Loss of coordination in leg - Official runner's dystonia / focal dystonia discussion thread

amkelley wrote:

How do you do these? wrote:

How do you do them?

I use a machine that can adjust the lifting weight to many different positions to work different muscles in the legs. The way I use it is to stand on one leg with the pad sort of behind me, reach back with the other leg to place the pad in front of my thigh with thigh about 45 degrees behind vertical, and then lift forward with bent knee, lifting the weight until my thigh is about horizontal to the ground. Do 10 of these on each side and repeat several times.

I wish a had a picture.

I understand what you mean. Thank you.

A similar exercise could be laying on a bed with weights on the feet hung over the edge.

I'd also agree that there is a problem with a nerve somewhere in the hip region. I've had a variety of tests, but the only one that suggested a problem was an EMG that showed abnormal results in some of the muscles on my right leg. Neither the spine doctor nor neurologist could explain the results since my lumbar MRI was perfectly clean (along with several other scans, including my brain).

I vacillate between root causes all the time, and pirformis/sciatic stuff is one I consider a lot. It could possibly explain the EMG results, however I never had any typical sciatica pain ever. My only pain was in my heel, and I could believe that could arise from some sciatic compression.

Has anyone had luck with acupuncture. There were a few reports of this helping people with this condition. .

I too am interested in trying acupuncture, at least as an adjunct therapy. interesting, the only condition acupuncture has been found to be effective for (according to randomized clinical trials) is low-back pain. so perhaps this could be including sciatic-type issues. I might try acupuncture this week (living in Portland, OR = access to cheap community acupuncture clinics!), so I will report back.

this seems helpful!

Not sure if you've seen the article below, but acupuncture was part of his treatment for what seems to be a similar coordination issue. I've also heard other stories of how it can help to reset muscles that get locked into faulty movement patterns.

BTW, I also live in Portland. I'll keep you posted if I find any positive acupuncture results. It seems to be the only thing I haven't tried yet :(

Good Luck!

http://www.myajc.com/news/sports/after-seven-years-of-injury-mcdougal-races-in-peac/ngW2R/

very interesting article, thanks! and same! I'm seeing a chiro who I really like and who is very "intrigued / interested" in this condition on friday, then thinking i'll try acupuncture early next week. if I find a good place, I'll let you know :)

Dysfunctional Foot -

Have you been to Portland Integrated Health and Sports Medicine? I've been seeing a chiropractor there who I really like, he's a competitive runner and is pretty knowledgeable. Also, I've gone to the NUNM clinic for acupuncture, which offers very affordable community acupuncture.

Quick history - issue began during track race, left leg felt weak and buckled after race; didn't rest, I kept running for weeks after race (stupid.) Began to have left quad tightness during runs, felt like the muscle stayed in a contracted state and a ball of pain would build in center of quad. Walking made muscle relax and pain went away. Finally saw ortho/sports med. - MRI of quad only (although I mentioned I thought the hip was involved, Dr. dismissed that) showed a completely normal quad. Did PT, deep tissue massage, acupuncture and strength training. Almost two years later it is much better but not gone. I'm running about 2/3 of the mileage I used to run. I think the strength training and stretching has been the most help, my legs (esp. hamstrings and glutes) plus hips are much stronger and looser. I've had many runs where I feel like my old self, I'm pretty optimistic it will go away eventually. Not glad to hear of other runners suffering but it has helped to read these posts.

Albe,

I have heard of him. A few friends recommended him about a year back when I was first having these problems. He is supposed to be good. Maybe I should've seen him. Hope he is helping you. What kind of treatment is he giving you. I've mostly seen PT's for this. Most of their focus has been hip stuff (squats, side planks, and balance). They also did a lot of the scraping stuff in my foot/calf/lower hamstring.

