anyone feeling better
anyone feeling better
Yes, my left leg is weaker when I try to do one legged squats, lunges, etc. The adductors in my left leg are also noticeably weaker (I can barely raise my leg) and it's much harder to balance on my left foot with my eyes closed than my right.
I tried doing all kinds of single leg exercises during the summer and I got frustrated because it seemed like no matter how hard I worked, the strength in the left leg would not improve by a noticeable amount.
Sounds about right. I may as well have typed out your exact post.
mikeg,
I ran 51 miles last week, but it was all at an easy pace. The problem is by no means gone, but my leg can handle up to an hour of running most days now, although it's not comfortable by any means. I've decided to continue running, even if it's all an easy pace, until I can find a solution because the problem gets much worse for me if I rest. Last night was particularly rough though because my lower quad and upper calf were tighter than usual.
Miss Osage County have you tested the sacro wedgy?
Hi there! Meant to check back in sooner than now... How is your leg doing? Yes, I have tried the Sacrowedgy. I'm taller than the recommended height on the box it came in (didn't give these specific heights on the website) so I think the male one might be better... I do have a long torso....
Anyway until I decide about ordering the other one, I'm using it because I feel like it can't hurt--- but, I can't say definitively that it's helping my loss of coordination since I'm trying several things. I've bumped up my insert thickness on the bad (shorter) leg. I'm doing more glut strengthening. I've resumed daily ice baths (haven't done this since college...). And, I had my first ART session. Anyone tried that?
I experienced this as well, and problems started arising about 9 years ago.
After reading many of these posts, I can tell one of the problems that caused this, MANY miles on an indoor track. I was training for the US cross trials, and it was winter here in Wisconsin, so indoor running was required. I remember the feeling of losing control of my right leg near the end of repeat sessions, not sure what the hell was going on. Then, it began to happen in tempo runs, then in just any run. I eventually struggled to finish 4 mile jogs sometimes. Just had to stop and walk, for almost no apparent reason. Then, the crappy thing, your body compensates for this, and other injuries begin to creep up. My running partners had no idea what was going on, assuming I had some stupid problem. This pretty much ended my career as a competitive runner.
I have been relegated to running 20 miles a week, not doing anything too long. I still feel ok running, but sometimes get that feeling in my leg. After many years of staying away from the track, it is not so bad. But, as I try to get back into shape, I will try clockwise repeats, as soon as the 2 feet of snow melts on the track.
It does feel good to know that I am not crazy, or I don't have any serious health conditions. There was a point there that I thought MS could be an underlying cause. I did see many chiropractors, doctors, massage therapists, accupuncture, etc. Nothing worked, but I did spend a lot of money. My advice, stay away from them for this condition, unless you like giving your money away.
Have any of you found that wearing spikes for workouts actually helps the problem...??? I feel like even though the track is usually bad news for my leg, if I wear spikes, the gripping actually limits my foot splay, somehow encouraging proper muslce firing farther up the food chain?
Indoor track did me in as well. I still will say your glute med is your underlying cause. I am really curious did all of us suffer a lot of injuries. I started with ITB on my right leg then periformis on my right leg then post tib which ended up being tarsal tunnel on my left leg then a break in the top of my right foot. Then I got injured my left knee that really did me in. I can break every cause down to why. Once your glute med shuts down there is nothing to balance out your hips so your right hip will start to rise. When that happens your ITB will have to get tight and periformis will follow suite. When your glute med does not help balance something has to help do the job. That is when your lower leg muscles have to overwork and shorten. This causes your achellis and the surrounding muscles to become really short and tight. Overworked muscles will start to press on nerves. They became so tight landing on my heels became impossibly so I was literally landing on my forefoot. You run 15-20 miles a day on your forefoot and eventually something will break. That is how the top of the foot happened and tarsal tunnel. With the right hip raised and the left hip lower your thigh muscles will get shorter pulling your left pelvis down. When the left pelvis is pulled down your left hamstring will become long and weak. So when running this is why I am loosing coordination in my left side. When your left side is pulled down your right side will have to stay up and back. This makes the psoas muscle on your right get very tight. With your pelvis tilted down on your left side your left TFL will become overdeveloped.this then will help balance out the body. I can’t run. I have to get all my muscles back to normal and get my glute med stronger before I can run. It is looking like 6 months.possible longer.it may never get back to normal.
Hey, you will get back to normal. 100% of your expectations will be met. If you believe there is no help, no answer, then you've sealed your fate. Never let a nonrunner in the medical field have the final say in your injury.... Noakes, The Lore of Running.
I like your summation/explanation of the injury though. I think I'm going to bring it in to the ART guy I'm going to start working with.
I have a noticeable lower hip on my left side when I bend over and touch my toes, I put in a gel heel lift but yesterday I had some awful problemsand now I am even getting pain just above my pubic region on my right side? I am packing it in, I have been battling this for years nad working hard to remedy the situation...i am done.
mikeg wrote:
I have a noticeable lower hip on my left side when I bend over and touch my toes, I put in a gel heel lift but yesterday I had some awful problemsand now I am even getting pain just above my pubic region on my right side? I am packing it in, I have been battling this for years nad working hard to remedy the situation...i am done.
Mike, your doc is trying to balance you left to right, but that isn't necessarily going to do the trick. It may be a rotation issue, not a left to right, and a heel lift is not going to correct this necessarily.
try egoscue.
