Very sharp pain on the right, to the outside, just below the curvature. The pain runs down the back of the leg to behind the knee. I believe it’s from increasing my running for the 100/100 and seems to be worse on the treadmill than when I run on the road. When I run on the treadmill, the pain intensifies. When running on the road, the pain subsides. It doesn’t seem to be muscle tightness because it doesn’t respond to massage or stretching. If I lay on my back and raise my leg with the knee bent, I can pull it all the way back to my chest with no pain. If I try to raise the leg when it’s straight, the pain is very sharp. That leads me to believe it’s not in the hip joint. I believe it’s tendonitis but was wondering if these symptoms indicate anything specific.
I plan to reduce my treadmill time and stick to running outside. And also to take Ibuprofin for a week or so. If it doesn’t improve in a few days I’ll have to make a trip to the doc. My HMO isn’t always real helpful with sports injuries, though. If it’s a known quantity like PF or ITB, I can get better advice at the running store. Or ST.
Been battling the same thing for a number of years now - it’s piriformis syndrome - there’s a stretch you can do (once you’re loose) that will hurt like hell, but help.
You’ll know if that’s where the problem is the first time you try the stretch, because it will damn near make you cry, but do it consistently, and it’ll get better. PT told me it usually responds very well to stretching.
Something to do with the Sciatic Nerve possibly? Pinch/compression or damage…
Could possibly be IT band syndrome as well, which is tendonitis.
Could be related to the Sciatic Nerve although the sharp pain is focused in the hip and there’s no pain in the lower back. I had ITB syndrome a few years ago and it was just around the knee.
I used to have a similar pain when running on the treadmill. There seems to be a slight difference in the way we run on the treadmill vs the road (body alignment I guess, different stride).
Long story short, I reduced my training volume in half for a couple weeks and then started to build up volume gradually… not to mention that I stopped running on the treadmill.
Been battling the same thing for a number of years now - it’s piriformis syndrome
Obvers mentioned that also. That sounds like the culprit except that it doesn’t when I bend my knee and the article seems to indicate otherwise. It’s still at the top of my list. Thanks.
Sorry about your pain. First thing I would suggest is to stop running or seriously reduce your frequency and mileage. Second, I dealt with some very bad hip/groin/butt/lower back pain last spring when ramping up my run mileage. I went to ART a few times and that helped a lot. It turns out that the main culprits were a weak lower back, embarrassingly weak glutes, and a very tight TFL, quadratus lumborum, and psoas. Once I started strengthening my lower back and glutes and rigorously stretched my TFL, QL, and psoas, the pain became very manageable. Good luck!
I had this issue flare up in 2001 right before NCAA champs, and it kept me from running seriously until the last couple of months. I threw about $5K and countless hours at the problem. Thanks to a thread I found that was similar to this one here on ST, I’ve been able to run between 90 and 120 miles/wk for the last 10 weeks. Here is what worked for me, and I think it is important to ALL of the things listed here.
a) 2-3X wk hip stability circuit:
Double hamstring curls on the ball (15-20)
4-Ways using a thera-band with an ankle cuff. (10/leg/direction)
hip-dips (stand with one leg on a stair, dip the opposite hip down, bring up in a controlled manner) (20/leg)
Elbow-to ankle lunges (right forearm stays parallel to the ground, goes to right ankle during lunge) (20)
“running” with light weights on one leg (do your arms like you are running whilst holding weights, keep the hips level, on one leg)
b) Deep Tissue massage on the hips, glutes, hamstrings, quads, IT , calves 1X month; trigger point tech “hip kit” routine 1-2Xwk. The massage is deep enough to at the trigger point feels “light”
c) 2-3X wk core routine (this is pretty well understood)
d) Lots of stretching, like earlier posters suggested. Make sure you stretch after training, if not an epsom salt soak is a good way to get warmed up.
Hope this prevents you spending thousands in treatment and years of frustration!!!
Oh yeah…I forgot about piriformis syndrome. My aunt had it training for her first marathon. She had it so bad that she couldn’t actually train to do the marathon. She did some sort of stretching/massage with the foam rollers as well as the stretching outlined in the link above.
I know treadmills are convenient, but they do tend to make me more sore when I use them often. I think it’s because there is no variation in your stride and you tend to run “narrower”, subconsciously, to stay centered on the belt. I know I always get a slight soreness in the tendons/muscles on the outsides of my calves after I’ve done any more than 4 miles on the treadmill. Unfortunately, running on the treadmill is a necessary evil when it is 3°, dark and icy out.