Update: MD is very comfortable with iliospoas strain diagnosis, which is a relief. Will hit up therapy folks n short order.
Folks, about 2 months ago, I started having some discomfort in my lower abdominal area, but nothing bad enough to stop training at all. So, about a week ago, I was doing some lunges (actually did an entire leg workout), and since then, it’s been very uncomfortable.
Left lower ab muscle. When I lunge, it hurts MORE when I’m performing RIGHT legged lunges. Maybe feels as I’m stretching the left ab too much. Hurts when i run, and actually I start running very slowly because of the discomfort. Then it kind of goes away, while running. Leg lifts would kill me (you know, any ab workout would hurt me).
I just don’t know how to differentiate from this vs. a hernia. Never had a hernia, so I have no clue how it would feel.
I’m going to try and visit the MD tomorrow. Really, I just don’t want it to be a hernia, to be honest.
Thanks for any help.
When you visit your MD ask him to check for osteitis pubis. I had similar symptoms although my pain was bilateral. Simplified, it is a condition where the joint at the base of the pelvis is unstable and causes the lower abs and adductors to work overtime to stabilise the area. They eventually become very sore and the pain develops into a continual nagging pain, but any leg raises or ab work are agony. I have no idea if this is relevant to you (I hope not - I have had eight months of no running and am still not entirely pain free) but it might be one to mention as it is often missed. I believe Chris Legh recently returned from a similar injury.
Good luck with it in any case.
I do NOT want that to be it…
Symptoms sound very similar to a problem I had ~2yrs ago. Started out with slight abdominal pain while running, but pain stopped after warming up. Slowly got worse over a few weeks as I kept piling on mileage (marathon prep) until it was hurting most of the time from just walking. Any abdominal workout, leg lifts etc., out of the question. BTW, I think I traced start to a long run where I started out a bit tired, but did the run anyway, and there was a very stiff wind that I was leaning into, probably started the tendon injury right there.
The short version of history: Went to 2 different MD’s. 1st time, had xray, then doc said “stop running for a week, then start back slowly”. I did this, but the pain returned immediately with my first short ez run. Went to 2nd MD, who is a sports doc and marathoner. He said its skeletal or soft tissue, maybe compensation for a locked “SI(?)” joint - the one at the back of your upper pelvis. Sent me to chiropractor for a few weeks (back felt great, abdomin, no change). So skeletal ruled out, so I had MRI and physical therapy. Neither X-ray nor MRI was helpful in getting a diagnosis, but I suppose they did help rule out other things, like Hernia (this was ruled out immediately by doc), O. Pubis, etc. FYI, he had never heard of sports hernia and when I explained, thought the SH idea was bogus. FInal diagnosis: tendonosis of abdominal tendons.
Problem responded to physical therapy, took ~8 weeks and a lot of patience, but I was finally back to running - slowly. Full recovery was probably something like ~3-4 months from the start of physical therapy. The problem was definitely exacerbated by my continued running “through the pain”. This stupidity cost me several months of training in hindsight. Go to a sports doc ASAP and take care of this, a few weeks downtime is nothing compared to several months.
Were you able to swim and bike through that?
Biked yes, as I recall I had already mostly stopped swimming for mara training anyways. I tried a few swims, but flip turns were impossible, I have never in 30+ years of swimming swum in a pool without flip turns. I tried a few workouts doing freestyle with open turns but that just sucked. I put in a lot of biking no problem - but it was mostly flat riding or on the trainer with few if any out-of-seat accelerations.
The exercises were pretty simple, but effective, combination of abdomin stretches and strengthing, none of it painful. Steady progression in effort as the tendon healed. The PT called it reconditioning, and the explanation sounded a little weird to me, but the therapy worked beautifully.
good luck. I hope it’s simple with an easy fix.
I know this post was from three years ago, but I was wondering what ended up happening. I think I have the exact same type of injury. How long did it take for the injury to heal? Did you modify your activities in the meantime? I want to continue working out because the pain isnt terrible (except when lunging or certain ab exercises such as planks) but I dont want to make it worse. Just wanted to see the outcome of your injury. Please advise!
rdmyers,
What exercises did you do to resolve your issue? I cannot run and it hurts to do lunges or leg lifts.
I haven’t been running for 3+ months. MRI came back ok so starting some PT.
started with 10 press-ups (lookup “cobra pose”) 3x daily for a week, steadily progressed to 5x daily, then added a “reverse sit-up” as per PT instructions. Get in a situp position, put hands on knees then push your knees slightly against your hands, keeping your feet on the ground. Did this 10x once a day to start, then slowly added more frequency, all the while continuing to do the cobra’s immediately after. after a few weeks start to apply progressively greater pressure during the rev sit-ups. Eventually pushing with feet off the floor after several more weeks. Did the 5x cobra pose everyday thru the slow progress of gradually increased load. Key was never to feel any pain or discomfort through the whole thing or the progress would be set back. Took a lot of patience.
rdmyers,
Thanks for update on the exercises. They are helping. I went to my first PT today and they didn’t want me doing the cobra, but I told them those two exercises were helping. They suggested a similar exercise to the leg and hand on knees isometric…just do it with your feet on a ball and lying down on your back. Alternate crossing hands with parallel hands.
We’ll see how it goes. I just wanted to say thanks.
glad to hear it!
Key for me was patience, I never pushed hard or long doing those hands on knee while laying flat exercises than PT said. It did take a few months to heal, and even now I occaissionally get a twinge and have to re-start the cobra pose’s. Incidentally they also help the lower back a lot, especially after long bike rides, just have to completely relax back and abs and let the arms do all the work.