First off, I posted this in the running forum, but due to the overwhelming response I received I thought I'd post it here (sarcasm intended).
I'm limited to what I can do right now due to a hip injury and was curious if you guys could give me work arounds. I've got till October, so I'm hoping that at the very least I'll be able to run by mid-Sept. if nothing isn't too serious with my hip
I need to do a 1.5 mile run for the Raleigh FD in under 12 minutes, which shouldn't be a problem (I can hold an 8 minute/mile pace fairly easily). To make myself more competitive for the position though I'd like to come in under 10 minutes. So I need to knock about a minute to two minutes off my comfortable pace (obviously some of this I'll be able to do just from the adrenaline). If I could get down to running a 6:30-7 minute mile with no problems though that'd be GREAT!
Here's the issue though:
Right now anything over 800m and my left hip feels like it's someone is stabbing me with a butcher's knife. I'm trying to schedule an appointment with an ortho in the meantime, but until then I need something to do besides GPP and conditioning work, the only time the pain hurts is when I run. I was thinking bike intervals, swimming intervals, and last but not least, rowing intervals (my favorite). Anything else you guys can think of that I'm just overlooking?
Hmm. It sounds like you have access to a pool. Have you considered, in addition to your swim intervals (and may I just add I get a little lightheaded from the excitement of anyone discuss swim intervals here?!?), donning an Aqua Jogger and doing some pseudo-running in the deep end?
Whenever my hips are bothering me, I have to remind myself to stretch, stretch, stretch after swimming. Keep in mind swimming can put a tremendous strain on hip flexors.
I'm sure you will get some good advice here. Ultimately, if I were in your position I wouldn't do much without advice from a great PT.
Hmm. It sounds like you have access to a pool. Have you considered, in addition to your swim intervals (and may I just add I get a little lightheaded from the excitement of anyone discuss swim intervals here?!?), donning an Aqua Jogger and doing some pseudo-running in the deep end?
Whenever my hips are bothering me, I have to remind myself to stretch, stretch, stretch after swimming. Keep in mind swimming can put a tremendous strain on hip flexors.
I'm sure you will get some good advice here. Ultimately, if I were in your position I wouldn't do much without advice from a great PT.
I'll have pool access at U of H in another two weeks, so pool intervals are something I've been flirting with, I used to love swimming and it's a lot more fun than going running. At least to me anyways.
And you bring up something else I've been wondering about, should I just skip the the ortho altogether and go to a PT. I don't wanna waste my money and see an ortho who's going to diagnose the problem then send me to a PT, that seems like a lot of BS to go through. I'm kinda impatient when it comes to these things though.
If it feels muscular in nature, I'd try rolling around the area with a lacrosse ball. However, I'd also look at Trigger Point referred pain areas and then try rolling the area that might be the catalyst for the pain.
If you find some relief from that, you might want to try trigger point massage, ART, or Rolfing.
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Weren't you down with lower back pain? Knowing how those two types of injury occur connected, have you been to a doctor or good therapist for evaluation?
Sorry about the problem, as a long term runner with arthritis I can relate.
What about the obvious? Shoes….When was the last time you switched them out? If you are over 180 lbs and running, are you in the right gear - a stability shoe like the Brooks Beast or the Asics Gel MC is generally recommended for bigger runners.
Just a thought. Been there, done that, have the tee shirts.
It feels muscular in nature, foam rolling and and tennis ball/golf ball work seems to help a lot. As does stretching and Magnificent Mobility. I thought about going to an ART practitioner but I'm in the middle of an internship, so anything I do is probably going to have to wait until after August 24th. I've looked at trigger points though and I don't have any referred pain, it's just my hip flexor. My wife thinks it could be bursitis because it feels like a deep pain in certain plains of motion, but they aren't necessarily natural and with some stretching things usually feel pretty loose.
Quote:
Originally Posted by galya
Weren't you down with lower back pain? Knowing how those two types of injury occur connected, have you been to a doctor or good therapist for evaluation?
Galya, yep, the lower back feels great though, I took a month off and I'm working a lot of core training back in, specifically lower ab, TVA, and lower back. I saw a GP about my back, but everything seemed in alignment and as best he could tell it was just a muscle strain. He did tell me to stop leaning to one side though. Not sure if that's related. This is more of an annoyance than anything else. I did some 400m intervals today, and so far my hip doesn't hurt at all. My glutes are another story though (still trying to perfect my POSE form). Maybe I'm out of the woods, but I doubt it.
And I just bought a pair of those lame ass UA running shoes cause my old ones were almost two years old. I looked at a number of different shoes for less than 80 bucks but there the only ones that felt good at Academy, I could've gotten a pair of Nike frees for my POSE running, but I still have a good pair of Puma K-streets that I'm using and didn't see the point.
I used to be able to run 8 minute miles, but I dont know if I still can though. I just sprint a lot now whenever I play slowpitch softball or at the gym in a room when no class is in there. I won't have track access until I go back to school at the end of august and then I will do some cardio running on the track. I think I can still pull off an 8 minute mile though, but not able to continue that pace for 2 more laps for 1 and a half miles.
