Yes. Another hip question.
Three years ago, I decided to climb Mount Hood on a whim and walking for 10 hours uphill caused a bunch of pain in my right hip. I rested lots and lots. The pain was worst when I would try to go up stairs 3 at a time.
Recently after ramping up my running, I have started to feel the first signs of the same pain coming back. I’m going to rest, and if it persists, I will see a doc. BUT, what I am wondering, is if anyone can name the muscle/tendon that is just below the bony protrusion on the front of the hip. If you hold your knee ahead of you at a right angle it gets very, very taut. Just happens to be right where my change pocket is on my jeans. This is where it hurts. Very localized.
I understand that the internet isn’t the place to find good medical advice and all, but I just want to intelligently understand what part of my body I am supposed to be coddling right now.
Thanks for any help.
Ben…
Bony protusion is your ASIS (anterior superior iliac spine) and the ‘tendon’ that starts there is your magical Sartorius (glad you asked now?) but remember the rectus femoris also courses up there. I would have both looked at.
From the mechanism of injury (overuse and movement) you probably overused your sartorius (it starts at the ASIS and inserts at the inner/medial knee). I could see how that could be easily overused while climbing.
Your Psoas (core baby) traverses medially than laterally right below the asis (starts at the front of the lower vertebraes and comes forward to sneak underneath the sartorius).
Ok…did that make it clear? Holy crap, I know what I am talking about and it doesn’t make sense to me! ANything else I can do?
~eileen
I almost forgot the TFL that has fiber play around the ASIS (but the muscle you had in question you described beautifully the Rectus Femoris -one of the quads). TFL pain will give you DIRECT hip (as in the lateral side of your hip) pain. There are several bursas that can get aggravated too. A bursa can pretty much get developed wherever there is too much friction going on…ok, there is better terminology used, but my mind is shot today.
Remember if the foundation of the pelvis/sacrum is locked/jared…the muscles are never getting a chance to function. I am biased…a good Chiropractor can give you heads up. A good Physical Therapist can do wonders with stretches and soft tissue rehab, and of course a good Massage therapist can strip those babies.
I am very envious that you climbed Mt. Hood.
STRETCH, rest, and hydration. You know…the basics 
hope you have a good season.
I have had pain right on or around the adductor magnus muscle, with tightness in whole hip after a long run workout (I haven’t trained for 3 months now). The pain would sometimes shoot up to my glute to my lower back, and to adductor down the inner thigh towards my knee. Also I used to have a popping sound in my hip up until a couple years ago, now it doesn’t pop anymore. But sometimes there generalized pain in the joint. I notice that I have had tight glutes in the past and my feet turn inwards slightly when I run. Is all this stuff related maybe?
I’m recieving therapy from a chiro right now, who thinks I have a tear in one of the ligaments in that area below the hip. We’ve done ultra sound, deep tissue, and cross friction to break up scar tissue on the injury site—I’ve had 4 treatments in the past three weeks without any substantial change. Should I seek out an MRI or ortho? I don’t feel completely comfortable with the idea that is a soft tissue, or muscle problem, and not a joint problem. I’m 24, but I’ve been running since high school. Maybe early stages of arthritis or something? I hate speculating, but I’ve rested for 3 months now with no improvement.
Any help? Thanks…
Holy shit. You asked for it. Now you’re really F*****!
Sorry, it’s Friday. Have to get all my posts in.
I have problems with pain in my left hip precisely where you describe. For some reason, it always hits early in the cycling season. I’ve found that doing really intense, borderline uncomfortable quad stretches (and really pushing my hips forward until I feel it actually inside my hip socket) makes a huge difference. As Eileen said, this hits the Sartorius and Psoas muscles pretty well.
Also, do you sit with your legs crossed, right ankle on your opposing knee/thigh? I’ve noticed that all of my knee and hip problems occur in my left leg which is noticably more flexible in the hip (maybe too much so) when I sit with my left leg crossed over my right (left ankle on right thigh/knee).
Monkeybump…I am going solely off of memory today. I am at home sick from work and my brain is fried. You can’t diagnose across the net, can only give you some ideas. W/out physically seeing you and taking you through range of motions ect I can only go off of what you mentioned. There are other things to be concerned about if you don’t start seeing changes, but given the brief history you mentioned have a feeling you are going to the right place.