Why not give egoscue a try? I've been following it for about 3 weeks now and I can't say there have been any miracles, but I do see enough improvement to want to stick with it for at least a few months. The improvements come very slowly, but day after day, I find that I can run a little faster or longer before the problem acts up and when it happens, it's not quite as severe. I am also noticing that I am not feeling nearly as beat up after a hard run as I was before.
The goal with egoscue is to get you properly aligned and to have both sides of your body firing equally.
They have free menus that you can follow based on your current spinal alignment, or for $50 you can submit some photos and they can create a personalized menu for you. The exercises are generally pretty easy physically.
i just went to see a D.O. in my area and he really seemed to know what I was talking about. he looked at my alignment for a while and said i had some problems with my right hip being slightly higher than my left hip and then he readjusted me for a while and THEN found out that my left leg was slightly shorter than my right one and gave me a quarter inch heel lift. He said that the loss of coordination was caused by a tightness in my right hip flexor which then shut down my glute when i start to fatigue. I'm now going to a physical therapist to stregnthen the glute, but the adjustment, stretching out my hip flexor and hamstrings, and the heel lift are improving the situation. My leg still shuts down when I run, but later in the run then it used to.
That's good to hear that you are doing better. I think alignment is the root cause that brings about other problems, such as pinched nerves, muscle imbalances, etc. I'm still trying to figure it out. I was doing better the past few weeks (ran a 23:11 4 mile tempo run) til my back flared up on me a week ago. I can barely run 8 minute pace now because my hips, back and SI joint are locked up, and consequently, my legs bear all of the shock absorption. This is turn causes extreme tightness, fatigue and a lack of mobility in my legs. At least, this is what I think is happening. It's very, very frustrating.
mlbfan24 wrote:
That's good to hear that you are doing better. I think alignment is the root cause that brings about other problems, such as pinched nerves, muscle imbalances, etc. I'm still trying to figure it out. I was doing better the past few weeks (ran a 23:11 4 mile tempo run) til my back flared up on me a week ago. I can barely run 8 minute pace now because my hips, back and SI joint are locked up, and consequently, my legs bear all of the shock absorption. This is turn causes extreme tightness, fatigue and a lack of mobility in my legs. At least, this is what I think is happening. It's very, very frustrating.
sounds like you have an anterior tilt on both sides, and probably more on one side than the other.
why not give the egoscue menus a try for a couple of week. Use the free menus, if one side is locking up more than the other use menu 2. If both sides are hurting equally use menu 1. At the very least, it will release your back muscles.
try legs up the wall pose. If you can stay there for 15 minutes or more, you will feel things release. Allow gravity to create the release.
http://yoga.about.com/od/yogaphotogalleries/ig/Restorative-Poses-Gallery/Legs-Up-the-Wall.htm
mlbfan - sorry to hear about your back flaring up. Did this happen during the run? My advice is to slow down as soon as the loss of coordination feeling starts, because you will end up paying the price for it later and hurt something else, at least this is my experience. Now whenever it happens to me, even if I'm towards the end of a workout, I stop my watch and jog for a while.
My plan is to run a tempo run every 3 or 4 days to reasses my condition. On Thursday I made it to 21 minutes on a hard dirt path before I had to stop because the feeling was coming on. Today I made it through 22 minutes on a slightly hilly paved road without incident.
I've been following Egoscue religiously now...I have a 17 item personalized menu that takes me about 75 minutes a day. I would say that it's helping somewhat, but I think I have a long ways to go before I can run a race again. I took a set of photos today and compared them to my photos 2 weeks ago...amazingly I can see improvements in my alignment and especially the curvature of my spine. My lower back used to be flat as a board, but now it displays more of a curve. I am encouraged.
I think you're right that the problem has everything to do with alignment...I wish I knew exactly what was happening, but all I know is that certain muscles on my left side are not working at full capacity and are forcing my quads and hamstring to do more work than what they can handle.
16x,
Rotation of the hips has always baffled me when it comes to self diagnosing, but I'm pretty sure my right side is anteriorly rotated. I have been told my left hip is rotated back a bit, but I don't know for sure. I know that my left side sticks out more where my femur inserts into my hip, and the right side of my body is much tighter basically from my neck on down.
As of right now, my quads are taking a massive beating when I run because my legs feel like dead weights hanging from a dysfunctional core. I'll give the wall sitting pose a try. Maybe it will help flush out my legs as well.
track dude,
It happened after my run. I ran for 93 minutes on Sunday. It was hot that day out here in socal, and my legs started to crap out on me around an hour. I slowed down about 30 seconds a mile and struggled back home. Monday's run wasn't terrible although I was tired, but beginning Tuesday, I started feeling progressively worse. I agree about stopping upon the onset of any symptoms. It seems if I try to run through it for even a few moments, I will pay for it greatly later.
I used to severly lose coordination in my right leg while running the 3200 and XC at about the 1.5 mile mark. I could still run at about 5:25 pace while my leg was like this but it was very frustrating.
This track season I found out my right hamstring was significantly weaker than my left while I was doing leg curls. I strengthened my hamstring, and began doing a weekly tempo-type of run where I would run a 6 to 7 miler on flat terrain starting out at 6:15 and ending around 5:30 if I had a good day. My lactate threshold is 5:38ish so during that tempo I am spending the majority of the time running 10 seconds slower than my LT pace.
Last season with the leg problem my 3200 was 9:52.
Yesterday I ran a 3,000 for the first time this season and ran 8:58, and the leg problem never kicked in at all. So I am pretty convinced that my leg problem resulted from a muscle imbalance, and/or lack of tempo training and shitty endurance.