jtemails wrote:
I'm so glad to have found this post, and am encouraged to hear you have returned to some awesome racing. I have been dealing with the exact issue you described for 11 weeks now with minimal improvements. I've been going to PT and they have been doing trigger point dry needling on all the muscles that lead into the hip. I'm able to run 2 miles and feel it slightly while running and then it gets angry and sore for the rest of the day after. When cycling (even on my TT bike) and swimming do nothing to cause irritation and pain. Do you think I should take off time completely from running, biking, and swimming, or stick with what doesn't irritate it. Also anti-inflammatory drugs or no? Lastly, the my physical therapist noticed that when I try to do a small single leg squat my knee wants to go in quite a bit, and when I run for her barefooted she sees that knee dipping in slightly when on that leg. She feels that I'm still having issue because of that imbalance and I was wonder the best way to strength that leg. I plan on doing Coach Jay - Hip Myrtle Routine (Search YouTube), foam rolling, Hot Yoga, stretching, and trigger point ball work. Thank you for your responding any and all.
Hi there- i'm not sure what trigger point dry needling is- but it sounds like it's supposed to release tightness?
In theory, doing exercise that does not irritated your hip will not make it worse- in my case, the way I initially treated this injury was to just stop running and hope it would go away, and I swam and cycled a ton. It didn't make it worse, but it never got better, because I never did anything to heal the TFL, and I didn't do anything about my strength imbalances for running.
I believe the knee tracking issue you describe is most likely related to a weak glute issue (non medical opinion, for whatever its worth). I did a lot of one legged squat/dip type exercises and did it in front of a mirror to watch my knee so that it would stay straight. it's been three years now and I never got the pain back, after doing the ART to work out the TFL and illiacus tightness and work on the strengthening.
foam rolling, hot yoga, stretching, trigger point are all great, and might be enough- but they are not as aggressive as graston and ART- i'm not saying that is what you need, but it is what worked for me. I also think one legged squat and dips and anything to work on those glutes is gold.
good luck.