lower back, tailbone, butt cheek, and hip pain

For about a year now I've had alot of pain in my lower back all the way to my tailbone, my left butt cheek, and my left hip. It started about the last three months of my pregnancy. It got better after I had my daughter but has started coming back. It seems to only get worse. It hurts more in the morning and when I'm in bed at night. It keeps me up all night, so I haven't been sleeping well. The drs said it's not siatica or a buldging disc. I have had numerous x-rays, MRIs, CT scans, and nothing can be found. Nothing seems to work. The heating pads, motrin, aleve, ibuprofen, whatever only seems to help for a few hours and it's back and worse than before. Any ideas on what it can be?

[S. Kaul, MD]

Hi there!

Well, without a clinical evaluation it would be difficult to determine the cause of your symptoms. Since the imaging studies have been normal, a structural abnormality is unlikely and possibilities that may need to be considered at this stage include postural defects, inflammations, neuro-muscular issues like myopathies/ neuropathies etc, micronutrient deficiencies etc. I would suggest getting this evaluated by an orthopedician or a rheumatologist at this time, for an accurate diagnosis and appropriate management. If everything happens to be clear or in a few other neuro-muscular issues, physiotherapy may be beneficial option.
Hope this is helpful.

Take care!