Adductor Magnus attaches way up high and inside…complicated area that high. Tons of ligaments/nerves traverse that area. One of the keys you mentioned, you run with inward feet…inward feet means your hip actually is externally rotated (took me forever to accept that concept!). You are probably getting a funky torque everytime you use your body because of the natural instinct to protect the injured area. Yes…they are connected.
4 treatments in the Chiro office is just getting started in the treatment phase. Chiro is working with more than just soft tissue. Their foundation is bone (and hopefully the hip and pelvis getting that balanced). If you feel like you need something else, run it past your Dr. and ask him/her what is norm for what you are going through. If you don’t start seeing results in a few moe weeks ask to be referred, or what more can you do? Soft tissue injuries can take a long time. Not to be negative, just reality. Once an area is injured it has scar tissue laid down and can be an area to watch here on out. Baby the area, just don’t become neurotic.
Hip popping (remember the hip joint is very complicated) could easily have been a ligament rubbing over something (often a bone). My hip pops constantly, and I have a chronic ass pull technically speaking I ripped the head of my biceps femoris (one of the hamstrings) off the ischial tuberosity and perpetually have problems —very common problem for athletes. I did this when I was around your age and am just careful now.
Adductor Magnus is your biggest adductor, and very important in running. As for you having back pain off of it…I would EXPECT that because of the anatomy and how things lay out. That baby is vital for the stability of your lower boot of your pelvis. Off of memory I think the adductor magnus holds the obturator nerve which is kind of important. Which could easily relate to low back pain.
Ok…mind is shot. Not sure if this helped or not.
~eileen
Sciatic nerve? Is the pain very deep within your buttocks/hamstring? Does it hurt to touch your toes and stretch your hamstrings with your knees bent, but not with your knees straight? Do you sit all day?
Hey Eileen,
Thanks for the response. It makes sense. I will definitely discuss some of these things with my chiro. And I do plan to continue treatment for at least another month. My chrio has not even mentioned making any sort of adjustments to the hip/lower back. I think we just going through some different therapies to see which one is most effective.
Are there any exercises that can strengthen the ligaments/muscles involved with the external rotation of the hip joint, or would this further increase stress to that area? (I am resting right now and not doing anything lower body AT ALL, but after this is healed, I will want to take a more preventative approach to my conditioning).
JHendric,
I do have some of those symptoms you have suggested, but neither my general practitioner or chiropractor has even mentioned that as a possibility. One major change from when I was in college to now, is that I sit a desk a lot more now a days. I move around several times a day, but I am confined to a seat quite often. I was training twice a day, doubling on running when training for track, then doubling on biking/running/swimming for tris, but during the day, my legs were confined to sitting.
I have had pain right on or around the adductor magnus muscle, with tightness in whole hip after a long run workout (I haven’t trained for 3 months now). The pain would sometimes shoot up to my glute to my lower back, and to adductor down the inner thigh towards my knee. Also I used to have a popping sound in my hip up until a couple years ago, now it doesn’t pop anymore. But sometimes there generalized pain in the joint. I notice that I have had tight glutes in the past and my feet turn inwards slightly when I run. Is all this stuff related maybe?
I’m recieving therapy from a chiro right now, who thinks I have a tear in one of the ligaments in that area below the hip. We’ve done ultra sound, deep tissue, and cross friction to break up scar tissue on the injury site—I’ve had 4 treatments in the past three weeks without any substantial change. Should I seek out an MRI or ortho? I don’t feel completely comfortable with the idea that is a soft tissue, or muscle problem, and not a joint problem. I’m 24, but I’ve been running since high school. Maybe early stages of arthritis or something? I hate speculating, but I’ve rested for 3 months now with no improvement.
Any help? Thanks…
Just wondering if there are any more speculations out there that may add some insight to Monkeybump’s ongoing problem. Maybe Monkeybump himself can let us know of any changes since this post? FWIW, Monkeybump is a potential national long course duathlon champion that hasn’t quite manifested, somebody fix this bastard!
SoJo,
x-rays came back negative on fracture or dislocation. What other abnormalities does a ‘trained’ eye look for on an x-ray? I see an ortho next Teusday, mainly because I need authorization for an MRI. Its a sports medicine group, whatever that may mean—they are all orthos. I don’t plan on having any exploratory surgery or anything like that. I just want different opinions, and go off a consensus. I have rested since September with some improvement—but my joint still feels stiff, and I still get occasion shooting pain somewhere near the insertion point of hamsting. What can I expect from an MRI?