pain and stiffness in pelvic area

Pain and Stiffness
Hey, it's so good to see my twin back on here, but sorry that you are feeling a little discomfort. This seems to be such a common side effect from the radiation. It happens to me (and I'd rather blame it on the treatment rather than old age!). Good stretching exercises can help and just keep moving. I have found that sitting for any length of time anymore really cripples me up for awhile. I hope you can find something that will help you get past this.

BTW, my 3 1/2 year post-treatment mark was reached on March 9th!

Hi Alyse!
I’ve had really tight hip muscles since about 9 months after treatment. I also get really badly cramped up after walking about 200 feet – so much so that I have to sit for a few minutes, then it goes away and I can continue on. I don’t exercise much and with the walking issues I’ve gotten even less exercise than before. I also had an intervening lengthy hospital stay (2 months in the hospital then 2 more months at home unable to get around much at all) that I think caused atrophy of some of the inner muscles. Radiation, the hospital stay, inactivity, age – I think they may all be attributing to my walking problems and hip tightness.

I went to physical therapy about a year ago and she gave me all kinds of stretches and strengthening exercises. She told me that atrophy like that won’t go away with just getting back to life and that special exercises were needed to target the affected areas. The exercises helped tremendously with flexibility but didn’t help the walking issue.

Recently (actually, just last Friday) I returned to physical therapy and this time she’s doing deep tissue massage. We started on Friday and one of the muscles she concentrated on was on the inner thigh near the groin (can’t remember the name of the muscle). The other was the piriformis, a muscle deep inside the butt. Wow, could I feel it when she massaged those muscles – pain that diminished as she continued the massage. I have relatively high hopes for the deep tissue massage.

I won’t be going back for a couple of weeks because of scheduling issues but when I do I’ll let you know how it progresses.

Rose

RoseC said:

Hi Alyse!
I’ve had really tight hip muscles since about 9 months after treatment. I also get really badly cramped up after walking about 200 feet – so much so that I have to sit for a few minutes, then it goes away and I can continue on. I don’t exercise much and with the walking issues I’ve gotten even less exercise than before. I also had an intervening lengthy hospital stay (2 months in the hospital then 2 more months at home unable to get around much at all) that I think caused atrophy of some of the inner muscles. Radiation, the hospital stay, inactivity, age – I think they may all be attributing to my walking problems and hip tightness.

I went to physical therapy about a year ago and she gave me all kinds of stretches and strengthening exercises. She told me that atrophy like that won’t go away with just getting back to life and that special exercises were needed to target the affected areas. The exercises helped tremendously with flexibility but didn’t help the walking issue.

Recently (actually, just last Friday) I returned to physical therapy and this time she’s doing deep tissue massage. We started on Friday and one of the muscles she concentrated on was on the inner thigh near the groin (can’t remember the name of the muscle). The other was the piriformis, a muscle deep inside the butt. Wow, could I feel it when she massaged those muscles – pain that diminished as she continued the massage. I have relatively high hopes for the deep tissue massage.

I won’t be going back for a couple of weeks because of scheduling issues but when I do I’ll let you know how it progresses.

Rose

HI Rose
I just wanted to wish you good results with the physical therapy. I'm a big believer in PT and I hope it will give you some relief!

RoseC said:

Thanks so much Martha! And I
Thanks so much Martha! And I need to start exercising, at least some. Gotta be like you and do more to help myself. You're a very good example for all of us.

Hi Rose
You are very sweet. I do believe that exercise is so very important. I was very active before my diagnosis and one of the first things I thought of when I found out I had cancer was that I would never be able to do all of those activities again. Fortunately, I was wrong. I am actually training to do a marathon on April 21st. Realistically, I can not run the entire 26.2 miles, so there will have to be some walk breaks. I'll let you know how it goes! In the meantime, begin walking--that really is the best exercise!

RoseC said:

April 21st - not so very far
April 21st - not so very far from today. You can be very sure that you'll have a tremendous rooting section here on the forum! I think that's wonderful - congratulations in advance!

Thanks Rose!
I appreciate your support!

ok
Forget the mahjong, do the golf.

z810840b said:

so true
i agree sherry...but it sure does hurt...:-(

dang it
Don't want you hurting princess. It's always something. We will talk and feel free to call and whine.

tufi000 said:

dang it
Don't want you hurting princess. It's always something. We will talk and feel free to call and whine.

pelvic pain and stiffness
I am a year and a half out and have the same problem. I believe it is scarring from the radiation pulling in. My sister in law is a myofacial release therapist and has been treating me for a couple of weeks. I have noticed it is helping with pain in my hips and legs. I am very lucky to have her helping me

cap630 said:

Pain and stiffness
Hi Alyse,
I have pain and stiffness too. I'm finding that water areobics is helping to relieve the stiffness.

I am almost 3 years post
I am almost 3 years post treatment and have been having more lower back, leg/thigh and groin pain than before. I always get scared that it is coming back but was just checked in the middle of December. My doc did tell me that I have a lot of scar tissue and that it does continue to change. I have to make a better effort to exercise more.

duckyann said:

I am almost 3 years post
I am almost 3 years post treatment and have been having more lower back, leg/thigh and groin pain than before. I always get scared that it is coming back but was just checked in the middle of December. My doc did tell me that I have a lot of scar tissue and that it does continue to change. I have to make a better effort to exercise more.

duckyann
I have pain in my lower back too.and my right leg and hip i have been taking walks thats helping me I,am 14 mo out of treatments. Shirley