Hip Pain??
I developed a hip pain yesterday which I've never had before. It is painful on the outside of the hip, right at the joint. It is only painful if I put the knee facing out and move the leg down (think put your ankle over your quad and then press the knee toward the ground). The pain is like a stiff muscle pain - not a sharp pain. I can ride my bike and it seems fine. Reluctant to run until I figure out the problem or feel better. I did some work around the house yesterday, no workouts. I did do a 60 minute run on Saturday. Any ideas??
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Could be the top of your IT band.
Could be a few things to be honest. There are three different muscle groups that criss cross through there including the rotators, middle glutes and then anterior hip muscles.
What kind of stuff do you have at home to start digging it out? Are you doing any stretching? Let's see what we have to work with and go from there.
The good news is that it's just a matter of loosening up the area and you'll be good to go.
@Mike - you said he diagnosed it immediately, but didn't say what it was. Mine is the left side as well - interesting. I did my VDOT test 5 days before this started, so I don't know if it had anything to do with it or not.
@Leigh - I have a foam roller, a complete set of triggerpoint stuff, and the usual assortment of tennis balls, golf balls, etc. I usually stretch the hip area 2-3 times a week with a routine I got out of Gordo's book, and do the TP routine from their hip dysfunction dvd. I guess I could start doing that routine each day.
Not surprising that the pain started following a hard run. Hip injuries are primarily muscular and a result of problems further down the leg chain. For example, if you're working really hard and the rest of your leg is tired, you stop fully pushing off of your toes, knee, and glute. You still need to maintain that turnover to keep your speed up though, so now instead of the leg swinging through passively, you have to pull it through using the hip muscles. They just aren't designed for that and can get injured pretty quickly or if enough force is put on them (like a 5k or hard workout). When muscle group at the hip goes, the rest lock down to stabilize the joint.
Sooo...the trick when digging out the hip is that you need to work all three sides of it. Just focusing on the area that hurts can help, but you have to get the whole chain that lead to it.
If it were me: stretching and muscle massage work should focus on calf->hamstring/adductor->back of the hip->side of the hip->front of the hip->quad. (you can find plenty of tips and info at this website). Work from the ground up so you can see where it really came from. If you can loosen up the lower part, the rest of the leg chain will fall into place nicely.
Plan on a solid 20-30 minutes to really dig your leg out or sneak in to see your massage therapist. This should be daily until the symptoms are gone. Ok to still train, but be smart- sharp pain=stop. Sore/achy after = okay but keep your intensity down. Example- shorten bike intervals or add strides instead of TP work on the run.
I'll defer to medical professionals... but I had some hip issues last year and a friend who is a PT had me (well, in addition to foal rollers along the quads, IT bands, etc) do clam shells to be sure to strengthen adductors and abductors. It also helped for me to stay away from hills for a while. Good luck!