Seeking Armchair Diagnoses

Sorry you're having a tough time with it. Sounds like you're doing a lot of things right.

Two things I can think of:

1. Can you lose any weight? Since you're dealing with a variety of problems, this is one thing that should reduce the stress on your joints all around.

2. Have you thought about going a bit more minimalist? I'm not a minimalist kool-aid drinker, but it has definitely has its merits, especially if you've tried everything else. In general, I think going with more minimalist shoes reduces my incidence of knee and hip injuries, but increases my incidence of foot and lower leg injuries. The latter have always healed faster for me, so that's why I mostly trained in racing flats.

Thanks for the advice 800 dude. I've lost around 20 pounds over the past year, going from low-180s to low-160s, but at 5'11" with a fair amount of upper body muscle, it's hard for me to drop too much more weight. (Especially with low mileage...)As for the minimalist route - I've been thinking about trying either the road minimus or something else relatively firm underfoot. I've run in Altra Instincts before, but the hefty sole and generally soft feeling of the shoe flared up arch pain and seemed to intensify supination. Incidentally, I tried running a couple of easy miles in my Type A5's yesterday, just to see how it'd feel, but it really just hurt my feet. When I'm running below 7 min pace in those, or really, below 7:30 pace in any other pair of shoes in general, I find that the pain and other associated symptoms are greatly diminished. But I'm not that fast to begin with, so 7 min miles are not an honest easy pace for me. (In the long run, if I could get to this point, I think the form-correction that better form that I seem to adopt at faster paces with resolve much of my issues). Just curious - which flats do you primarily train in? I find this idea intriguing, as I think I'd ideally like something a bit more structured than the minimus, but with a low drop and firm sole. Something like a racing flat.

800 dude wrote:

Sorry you're having a tough time with it. Sounds like you're doing a lot of things right.

Two things I can think of:

1. Can you lose any weight? Since you're dealing with a variety of problems, this is one thing that should reduce the stress on your joints all around.

2. Have you thought about going a bit more minimalist? I'm not a minimalist kool-aid drinker, but it has definitely has its merits, especially if you've tried everything else. In general, I think going with more minimalist shoes reduces my incidence of knee and hip injuries, but increases my incidence of foot and lower leg injuries. The latter have always healed faster for me, so that's why I mostly trained in racing flats.

How are you getting those 25 miles per week? Five runs of 5 miles each? Three runs?

I've recently been getting around 30 miles per week in, and typically spread it among 4-5 runs, of varying lengths. A usual week might be a couple of 8 milers, and a couple of 7's.

Usually am not running less than 6 miles on any given run.

Have you tried heel drops on stairs for your arches

Try different surfaces to run on and doing more runs but shorter just keeping one longer run

I think most new runners go though a period of various common runner injuries while their body adapts to the new activity. Muscles and endurance seem to get progressively better while connective tissue takes some more time. I'm sure it will sort itself out soon.

I wouldn't change much. Just try to run though what you can, slow down, avoid hills, and give it a few more months. Try a patellar strap; the type that goes just under the kneecap, raising it a little and keeping it in place as you run. I think these work better than the sleeves. It will help prevent the rubbing of connective tissue against bone, which aggravates most knee issues.

When you had your gait analysis done, what was your stride rate? Most novices run about 150-160 steps per minute.

Raising it to 175+ steps per minute reduces overstriding which is a leading cause of injuries.

often a leg length discrepancy can cause repeated problems - luckily that one is easily fixed, without a saw even.

Anecdotally the hips seem crucial to runners - try doing some hip flexor strengthening exercises every day, regularly.

i do them around 8 times per day at my desk and I think it helps a huge amount.

Minimalist training shoes didn't exist when I was running more seriously (only a few years ago). Until I got shoe and gear deals, I trained with whatever I could find on sale. I went through a few pairs of Asics Hyperspeeds and Magic Racers, Nike Zoom Streaks, New Balance 205s, Adidas Cubatos, some Pumas (name I can't recall), some weird Filas and Diadoras. My all time favorite is the Brooks T-series, but that might be a little aggressive for you.

I definitely think it helps to have a few pairs in rotation. Your stride will adjust slightly to each shoe, and I think that helps prevent overuse injuries. Normally my rotation would include two pairs of racing flats in the 7-9 oz range (comparable shoes are lighter today, though), and one pair of lightweight trainers like the Brooks Ghost or New Balance 826. The trainers would normally be used for cooldowns after races or track workouts, and for my easy morning slog the morning after a hard workout in spikes. When you get used to running in lightweight racing flats, it's amazing when you switch back to trainers. I felt like my lower legs could've been nothing but dead tissue for all I knew--they just were barely involved in my stride when I wore trainers.

I'd also do some serious research and locate the best running doctor in your area. Most doctors are not at all helpful to runners, but if you find the right one, he or she will understand why it's important to you, and won't stop until the issue is solved.

Run slower on your easy days. 9-10 minute miles. start all of your runs that slow as well. progress accordingly each day based on the workout planned.

Thanks for the helpful advice. I think it's probably true that I've ramped up in mileage and intensity too quickly - even if I'm still basically running baby weekly mileage.

I'm a bit doubtful that things will just sort themselves out, however, since all of my issues are only on my left side.

I have been told that I have a 1/8'' leg length discrepancy, but also that introducing a lift could actually make things worse. That - and the sports chiropractor that I was seeing really doubted that the mild discrepancy was behind all of my symptoms.

Is it possible that such a minor discrepancy could be causing so many different issues? Should I experiment with a lift, or is this a bad course of action?

Lastly, if pain seems to subside when I run more quickly, would it really make sense to slow down to 9-10 minute miles as oheo suggests?

Thanks again!

800 Dude - do you have any advice about choosing between a PT, MD, or Chiropractor?

I live in Boston - which is something like the Promised Land of medical practitioners.

800 dude wrote:

I'd also do some serious research and locate the best running doctor in your area. Most doctors are not at all helpful to runners, but if you find the right one, he or she will understand why it's important to you, and won't stop until the issue is solved.

800 Dude - do you have any advice about choosing between a PT, MD, or Chiropractor?

I live in Boston - which is something like the Promised Land of medical practitioners.