Sometimes, the sinus passages are too swollen to allow the fluid to escape, and Advil brings down the swelling.

If that's the culprit, Afrin will bring more immediate relief. I love Afrin. I wish I could marry it. Ibuprofen can be the best man.

I was going to suggest Afrin. My doctor says that, despite the label (and conventional wisdom) saying you can only use it for 3 days due to risk of rebound congestion, for a really bad cold with ear involvement, you can use it for 5-7 days.

Not smonster, Steph, but I sometimes have to deal with a pinchy hip as well. Rolling on a tennis ball or whatevs is indeed painful but it DOES work. Something about massaging the fascia so that they can relax and start to heal. Also recommend stretching all those gluteus muscles if that's what you think is causing it.

I've been using tennis balls, and when they didn't seem to help, switched to that evil foam roller (not in the same day). And I guess I need to find some stretches for the glutes/hip area. Cranky evil muscles.

I am trying to think of a way to describe some of the streches I do, but they are all weird and hard to explain. Like there's one where you sit on the ground with one leg folded in front of you, so your heel is close to your crotch. That's the working leg. The other is folded knee in front, foot to the back. Leaning back on your arms, raise the hip of the working leg foreward to stretch it. You can slowly start to lean back as far as you can, even lying on the ground, to deepen the stretch.

Pigeon is a great hip stretch. Actually here is a set of good hip stretches from yoga journal:

[link]

I know a good IT band stretch but am having trouble figuring out how to describe it. Will think on it!

The stretch Burrell mentioned is awesome.

Oh yeah, that Happy Baby pose is a good one for relaxing the hips and back too. Bound Angle looks good too, I know I do that one a lot when my body is feeling fidgety. Thanks for the link, lisah.

Ginger, I hope you find something that works for you. Stopped up ears are so miserable.

smonster, I've been meaning to ask you -- are you getting any relief from your hip pain? (Or is it your IT band? Or are they connected?)

No, not really. I just kind of ignore it until it keeps me from sleeping, and then lie on a series of balls. It's my glutes, and IT band, and psoas, and hamstrings, and goodness knows what else. The pigeon pose kind of helps. What I probably need to do is to relax all the fascia, and then try to get my SI back into joint, and then put my hip belt thingy on to keep it in place. But I haven't been able to manage that.

I hope the stretches help some, Steph.

So for once my poor memory for dates worked for me - the slides are due tomorrow, which means I can do them tomorrow evening while doing laundry, and then practice pitching on Tuesday. I may work on them a bit tonight, so I can bounce them back to my partner.

I ended up meeting up with StW to watch the 2nd half of the game (GEAUX SAINTS!) and then we had an early dinner and watched an episode of Justified. He's back out at a coffee shop working again. Craziness.

I just kind of ignore it until it keeps me from sleeping

Oh my sweet Christ. I can usually get it to calm down throughout the day (walking around and whatnot is fine -- causes no pain), and I'll lie on tennis balls before bed -- and now I'm going to add some stretches -- and as long as I fall asleep on my opposite side, I'm fine. Until about 2 hours before the alarm goes off, at which point I wake up, aware that my hip hurts like a mule kicked me and a circus strongman is punching me as a follow-up.

So my immediate goal is to just get it to calm the fuck down enough for me to sleep all the way through. And what's weird is that ibuprofen does not help at all.

Nope, ibuprofen doesn't do a damn thing for me either. I sleep face down with two pillows long ways under my torso and a third horizontal under my head, offset so my neck isn't at a total 90 degree. Steph, have you tried sleeping with a pillow between your thighs? Long ways, from crotch to knee. That helps keep my hips in alignment when I'm sleeping on my side.

Steph, have you tried sleeping with a pillow between your thighs? Long ways, from crotch to knee. That helps keep my hips in alignment when I'm sleeping on my side.

I do this, plus, I have a stuffed Sextopus (Get yer head outta the gutter...it's just an octopus made with 6 legs) that I hold between my forearms when I sleep on my side. It keeps my shoulders from hunching and I wake with no muscle pain at all.