I can’t seem to get rid of a pain in my hip. It’s right in front, felt when I lift my right leg. Hurts less if I point my knee way over to the left, across my body, and then lift the leg. Hurts when I kick hard in the pool (though it’s been 3 weeks since I’ve been wet). After a few miles of running, whammo, it’s there. Also when I pull up on the pedals. Stretching seems to help, but not much. The stretch that seems to hit it is the lunge position, where one knee is up, the other on the floor, and you lower down (arm across the front knee for support).
Whilst no doctor it sounds like you have the exact same pain as I had a few months ago. I had just bought a different type of shoe that was for mild pronation as a physio had told me that this was for me. Turns out that I am a mid/fore foot runner who has stiff arches when running and only pronate when standing still.
The pain was awful. I could not walk properly, do a kick set at the pool or even think about running. The actual pain comes as your body is starting to use that muscle at the front http://www.einsteins-emporium.com/science/human-anatomy/sh384.htm in this pic to pull the leg up and not your big muscle groups. You may also have a ‘clicking’ hip where the muscle on the side is inflamed and rubbing over a little bump on the bone there. The massage that releases the muscle from the spasm is like when you get your ITB rubbed with an elbow but 100 times worse.
Asics Nimbus fixed the problem for me overnight and I mean over night. I bought them after getting my gait properly studied and ran a 10K the next day pain free.
I just fell into the trap of buying shoes based on what everyone else was wearing and not what i really needed.
The ‘clicking’ is right on – it clicks/clunks when I stand and lift the knee/leg. I can also lay on my back, legs straight, cross the ankles, and when I squeeze my glutes, it pops (loudly).
I didn’t change shoes though. It started when swimming months ago, then got worse as I took up running after that (I just began the two non-cycling sports this last fall).
Aztec, I have always been taught that with a hip pain you go directly to the doctor. There are a few hip problems that are rare, but very serious and can be made much worse by not getting treatment.
good advice from ajfranke and plazbot. i am JUST NOW getting back from a stress fracture in my femor (neck) and i can tell you it took a long time to heal - too long. it started out as a nag, much like you described, and became more prominent as I increased training for IM last year. Good news is if you lay off it now, there’s plenty of time to heal and have an entirely productive season. If it’s hurting now, it more than likely will not get better while you continue training. a week’s downtime can do miracles. Go see the Doc. Hopefully it’s no big deal.
Aztec, I have always been taught that with a hip pain you go directly to the doctor. There are a few hip problems that are rare, but very serious and can be made much worse by not getting treatment.
Go directly to the doctor. Don’t wait around.
Arrrrrrrrrg. I’ve been to wayyyyyyyy to many doctors in the last year. I already have a backlog of other doctors to see.