I have experienced this hip/glute/groin ache and tightness back in March after a half marathon. I was fine a few days post race but I decided to do some intervals which triggered some tightness in my glute and groin. I also was very stiff in the hip waking up a few times in the morning but this went away. I took 2 weeks of running (continued to bike/swim) and it slowly went away with easing back into running.
My most recent experience:
10/20: Marathon
I felt great during and the whole week after. I was able to run 3-4 times without any issues.
10/27: 5K
I was hesitant in doing this but a friend was doing it for charity. I couldn’t hold back going fast. I felt fine afterwards.
10/28: My glute was really tight and my groin was achy/tight. I continued to run (50mpw) the rest of the week. I had some sharp pain after doing 13 miles but i never returned. But my stride was off and my leg felt week.
Week of 11/3: I continued to run and it seemed it was getting better. But on a few of my runs after 3 miles or so my glute tightened up. I also ran 60 miles this week.
Week of 11/10: Same problems. Ache in groin and groin tight. Side of hip tight too sometimes. I also experienced a feeling when running that my leg was “dead”. It wouldn’t move…it felt like I was dragging it. It was almost numb feeling. But I continued to run 60 miles this week.
Week of 11/17: Same issues but backing off running. I can’t seem to get a lot of power out of the leg. The glute feels like there is a huge know and my lower back on the same side of the leg sometimes feels achy.
Any thoughts? I am going to stop running. Last time in March I went to see PT and Ortho and they thought High hamstring or ITB.
Sounds similar to my current problem. First questions for you are how old are you and how intense is your stretching program? I have finally figured out my issues are due to tight glutes and IT band. I have many other aches and pains on the one leg but it seems it’s all due to my lack of stretching now that I’m 60 years old. I stopped running and riding for 2 weeks and completely focused on rehabing by stretching and things are much better but not perfect. Your problems, like mine, don’t seem to have one single issue that you can fix and all be better but a combination of issues. Been doing triathlons since the 80’s and rarely stretched as I didn’t need to, ha ha, but as the body ages (some faster than others) it is imperative you make time.
FAI/Hip impingement can be diagnosed with an xray, and a large percent of the population have some kind of labral tear. Just noting that your symptoms might indicate that and its something to consider.
FAI can be diagnosed with xray (malformation of femoral head), but labral tear diagnosis requires MRI w/contrast. My labral tear pain didn’t go away with rest or physical therapy or NSAIDs. One sure sign of a tear is pain getting in/out of your car. Get this taken care of quickly if FAI is causing your labral tears.
Start with the cheap fixes first. Rest, Massage, A.R.T., Myofascial release, physiotherapy, chiro and work your way up to orthopedic surgeon. If it’s soft tissue and not structural you will never make it to the orthopedic surgeon!
Thanks…this was my thought. I had identical symptoms back in March and I just need a little rest from running. I was able to do some oly, halfs and half marathon, run 80+mpw for September, and part of October, run a marathon with no problems. But it just made me a little nervous when it came back.
FAI can be diagnosed with xray (malformation of femoral head), but labral tear diagnosis requires MRI w/contrast. My labral tear pain didn’t go away with rest or physical therapy or NSAIDs. One sure sign of a tear is pain getting in/out of your car. Get this taken care of quickly if FAI is causing your labral tears.
I never had problems getting in and out of car. It gets better with rest and seems to get better with NSAIDs (but I try to not use them).
Doesn’t sound like FAI or labral tear. Labral tears will present as groin pain. In many cases severe groin pain has the hip joint as the root cause. Labral tears don’t typically improve with rest.
Piriformis is more butt pain and less in the hip and groin. Foam roller and rolling on a lacrosse ball and a softball keeps my issues in check. Also I’ve been doing lots of lunges and cross training to strengthen and protect the hips glutes, hamstrings and IT Band. A good understanding of the “chain” and how those muscles,etc interact may help you figure this out. A good physio or A.R.T. person should offer some good ideas.
Start with the cheap fixes first. Rest, Massage, A.R.T., Myofascial release, physiotherapy, chiro and work your way up to orthopedic surgeon. If it’s soft tissue and not structural you will never make it to the orthopedic surgeon!
