Expert: Dr. J. Shawn Leatherman - 11/21/2006

Question
This may be long- August 2006, I had this horrible pain in right buttock.  I had been limping due to injury of left foot (which did prove to have a broken bone) At the sametime, I went to my dr. about my foot, I showed him my fingers as almost overnight my knuckles were swollen. He told me to take Glucosomine,Condrodent,MSM for osteroarthritis, told me to go to phy. therapy for pain in buttock. They treated me with heat and exercises;however soon I found I could not do many of the exercises due to muscle pain in calf and thigh-burning pain.  I have improved as the buttock pain started as a "bolting" pain. I am ok, most of the time in my home activities, but when I get out in a store, after about 20 minutes, the buttock pain is felt,the thigh and the calf and sometimes my little toe on that side. As long as I take ibuprophen I am pretty much without pain or little pain. The phy therapists diagnosis was periformis syndrome or S1 joint. I have read that an ADT specialized chiop. can correct this problem and luckily the only one in my state is 2 miles from me and have appt. next week. Because the antiinflammatory is effective for the most part, does this give you any sort of hint if the correct diagnosis is periformis/sciatica?  If I took ibuprophen 3 times a day I might not have any pain but I do not want to put a "bandaid" or mask the pain so I just take 1 a day. I stopped taking Crestor on 9/19/2006 after having taken it for a year lacking a month.  I know this can cause muscle pain I went to my dr. and told him of my suspision of Crestor and muscle pain. He agreed and put diagnosis of neuopathy.  Any ideas on cause of the buttock pain,thigh,calf pain.  Hip xrays show nothing wrong. Thanks for any insight you could give. Marian

Answer
Dear Marian,

Well I think that you and the medical staff you have conferred with are correct from what you have described.  If the x-ray shows nothing and you are mostly pain free until walking for a period of time, Piriformis syndrome and SI joint dysfunction are likely diagnoses.  Sciatica is just the description of lower leg pain produced when there is constriction or inflammation of the sciatic nerve.

You probably have decreased flexibility in your hamstrings, buttocks, erector spinae muscles of the low back, and the main hip flexor muscle called the illiopsoas, as well.  The chiropractor can teach you stretching protocals to help with these muscles.

All of the above can be successfully treated by an ART chiropractor.  Doctors certified in ART (Active Release technique) are experts at treating myofascial dysfunction.  The treatment is fairly aggressive, and you will be actively involved in it, but the results are great...you should see improvements in only a few visits. The doctor may also want x-rays of the lumbar spine if they have not been taken...because this is where the sciatic nerve originates.

Concerning the crestor...yeah, all of the statin drugs can cause muscle pain as well as a condition called Rhabdomyolysis which is a muscle wasting/degenerative condition.  I am glad that your doctor agreed to take you off of it.  If you are worried about cholesterol levels a great supplement to take would be omega III fatty acids.  Approximately 4000mg per day and you want to make sure that EPA and DHA are listed on the label.  The product should be mollecularly distilled for purity.

The chondroitin sulfate/glucosamine sulfate/MSM product is a good one.  Make sure you are getting 1500mg/1500mg/750mg per day respectively for the greatest benefit.

Good luck with your recovery Marian...you will be in good hands with an ART Chiropractor.

Respectfully,
Dr. J. Shawn Leatherman