Okay, the back pain. It's only back pain because first it is butt pain. There is a large muscle which begins at the crest of the posterior hip and runs down through the buttocks, inserting on the trochanter of the femur. It's called the gluteus medius, and it is, as best I can tell, the root of all my problems.



See how it starts at the crest, and inserts deep below other muscles and ends up on the femur? See?

Oy.

So, when this muscle is weak, injured, or otherwise pissed off, several things occur. Most noticeably, other muscles begin compensating for the weak one, and then they, too, begin to hurt because they are being overused. Eventually, you've got my situation: a bunch of pissed-off muscles all trying to stabilize the trunk, and failing most of the time. It's the pain-spasm-pain cycle to a T.

The other muscles involved, for me are:

Tensor Fasciae Latae (or TFL, aka "the coffee muscle", hence this post's title)




ESGs (erector spinae group, those ones that run from the top of your hip up along your spine; you can see with names like that why we muscle folk like to use acronyms)




QL, the quadratus lumborum, a fine fellow running between lower ribs and upper pelvis on the backside of things

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So, friends, knowing that direct pressure relieves my pain almost entirely, though not for long, leads me to think that the first allopathic approach to this debacle would be pain medication and muscle relaxants to break the cycle. I've done this briefly, but I can only maintain so long using borrowed drugs and things I can buy on sporadic trips out of country.

I see the doctor tomorrow. Send her good energy so that I can get something, anything, to start the healing.