First Time Marathoner - Hip Pain

sounds like osteoarthritus: your bones are rubbing against one another, with
diminished cartiledge to cushion and protect. pushing through that pain will
only cause more joint damage.

first step: see doc, one who specializes, eg, orthopod or rheumatologist.

other steps: strengthen muscles to reduce weight load on bones. fish oil can
reduce joint inflammation. and there's data showing those supplements (what
are they called gang?) touted for joint rebuilding are somewhat effective.

but don't keep allowing the pain around your hip -- that leads to a hip
replacement, if you keep allowing the friction of bone against bone.

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( @ @ )
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Quoted message said:

since I wasn't very good about
stretching my IT bands prior to the injury.

There's your cause right there. Stretching kills.

Thanks for the reply Virginiaz. After re-reading my post I can see
how it would sound like arthritis. I'm really hoping its not that
considering I'm only 26 years old. I inaccurately stated "The pain
eminates from where my femur attaches to my hip and seems to be
internal."

I'm actually pretty sure its not the hip joint. It feels like its
less than a inch under the surface of the skin on the side of my hip
in the location of the greater trochanter's bursa sac. Sorry for the
confusion.

<< It feels like its
less than a inch under the surface of the skin on the side of my hip
in the location of the greater trochanter's bursa sac. >>

ah, you know your anatomy well.

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( @ @ )
+--------oOOo-(_)--oOOo----+
+------------------------Oooo----+

Quoted message said:

I've been experiencing dull pain on the outside of my hip for about 6
weeks now. Its mostly in my right hip, but my left hip has also been
bothering me in the last few weeks. I'm training for my first marathon
and my longest run ever was 12 miles prior to the start of my training
in June. It first started bothering me after a 17 mile long run six
weeks ago.

I didn't do much at first because it was just kind of bothersome ache,
but after it persisted for 2 weeks I began to try to figure out what
was wrong with it. The pain eminates from where my femur attaches to
my hip and seems to be internal, which seems consistent with hip
bursitis. This would be very possible since I wasn't very good about
stretching my IT bands prior to the injury.

Over the 6 weeks its been bothering, I've cut back on my training a
little bit and have tried to avoid hills, but I've stuck with weekly
speed work and long runs every other week. My last 2 long runs were
just over 20 miles, and I'm doing around 40 miles per week. I've been
treating it with icing after hard runs and stretching (3 sets of 60
second IT band stretchs atleast 2 times a day). I've also taken
ibuprofen approx 2 times a week to help with the inflammation.

The pain is kind of up and down, but I can feel it pretty much every
day. Its rarely bad enough that I would call it acute, but sometimes
it is more than annoying. The reason I'm looking more into it now is
that is was quite bothersome on my 20 mile run last Saturday and I'm
worried about it flaring up during the race.

I'm definately the type that is willing to run through some pain, and
I'd prefer not to cut back on my training. I'm shooting for under 3:10
so I can do Boston next year and I feel like I'm on track to achieve
that with my training so far. At the same time, I obviously don't want
to permanently injure myself.

Some questions:

Does this sound like hip bursitis?

Are there any stretches besides IT band that I should be concentrating
on? Does my stretching methodology seem good?

Should I be icing after every run if possible, even when it isn't
bothering me that much?

Should I be more aggressive with the ibuprofen? (I usually take 400 to
600 milligrams)

Any strengthening exercises I should try? (I'm assuming this is more
or a preventative measure that I would do after resting enough to let
the pain subside - after the marathon)

Should I try compression shorts?

Thanks so much for any advice you can give!!

The combination of hip pain and your frequent mention of ITBS suggests to me
that your root cause may be something entirely different--hip stability.

Many runners have weak abs. Running faster places strain on the hip stabilizer
muscles, and if these are weak, injury can occur in the psoas, piriformis, and
lumbosacral areas. ITBS can also be triggered by weakness in this area.
Athletes subject to these problems include marathoners increasing mileage and
sprinters running at top speed. If this is the cause to your problem, the
solution is to do a variety of ab crunches, including straight, twisting, and
diagonal. Stanford has done some work on ITBS which can be found on medline
where they had virtually a 100% cure rate for from strengthening the
abdominals.

I would talk to a PT, although you could just try doing some ab routines in a
health club. If you have access to "Better Training For Distance Runners,"
read page 23.

