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Sun Jun 10th, 2018
 | 09:03 pm - All the perfumes of Arabia
My fingernails are tar black. This is because my bicycle has been logey for some time, and careful inspection showed quantities of dirt and mud caught in the chain and front gears. Probably the back gears too, but those are harder to get at. Careful cleaning doesn't get at the problem, so I went in bare-handed and picked the stuff out. Yes, I should have had it tuned up before the soft summer bicyclers all decided it was nice enough to go for a spin and brought their rarely-used vehicles in for overhaul, but I didn't.
Special soap cleaned the skin, but only time will get under the nails.
Piriformis has been acting up in spite of stretching and acupuncture and physio, so today I had a massage. Hadn't intended for it to be shiatsu, but I got a Japanese masseuse and a very shiatsu-type half hour. Shall see if there's fall-out from this (have I told you my shiatsu in Japan story?) but have booked another session plus acupuncture for next week. Piriformis has of course tightened up again.
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![[User Picture]](https://l-userpic.livejournal.com/11690011/1379663) | | From: |  mvrdrk |
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| Date: | June 11th, 2018 06:03 am (UTC) |
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I hope the piriformis clears up, it's so inconvenient! Debilitating. And chancy in its come-and-go ways. Clears up for a few days and then comes gangbustering back ten times worse than before.
How long did it take for yours to go away? | | From: | mvrdrk |
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| Date: | June 12th, 2018 05:53 am (UTC) |
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Once I knew what it was, about 2 weeks of debilitating and 4 weeks of minor inconvenience. 3 things really helped, a decent prescription for a muscle relaxant, figuring out what was triggering it (sitting at the computer in a particular way, sleeping in a particular position, etc.), and finding a good set of exercises to address it. I went after it pretty aggressively.
My mom had it and her doctor prescribed bed rest and pain killers, I think hers lingered for 6 or more months. So I'm guessing it's highly variable. (groans) I've had mine at least since November. But it's all mixed up with IT band tightness and arthritic knees, both of many years standing. In fact, I realize I've had it on and off much of my life, just that it never did much more than twinge occasionally.
I thought I was being silly thinking that Robaxacet helped, but if muscle relaxants work... What did your doctor give you? And what was the sleeping position that inflamed it? | | From: | mvrdrk |
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| Date: | June 13th, 2018 03:53 am (UTC) |
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So sitting I tend to lean forward, and cross my legs, that puts a lot of pressure on the piriformis area. Sleeping I like to curl on my side and pull the knee up, so again, bent hip and leg crossing the body. I've learned to sit like a man spreader, knee out rather than knee inwards and I'm learning to not sleep with the knee up or put a bolster under the knee to keep it from crossing the body. I also discovered that walking helped so for a couple weeks I walked, slowly, or stood, no sitting down at all. Super inconvenient.
I tried 2 different muscle relaxers, the one the doctor gave me didn't seem to do much and I don't recall it's name, the one I had left over from a different problem was called tizanadine and seemed to help at the cost of being asleep all day. Over the counter stuff probably would have worked fine after the debilitating period.
Oh and yes, it creeps back if I'm in the chair too long or not paying attention to my posture, but now I'm alert to how it feels and can modify my behavior before it gets bad. Oh, how odd. I cross my legs but with one ankle resting on the other knee, and that feels like a stretch. But yeah, my knees are definitely not turned in when I sit- and of course I don't spend a lot of time at a desk.
I side sleep with a pillow between my knees, but I really like the fetal knees up position. Very hard to keep them straight when you're on your side, as I tried last night.
Oh, walking. I know I should, but lord does it hurt |
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