out on both legs.

When does it get better? What if it doesn't get better? I'm beginning to worry about the heating pad self-attaching itself to me since I use it so much. I'm going to ask/beg for an MRI when I go back the 21st for more xrays. So far I haven't shown any fusion. One of my cages was crooked but the NS wasn't concerned. I also fell/sorta rolled on my right hip this Saturday. It scared the stuffing out of me! But I was just a little more sore than normal. Nothing cracked or hurt really bad, but it sure makes you worry.I was leading a horse out of the pasture and he decided to bolt off. I tried to hang on to the lead rope and I tumbled.

Lord, please look over us spineys!!!

Oh yes - squatting just kills my hip joints - by afternoon they are screaming if I have tried that approach to picking things up, getting stuff out of low cupboards, etc. too much in one day. Putting an icy/hot patch on the hip joint helps but then I smell like an old lady - and I am not THAT old. If anybody has found a good exercise that relieves the hip joints that we can do post-fusion please let me know!