Oh and I do dynamic stretching and rolling before I run or do any working out (all of us on hear do). Also, my piriformis/TFL muscle gets mad sometimes and I have to sit on that muscle with a baseball or tennis ball or a softball to get rid of the aching, then its happy again. =)
check out this old post one of the members on this forum made I found through google search So you think you're tough? Tony G's latest SMR article. go down to where this picture is. that is the muscle that was causing pain throughout the outside of my knee when I kick my butt with my heel in sprinting. no more pain or ache now. problem for that was caused by the way I had my legs when sleeping a while ago.
get a tennis ball and try rolling the TFL. thats a muscle missed a lot when foam rolling and hard to get directly with a foam roller. Also, what feels good to me now that really hurt when I started rolling is the piriformis.
hopefully that helps you. it helped me. Read the directions carefully above that picture for the TFL on the post url I gave you because you have to do it right to get the muscle.
I've been stretching my piriformis as well, I haven't worked on my TML, but I could give it a shot. I think part of my problem is a really tight IT band, but I'm not an orthopedic so I can only make speculations.
TFL is the name of the muscle by the way, not tml.
Here is a do it yourself picture with your own finger or u can have someone else do it. source: http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/...sciaeatae.html it tells you about TFL pain, and what it causes. it can cause pain in the hip and down the outside of your thigh.
ananomy of the hip
here is a good page to read about IT band syndrome (side of leg pain that you say you have) and what muscles to actually roll in what order and how to perform the rolling and also after rolling, it includes stretches to do. http://optimumsportsperformance.com/blog/?p=375
here is a good stretch for glutes/piriformis
hopefully these urls help you and especially the last one, which gives you a rehab program to do.
I'm not a runner.
Pain aside - what sorts of drills or training schemes do you have to do to get faster? Are there parts that you can transfer to another modality in the mean time.
For example:
If it is a foot-speed issue, perhaps doing cycling at a higher cadence will help you build some leg turnover speed that might carry over to running while giving you some cardio work? I'm thinking more carry-over than rowing just because you can work the feet in an alternating fashion.
Does stretching the hip flexor and/or glute-activation work have any effect on the pain, or have you tried that at all?
Stretching feels good, so does SMR work and keeps my hip flexor from feeling tight, especially after any kind of explosive hip movements (oly lifting/kb work), the glute-activation work I can feel in my glutes (obviously) and somewhat in my hamstrings, but not in my hips at all. I forgot to mention that this was caused from a high-rep set of squats A2G (20 reps actually, not the brightest idea at the time since I was already fatigued).
Mon, I'll do some more research tonight, hip anatomy (along with shoulder anatomy) boggles my mind. Ball and socket joints are confusing in general though. Thanks though.
And Lisa, I hadn't thought about that, but biking could have a direct impact on my turnover and cadence. Personally, I just like rowing alot, but some more time on a bike couldn't hurt me at all, I just need to up the resistance while maintaining a high turnover. Right now I'm just sucking up and running no more than 800m's at a time. That along with GPP and condition work from Infinite Intensity, which while increasing my VO2 max, doesn't really help me.
Right now anything over 800m and my left hip feels like it's someone is stabbing me with a butcher's knife. I'm trying to schedule an appointment with an ortho in the meantime, but until then I need something to do besides GPP and conditioning work, the only time the pain hurts is when I run. I was thinking bike intervals, swimming intervals, and last but not least, rowing intervals (my favorite). Anything else you guys can think of that I'm just overlooking?
I think you need to see a doctor, you might over do it that's why you feel such pain like that.
Hmmmmm.... Just coming off of an SI joint sprain and can feel some of this pain "literally". Am sort of the mind that you need to get this properly evaluated as it seems the pain is moving about a lot. That is exactly what happened to me on this one. Pain was in my left shoulder/scapula and down the sling of muscles/tendons all the way through the right IT band and into my right knee. One ortho diagnossed me with a hamstring tear (grade II) in fact. Interesting thing was that I had significant IT band syndrom pain as well. The ortho was certain I was really messed up there and recommened I roll it. But I roll the heck out of the IT band all the time and it is lose as can be so that just did not make sense. Turns out the SI joint injury just seems to affect a boatload of other stuff. Once the injury was properly diagnosed we could work on the best recovery plan. For my injury it was a lot of glute/hip/piriformus stretches and gradually working into exercises. What was crucial though was getting the muscles to relax enough for me to understand where the root cause of the pain was. Otherwise it would have taken longer to heal. For this I took 500 mg of Alieve a day for about 4 days. That helped get the inflamation down enough to take the next steps.
Good luck with it. Hope you do well on the FD test.
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this picture is. that is the muscle that was causing pain throughout the outside of my knee when I kick my butt with my heel in sprinting. no more pain or ache now. problem for that was caused by the way I had my legs when sleeping a while ago.
source: 
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