Lyndon
"Speed Kills...It kills those that don't have it!" --US Olympic Track Coach
Brooks Johnson

Quoted message said:

Many runners have weak abs. Running faster places strain on the hip
stabilizer
muscles, and if these are weak, injury can occur in the psoas, piriformis,
and
lumbosacral areas. ITBS can also be triggered by weakness in this area.
Athletes subject to these problems include marathoners increasing mileage and
sprinters running at top speed. If this is the cause to your problem, the
solution is to do a variety of ab crunches, including straight, twisting, and
diagonal. Stanford has done some work on ITBS which can be found on medline
where they had virtually a 100% cure rate for from strengthening the
abdominals.

I would talk to a PT, although you could just try doing some ab routines in a
health club. If you have access to "Better Training For Distance Runners,"
read page 23.

Lyndon

I have to agree with numbnutz here! If I run without doing my situps I feel
lots of strange pains that shouldn't be. Pre-run situps and crunches are a
must.

I agree that core stability can help the situation in general, but training
the deep core involves more than sit ups and crunches. Transversus abdominus
is the muscle group you should concern yourself with, not rectus abdominus.

I also agree that seeing an ortho P.T. would be advantageous. In order for
good treatment you need a good diagnosis.

"Lyndon" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I've been experiencing dull pain on the outside of my hip for about 6
weeks now. Its mostly in my right hip, but my left hip has also been
bothering me in the last few weeks. I'm training for my first marathon
and my longest run ever was 12 miles prior to the start of my training
in June. It first started bothering me after a 17 mile long run six
weeks ago.

I didn't do much at first because it was just kind of bothersome ache,
but after it persisted for 2 weeks I began to try to figure out what
was wrong with it. The pain eminates from where my femur attaches to
my hip and seems to be internal, which seems consistent with hip
bursitis. This would be very possible since I wasn't very good about
stretching my IT bands prior to the injury.

Over the 6 weeks its been bothering, I've cut back on my training a
little bit and have tried to avoid hills, but I've stuck with weekly
speed work and long runs every other week. My last 2 long runs were
just over 20 miles, and I'm doing around 40 miles per week. I've been
treating it with icing after hard runs and stretching (3 sets of 60
second IT band stretchs atleast 2 times a day). I've also taken
ibuprofen approx 2 times a week to help with the inflammation.

The pain is kind of up and down, but I can feel it pretty much every
day. Its rarely bad enough that I would call it acute, but sometimes
it is more than annoying. The reason I'm looking more into it now is
that is was quite bothersome on my 20 mile run last Saturday and I'm
worried about it flaring up during the race.

I'm definately the type that is willing to run through some pain, and
I'd prefer not to cut back on my training. I'm shooting for under 3:10
so I can do Boston next year and I feel like I'm on track to achieve
that with my training so far. At the same time, I obviously don't want
to permanently injure myself.

Some questions:

Does this sound like hip bursitis?

Are there any stretches besides IT band that I should be concentrating
on? Does my stretching methodology seem good?

Should I be icing after every run if possible, even when it isn't
bothering me that much?

Should I be more aggressive with the ibuprofen? (I usually take 400 to
600 milligrams)

Any strengthening exercises I should try? (I'm assuming this is more
or a preventative measure that I would do after resting enough to let
the pain subside - after the marathon)

Should I try compression shorts?

Thanks so much for any advice you can give!!

The combination of hip pain and your frequent mention of ITBS suggests to

me

Quoted message said:

that your root cause may be something entirely different--hip stability.

Many runners have weak abs. Running faster places strain on the hip

stabilizer

Quoted message said:

muscles, and if these are weak, injury can occur in the psoas, piriformis,

and

Quoted message said:

lumbosacral areas. ITBS can also be triggered by weakness in this area.
Athletes subject to these problems include marathoners increasing mileage

and

Quoted message said:

sprinters running at top speed. If this is the cause to your problem, the
solution is to do a variety of ab crunches, including straight, twisting,

and

Quoted message said:

diagonal. Stanford has done some work on ITBS which can be found on

medline

Quoted message said:

where they had virtually a 100% cure rate for from strengthening the
abdominals.

I would talk to a PT, although you could just try doing some ab routines

in a

Quoted message said:

health club. If you have access to "Better Training For Distance

Runners,"

Quoted message said:

read page 23.

Lyndon
"Speed Kills...It kills those that don't have it!" --US Olympic Track

Coach

Quoted message said:

Brooks Johnson