If you make it to an orthopod, you have really lost and you need to quit triathlon.
Start with the cheap fixes first. Rest, Massage, A.R.T., Myofascial release, physiotherapy, chiro and work your way up to orthopedic surgeon. If it’s soft tissue and not structural you will never make it to the orthopedic surgeon!
If you make it to an orthopod, you have really lost and you need to quit triathlon.
I don’t get your post. Even if it was a labral tear I could still do triathlons. I’m sure there are plenty of folks on her with labral tears that are going strong.
I offer my situation for your consideration and not suggesting it is your situation.
I do quite a bit of cycling and running and I also work in an office environment and drive long distances (sitting on my butt).
Last spring I was losing power on the bike and was getting a twitch in my glute while running. I had no real pain, but just a sense that things were “off”. Over time the whole region got more and more painful (hip, lower back, etc) and I kept trying to stretch my way out of it. All the massage, chiro stuff didn’t really work (but that could be a case of practitioner trying to treat the symptoms rather than the problem). I went to a specialist that claimed hip impingement (so I backed off on spending prolonged periods in the aerobars), got x-rays, etc…still all the lower back, hip and ab strengthening in the world wasn’t doing a thing to help. I opened up my bike position during the summer trying to get relief and stopped running…but again nothing was really allowing me to regain power, live pain free.
I have been working with a muscle activation practitioner who seems to have traced the problem and I am getting a very good recovery response. When I get tired, my glute tends to stop firing and as a result the leg feels ‘dead’ as you describe it. In my case, other muscles will compensate for the glute not firing, and then over time the problem gets worse and worse until the symptoms (pain) appear. Now I have to work very hard at getting the glute firing in the morning, before each workout. I also have to “floss” the nerve, which seems to be helping as well.
I wish you very good luck with it…because it can really suck for a long time if you don’t figure it out.
The weak dead leg feeling and the fact that sometimes the pain is there and sometimes it isn’t leads me to believe it might be Iliac Artery Endofibrosis. This is a condition that affects cyclist , runners, speed skaters etc… An ultrasound of the arteries will not confirm the diagnosis you need to have an ABI test done on the treadmill or bike.
I offer my situation for your consideration and not suggesting it is your situation.
I do quite a bit of cycling and running and I also work in an office environment and drive long distances (sitting on my butt).
Last spring I was losing power on the bike and was getting a twitch in my glute while running. I had no real pain, but just a sense that things were “off”. Over time the whole region got more and more painful (hip, lower back, etc) and I kept trying to stretch my way out of it. All the massage, chiro stuff didn’t really work (but that could be a case of practitioner trying to treat the symptoms rather than the problem). I went to a specialist that claimed hip impingement (so I backed off on spending prolonged periods in the aerobars), got x-rays, etc…still all the lower back, hip and ab strengthening in the world wasn’t doing a thing to help. I opened up my bike position during the summer trying to get relief and stopped running…but again nothing was really allowing me to regain power, live pain free.
I have been working with a muscle activation practitioner who seems to have traced the problem and I am getting a very good recovery response. When I get tired, my glute tends to stop firing and as a result the leg feels ‘dead’ as you describe it. In my case, other muscles will compensate for the glute not firing, and then over time the problem gets worse and worse until the symptoms (pain) appear. Now I have to work very hard at getting the glute firing in the morning, before each workout. I also have to “floss” the nerve, which seems to be helping as well.
I wish you very good luck with it…because it can really suck for a long time if you don’t figure it out.
I had similar symptoms. When I went to PT back in March he said that my glutes probably weren’t firing and the other muscles were compensating for it. He basically said that its my body telling me to rest more. So maybe he was right after all. So maybe you need a break from running or cycling.
Just started it, but it’s excellent and has addressed some of my misconceptions about the core.
It is geared towards cycling, but I’m sure that all the exercises and info are comprehensive.
Tom’s trainer wrote it, and Tom adds his personal anecdotes to relate it to cycling fitness and performance.
Recommended.