After not running a step for 5 months, I started doing some light jog-walk stuff. Unfortunately, I still feel some of the same issues. It wasn't too bad, but then again I was stopping to walk every couple minutes.Additionally, my balance and even that uneasy dead feeling in my lower hamstring was quite noticeable walking around. I feel like this is confirmation that some muscle in my upper leg/butt is impinging the nerve. This could also explain my abnormal/unexplained EMG results that suggested a pinched nerve root in my back, but showed a clean MRI.

I've never really done any of these piroformis stretches. Maybe I should start doing these religiously. Any luck with the acupuncture?

Hope your improving!

Hey Dysfunctional Foot,

Sounds like we're in the exact same place. I just got a brain MRI and it came back clean. Next is an EMG, although not until January.

I would be happy to send you the program he gave me! perhaps you could send me your email? Sometimes I feel like if I am consistent with it, I improve, although I still strongly believe there is some sort of impingement that prevents a true "cure" before that root cause gets fixed. And thanks for the reminder about the acupuncture - totally didn't get to it in the midst of midterms (grad school life ...)

I just signed up for a month of CorePower yoga (hot yoga), so here's for another experimental try at fixing this.

(start around 34 minutes)

so ............ is anyone on here of Jewish decent? I am.

Not Jewish. In my personal experience I don't really think this is a dystonia. I think the problem is somewhere in my hip/butt region, which leads to foot/leg weakness and improper gait.

Did the neurologist you saw suggest that you have some type of dystonia?

ya, he think's that it could be focal dystonia or a herniated disk. my next appointment is in January (they're so booked).

Strange side note...did anybody have slight incontinence when running in conjunction with the lack of coordination?

no but if you do you should DEFINITELY go to a dr

Ok so guys I just want to let you know that glute weakness has a lot to do with your lack of coordination.

I had the problem and was convinced it was a knee/hip problem or nerve problem. When I walked/run it feels like my leg doesn't support my weight and my leg/quad is dead.

Turns outs my glute was just weak and I could barely contract my glute on that side.

I did like 2yrs of hip strength stuff but that didn't do much and I asked a strength conditioning coach why and he said that the hip strength would not be causing what I'm feeling. The glutes are the muscles that support, it makes sense they are the biggest muscle in body.

It will take tim start out with glute sets (just contracting the glute) do them sitting standing and laying down. Then gradually move up to more glute strength like glute bridge holds and squats.

The glutes are the power house of the leg!

I was an athlete going through the same thing. The glute stuff your doing may be too much right now, because that's what was happening to me. Try doing glute sets like just contracting your glute sitting standing and laying down. This ensures your neuromuscular activation of the glute.

Glute bridge holds also are great. I was doing glute bridges but I wasn't getting much success because I wasn't ready for it yet. Holding the bridge position is good to start off and then move up to higher level exercises.

So what I'm saying is I went through the same thing and I thought I was doing the exercises right and was activating my glute but I really wasn't. I was just so weak and I needed to start with the simplest stuff to get success.

All the best!

this is true BUT for example, piriformis issues can prevent you from being able to properly activate your glute

so in my case: piriformis got inflamed/thickened -> no glute activation -> glute muscle weak -> loss of coordination

i couldn't fix the glute issue until i fixed the piriformis first, despite trying all of the exercises in this thread + many more

it seems like the majority of people on here just have a weird muscle imbalance that donkey kicks and other glute/hip stuff can remedy fairly quickly, but that's definitely not the only thing that can cause this

Yes you are right everyone is different. It's all about getting down to the issue and finds what best for you, which can take a long time.

Running turtle wrote:

this is true BUT for example, piriformis issues can prevent you from being able to properly activate your glute

so in my case: piriformis got inflamed/thickened -> no glute activation -> glute muscle weak -> loss of coordination

i couldn't fix the glute issue until i fixed the piriformis first, despite trying all of the exercises in this thread + many more

it seems like the majority of people on here just have a weird muscle imbalance that donkey kicks and other glute/hip stuff can remedy fairly quickly, but that's definitely not the only thing that can cause this