Hi, in the last few weeks I’ve picked up a running niggle in my hip that doesn’t seem to be going away; just wondering if the Slowtwitch collective can help shed some light on it?!
It’s a fairly strong but diffuse pain in the front of my left hip (downwards from the forward most part of the iliac crest) and is brought on by hard running sessions. I first felt it after a track session a few weeks ago, it flared up again after a 5k race that I did a couple of weeks ago and after doing a 10k in cold conditions yesterday it’s hurting quite a bit now! After the last couple of incidents I’d rested it for a couple of days and started back up with some easy running sessions and it seemed fine, but any hard running efforts seem to bring it back. At the moment, walking around (especially climbing stairs) is fairly painful and when I stand up after sitting down for a while, it feels kind of stiff (like DOMS muscular stiffness). Finally, I feel as though I might be overstriding a bit with my left leg in high-intensity efforts and when I’ve tried to correct that during the run, the pain has subsided or at least not gotten any worse.
Does that description ring any bells with anyone? I’ve had a few niggles from running over the years so tend to take an interest in all the injury-related threads that are posted on here. Combined with a quick Google, it seems like a possible candidate would be anterior femoral hip glide; does that correlate with the description above? I’ve suffered from a bit of ITBS in the past and it seems to share some of the same underlying causes (e.g. weak glutes/lower abdominals), which I’m sure I still suffer from to some degree.
I could go and see a physio, but to be honest, in the past I’ve had much more success dealing with issues myself so would rather try that first up.
Any help/experiences/opinions are very greatly appreciated!
Yes, as I mentioned in the OP I’ve had a few IT band issues before, but with pain manifesting entirely at knee, never had any issues at the hips at all. The knee pain cleared up with some rest, minor adjustments to running gait, stretching and glute strengthening, although admittedly the latter two have tapered off somewhat since I started taking things a bit easier in the off-season.
It hurts most at maximal hip extension, would that be consistent with ITBS?
Yep, sounds like ITBS. Mine actually migrated from beside the knee to up in the hip, exactly like yours. I fixed it by strengthening my hips doing side-steps with mini bands, strengthening my butt by doing hip-ups, and increasing my run cadence to 180 SPM. I also let the irritation fully subside, as every time you get it angry, it’s going to take that much longer to heal.
Is the pain on the inside of the leg of outside? I’ve had a really similar niggle the past few weeks that was also brought on by a race. It’s very strange because I don’t feel it at all during activity, but it’s sometimes pretty sore after and similar to yours. My PT thinks it’s the hip flexors and a tight psoas.
Yes, as I mentioned in the OP I’ve had a few IT band issues before, but with pain manifesting entirely at knee, never had any issues at the hips at all. The knee pain cleared up with some rest, minor adjustments to running gait, stretching and glute strengthening, although admittedly the latter two have tapered off somewhat since I started taking things a bit easier in the off-season.
It hurts most at maximal hip extension, would that be consistent with ITBS?
No, not really. Anterior hip pain LIKELY isn’t your ITB. And yes, it will hurt more with harder efforts as your stride opens up more requiring more hip extension.
Anterior hip pain could be several things…ITBS isn’t in the top 5. You mentioned holding off seeing a PT…if you can find one that knows and sees runners…it’s probably worth your time/$.
Do you tend to get shin splints? I had similar symptoms in college. For me, it seemed to be related to my tendency to overstride with my right leg. Hip discomfort would develop if I run at race pace. My right shin also took a pounding and tends to feel discomfort. I corrected it by changing my form and increasing my run cadence, and increasing my hip mobility. By increasing my run candence, I reduce my chance of overstriding. By increasing my hip mobility, I can get a longer stride length by pushing my legs backwards and not resort to overstriding.
Now, I run with minimum padding. For me, it was a very effective way to train your body to not overstride through negative re-inforcement. It took me a year to adapt to it, though.
Finally, I feel as though I might be overstriding a bit with my left leg in high-intensity efforts and when I’ve tried to correct that during the run, the pain has subsided or at least not gotten any worse.
My opinion - stop running for atleast 2 weeks. Go jump on the cross trainer/stepper/bike for this period.
Whats now happened at the hip, will lead to Knee issues, and then finally a weird gait/overpronation of your run stride.
I know this because i’ve been there. Took me a while to correct, but now when I feel a niggly hip, i stop running for a few days to esnure I dont get injured again.
FWIW, I twinged my hip picking up shopping from the floor. Which then affected my knee and run style.
Having delved a little bit into some of the responses, the iliopsoas sounds like a very possible candidate; the pain was mostly towards the front of the hip but there was definitely a more general deep muscle ache down inside the hip and to the inside of the leg (medial femur). Having research it a bit, it seems like a lot of these issues (psoas, ITBS/TFL, anterior femoral glide) are almost different sides of the same dice, caused by similar issues, often exhibiting similar symptoms and (hopefully) similar remedies.
Rule out the joint (although description doesn’t sound like it), my vote is TFL (and/or rectus), psoas strains are deep. There a a couple of good clinical test that can rule out the hip joint without getting imaging right away. I would get worked up and hopefully you just have some extensibiltiy/weakness issues like the rest of us. Without knowing details, the relationship to effort (speed) and location of pain is hopefully a slant towards soft tissue and less with joint, that would be my SWAG.