Nasty leg pain after riding

Does anyone else have to deal with this? After I've been riding hard - say a 3 hour ride at trot, canter, and gallop - if I sit down for more than 15 minutes on a chair, or driving my truck, I get the most unbelievable breathtaking pain in one leg or the other. It's not a muscle cramp. It runs from my groin right down to my ankle and I can't put weight on the leg. It usually takes 15 minutes or so to run its course. Nothing stops it - applying heat, cold, smacking the leg, flexing - nothing! Sometimes I think I must have sat on a nerve in my butt, and other times I think it's my socks or breeches cuffs that are too tight and are cutting something off. I've spoken to a G.P. and an internist about it but no one can figure out what's up.
I'd love to know if any of you have had this happen, and if so, what did you do about it, and what the heck is it?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Cathy Gourlay on February 17, 2011 at 2:05pm

For sciatica, have you tried Aleve? It will not make you drowsy, but it will help sooth the inflammation in your sciatic nerve. It works great for me, and the sciatica is all but gone. You can buy it over the counter. Hope you're feeling better.

Permalink Reply by Linda White on February 17, 2011 at 3:39pm

I think it was my daughter who discovered piriformis syndrome, a situation where the piriformis muscle in the butt contracts and "strangles" the sciatic nerve - not unexpected in riders, I guess as wikipedia mentions:

Overuse injury resulting in piriformis syndrome can result from activities performed in the sitting position that involves strenuous use of the legs as in rowing/sculling and bicycling.

My chiropractor has given me some exercises to do which are helping. Feeling pretty good, thanks.

Permalink Reply by Marlene Thoms on February 17, 2011 at 4:27pm

Good to hear you are improving LInda. I've been seeing physiotherapist lately. I messed up muscles across my neck, and shoulders, and both arms in pretty bad pain. (The old hip pain wasn't doing too well either). Turned out I had put most muscles into a spasm, enough to reduce blood flow to my arms and pinch nerves etc. I was getting desperate as it wasn't getting much better with reduced shovelling, horse's paddock was starting to look not good. Doctor was useles, no clue what was wrong or what to do about it. ARGGGHHH! Well physio has me on the right track now, it's going to be slowish recovery because this has been going on for months, total muscle overload. for too long without getting treatment. I should have seen the physio in October. Any way he gave me hope and said I should be riding fine if I keep up with the stretches and exercises prescribed. But shovelling is out for now. I have to get this fixed, grooming and just lifting a not very heavy saddle had become really difficult. Moral of the story: Don't ignore pain, and get help sooner rather than later before everything goes haywire.

Permalink Reply by Linda White on February 17, 2011 at 4:47pm

So true! I believe physiotherapists are the true heroes of medicine. I had ripped both rotation cuffs and doctors couldn't do a thing. I went to the physio and within 2 or 3 months I regained 100% movement in one shoulder and 80% in the other - brilliant people! The important thing is to do the exercises between the sessions - it will help a lot. Good luck.

Permalink Reply by Cindy Jeffery on February 20, 2011 at 6:25pm

Sciatic nerve is pinched, it runs from your lower back into your butt cheeks and down the back of the leg, down your thigh, outside the calf and into the the ankle and sometimes pain will go right into the foot. Anyway that's what happened with me. I have a friend who does reflexology and accupressure, she showed me the pressure points and I also went to a gifted physiotherapist who also uses alternative methods such as accupuncture. I went to the physio first for 3 months, every week for the first 3 weeks then once every 2 weeks. During that time he turned me into a pretzel, taught me some exercises to do on my own and gave me accupuncture after each session. Now I can say I have a handle on the problem, but there is a lot of pain if I'm not doing my exercises. My friend is a great help as well because she showed me where the pressure points are for sciatica, heart, pituitary, kidneys and liver. You can also find the chart on the internet but it helps to have a professional therapist show you how and why. Now I don't have to be on pain meds unless I really need them and usually just Xtra strength Liquid ADVIL.

Permalink Reply by Cindy Jeffery on February 20, 2011 at 6:36pm

Something else too I have noticed from myself and others around me. Because we live sedantary lives for the most part and often are "weekend warriors", we find ourselves sitting around too much. When you think about it we sit at our computers for work 4-8 hrs, school 4-8 hours or communication42-6 hours, we sit for our meals somewhere 1-2 hours, we sit when we go for coffee with someone 1 hour minimum, we sit when we drive from place to place like to the arena 10-30 mins where we sit on our horses for 1+ hours or we drive to the trail head maybe 1-2 hours, then we sit on our horse riding for 3-6 hours. No wonder we have sciatic pain, unless we are on a regular exercise program everyday as we get older we will constantly have this kind of problem whether we are carrying extra weight or not. It is more and more important to find alternative methods to drugs for managing our pain.

