I suffer from a sudden onslaught of groin/hip/adductor pain and stiffness. Doc suspects it might be a stress fracture, more likely in an early stage, in the femural bone neck or pubic ramus. Can anyone describe how a STF in the hip feels? I understand the symptoms may be diffuse.
It hurts when I:
throw the leg forward when running. everything else but jogging is impossible right now.
throw leg forward when walking fast.
ride bike out of the saddle on heavy gear
put too much weight on the injured leg, carry heavy stuff etc.
swim freestyle, the kicking motion is impossible
It doesn´t hurt when I:
jump
run on the spot
row on a concept rower
I didn´t have pain until about one week ago, when I did a long run. After that, it´s been impossible to run. Last tuesday it was totally impossible to run, now I can jog some 10-20 meters although it hurts. But I have been eating pain medication (ibuprofen).
Yep. I am recovering from a very minor Femoral Neck Stress Fracture. Here is a rundown of what happened.
NOTE LONG POST AHEAD
After some long runs I noted that I would have a presistent dull/ache/throb in the hip adductor area. Icing and Advil would make it go away but always return after a run. I would feel it at specific ranges of motion. In my case I could feel it when I did leg lifts, walk up stairs while carrying something and would cause a minor limp at times.
After it not going away and always returning after a run I decided to go see an Ortho. Xray showed nothing but MRI revealed a minor stress fracture. Doc said it was more of a ‘stress reaction’ and when asked how severe (on a scale of 1-10) he said a 1 or 2 with 10 being mandatory surgery. I had talked to my coach about the discomfort before seeing an ortho so we tracked back my run training and increased my swim and bike.
After the MRI and the evaluation the Ortho suggested 3 weeks off of running completely. To which I complied with to the letter. ‘Persistent’ does not mean ‘stupid’ in my book. He also gave me some Celebrex if the pain became too severe. I took maybe 1 or 2 but then discontinued.
After 2 weeks (and I’m not sure how much it helped but I also upped my Calcium intake – both with supplement and natural sources) The pain was a distant memory. At the end of the 3 weeks I returned to Ortho, had new Xrays, we saw signs of new bone growth (imagine puttying over a series of stress cracks) and the doc told me 1-2 weeks more and I could slowly build my run volume back up. First a half mile, then a mile. Here I had to divert. I’m doing my first Full Distance race this year and that run part is a little long. So I started on the treadmill doing 3mi mixed walk/run. Then slloowwwwllllyyyy increasing the walk/run ratios. Right now I would consider myself still in the recovery phase and am continuing my training runs on either the treadmill or a rubberized track. Im back to 23miles pw and recently did a very short road race (ha ha…corporate challenge in NYC) where I was able to do the whole run at threshold pace and have no day after associated discomfort. So I’m optimistic where my injury recovery is heading. But am still taking it carefully. I know I’ve lost some run fitness but its better than being on the bench right as the season opens.
i had one last winter.
8 weeks crutches, started biking then and slowly adding run miles after 12 weeks…
Go slow, get better. Spend more time biking than running when you are off the crutches at first. Take No risks, there are 2 other sports you can improve on.
i’ve had LOTS of femoral neck stress fractures… probably 4-6 including one that became a fracture.
the tricky thing is that i’ve had nearly the same pain and similar symptoms from having a tight psoas. the only thing i can say that differentiates them is that a stress fracture is much worse. SFX pain radiates out in kind of a dull throbbing, burning way and typically hurts when you are doing nothing (ie post-exercise). early on, the endorphins of exercise are enough to make it feel ok while you work out. it’s only afterward that i would get this really deep pain in my groin that would come and go and sometimes radiate down the inside of my leg.
the part that you mention about freestyle swimming seems odd. that makes me think of a psoas issue.
if you have a really good deep tissue massage person or ART person, i would suggest having them work on your psoas and surrounding muscles before you drop too much on xrays. these muscles are hard to get to yourself. in the meantime, stop working out.
“you might wanna stop it with those 10-20m runs if they hurt… nothing like turning a stress reaction or near fracture into a true one.”
I agree, and ma-aybe it would have been wise had I not finished that 30K run last week, when my hip first got sore. I just didn´t think it was anything serious, I mean I´ve had muscle pains before and this felt just like normal muscle pain at first. And my forehead is solid bone. I hope it hasn´t fractured badly yet, but doc didn´t think it was a fracture - yet. I don´t dare to run at all now and avoid lifting heavy stuff, not until I get my MRI.
"Marcus - what’s the doc’s plan? "
I´m going to MRI on tuesday and from there on he´ll decide our course of action. Until then, he said it´s ok to do things that do not hurt, like rowing, cycling and stretching. And he prescribed anti-inflammatory and recommended ice pack treatment.
“Take No risks”
Most definitely not. I have browsed all the horror stories on the internet.
“the tricky thing is that i’ve had nearly the same pain and similar symptoms from having a tight psoas”
Yeah, doc said it MIGHT also be an inflammation in the part where the muscle attaches to the bone. That´s why didn´t hand me a pair of crotches and booked time for surgery right away. I found it strange too, that the pain appears when I´m using the psoas and adductor muscles, like striding and kicking. But it doesn´t hurt on ground contact when I try to run. But doc said a stress fracture might just behave like that. Also, it doesn´t hurt even when I´m putting more effort into the pedals as long as I´m focusing on my gluts or quadriceps. On the other hand, it hurts to balance on one leg or carry weight.
4-6 stress fractures? shit. do you suffer from osteomalaise or something? I´m a bit worried about getting enough vitamin D…
Ah, did I mention I should be racing Ironman Nice in two weeks? But of course, the main thing is getting back on track.