Permalink Reply by Linda White on February 20, 2011 at 6:47pm

Good info, re: the course of the sciatic nerve, Cindy. My doc doesn't seem to see that connection and I felt like I was being a hypochondriac when I mentioned that pain encompassing my entire leg. My massage therapist has been wanting to do pressure points for sciatic nerve and now you have convinced me it's relevant. Also, you do have a point about all the time we spend on our butts, me included. I'm a counsellor, so my job is seeing clients while sitting, plus the commute, plus I love to read and play on the computer, so I'm guilty as charged. And I hate exercise other than riding, swimming, canoeing.... So maybe I will have to start a new lifestyle. Groan. Better than the alternative though. If I can avoid that horrible pain, I'm in.

Thanks Cindy!

Permalink Reply by Marlene Thoms on February 21, 2011 at 9:08am

It probably wouldn't take a huge change in lifestyle. Just randomly taking up more gung-ho activity is not the answer. You will tend to go out and overstress/wrongly use the same muscles that you have already injured, and cause a flare up. More productive would be specific gentle stretches and exercises throughout the day, to relieve the cramped stuck in one position habits that you probably currently have. A physio can show you which stretches and exercises counteract the stresses of sitting, or using a computer, what kind of seat might be better at work, checking your posture (a biggee for me). I have found just changing my posture including bad habits while walking and sitting, doing some specific exercises for my back and shoulders has made quite a difference. I had my muscles so cramped up from alternate over/under use that the muscle cramping was cutting off the circulation to my arms and pinching nerves, hence the pain. I'm not fixed yet, but I have enough improvement I can at least function. The bonus is, I think it is going to improve my riding if I can get my muscles organized (and I get back the use of my arms!) I am also less exhausted because I am sleeping better and my muscles are not battling each other with every activity. It does take a little discipline at first to just stop what you are doing and do a quick five minute stretch, but the benefits keep you motivated.

Permalink Reply by Elaine Flintoff on April 3, 2011 at 9:01pm

Regarding the ultra thinline half pad - I recently purchased one as mentioned by Linda White....I have used it on both my mares, but I can't seem to get the fit right....I am wondering whether there is one strictly for dressage, or perhaps it is just too small. I ride in a 17 1/2" and an 18" dressage saddle(s).....I have contacted Greenhawk, so perhaps they can help. I was so surprised when I took it out of the package ! Nothing to it!

Permalink Reply by Linda White on April 3, 2011 at 9:10pm

A friend has borrowed it to use on his big mare and it fits her. My Canadian is broad and long in the back and she's good with it. Greenhawk has other versions but I didn't want the fleece at the front. Good luck.

Permalink Reply by Jan Jollymour on April 4, 2011 at 9:55am

Hi, Elaine:

I use the ThinLine Ultra half pad on all my horses. They range in size from 16 hh to 17+hh, and their saddles range from 16.5" to 18". When I'm using the 16.5" saddles, there's quite a bit of pad showing around the edges of the saddle seat and pommel. When I use the 18" saddles the pad can just barely be seen. It did take me some experimentation to get the pad right where I want it on top of the saddle pad, especially on the bigger horses. I'm 5'1" (I seem to be shrinking now!), so it's hard to see what I'm doing, but now I've got the landmarks figured out and it's where it should be. Once I have the ThinLine pad centred on the saddle pad I pull up the wither portion of both pads, and put the saddle on over top.

I was just as surprised as you were when the pad came out of the envelope it shipped in! It didn't seem that it could even have fit into the envelope, and I was wondering what on earth was in the package. It makes no logical sense to me that the pad does what it's supposed to, but the difference in my back and hips tells the story, so I'm now a believer in the claims. I also now have ThinLine reins, which I find very soft and easy to hold in my small hands.

Permalink Reply by Tracy McDermott on September 2, 2011 at 12:24am

Linda it sounds like you are stepping into the stirrup instead of holding with the knee and leg. If the pain is frontal ie:groin to foot, not involving the lower back then you might be pushing down to much into the stirrup with your hips tilted forward. Try keeping posture with hips tilt back, shoulders back, looking level, not watching the ground.