Osteitis Pubis- recovery tips?

Took about 9 months to recover. Dr gave me exercises that isolate each side so could fix imbalance that caused issue. No PT since can google the necessary exercises. I took a couple of months off from running and spent that with exercising/stretching and dialing in my nutrition. Biking hurt area due to pressure and swimming seemed to make it worse. Slowly worked back up with a lot of base training ( no speed or long distances). I was conservative and have not had problem since. This was about three years ago.

9 months makes me nervous. I’m fearing a long recovery. Biking didn’t hurt originally but it started to as the pain shifted to my butt area. The pain in by butt is gone though so I was considering starting up biking again. I’m not sure if this will delay my recovery but at this point I just want to be doing something. I tried swimming with a pull buoy today but this irritated it quite a bit

I was older than you and carrying around about 15 extra pounds, so would expect a longer recovery.

My Dr is the team physician for an NHL team. Not an uncommon injury for them. Most would take cortisone to get through season and get surgery or recover in offseason.

I was a hobby jogger so used time to lose the 15 pounds.

I had issues with OP several years ago, which i attribute to sitting a LOT for grad school work, but then hitting it hard skate skiing, running, and snowshoe running. So I was tight and weak in certain muscle groups. I got back on track a little bit with the help of a PT, but then a half year later or so, I was trying to pick up running mileage and it can back.

I had by then moved, and found a great chiro / PT who found that I had weak hip flexors, weak external rotators and hip abductors, tight groin and hamstrings... a lot of stuff going on that I probably should have fixed a decade prior, as I had had different injuries running in college, including a knee issue that was very likely due to similar imbalances. I was able to get back to running without pain within 1-2 months.

Keeping up with PT (some visits, but mostly exercising at home) got me to the point where I was actually able to retrain my neuromuscular system and activate those weak muscles more (I had been completely unable to skate ski when i was injured, but now that is a great exercise over the winter to activate those muscles that had been week). I probably should be more on top of my at home exercises for rehab / prehab, but I can get away with doing them every once in a while now without OP problems. I'm not running big mileage at all anymore, but I did run a 37 miler in October, no issues.

Don't despair, you can get over this. Find yourself an awesome PT (that's what I call the chiro I went to, as he's much more than back cracking and manipulation).

Thanks both for the help.

I do love the PT I’m seeing now, he’s been great with my past injuries and has given me some exercises for the O.P.

Lumbersnacks, did you continue cross training during your time off running? I’m not sure if I should try some biking or just rest. Also did you have to avoid walking around? I’ve read some people suggest avoiding all weight bearing, but this isn’t possible for me. I have to walk to a lot of my classes and have a pretty active job, so I’m worried about delaying my recovery time

My doctor told me it would take about 6 months to heal. I did 6 weeks of absolutely nothing. Then with the doctor's approval I did 6 weeks of water jogging. He said my recovery was amazingly fast but then I take a lot of supplements.

When you say nothing, did you try to limit time on your feet? Also if you don’t mind me asking, what supplements did you take?

I remember walking down stairs being painful. I was able to ride my bike mostly ok, but sometimes that would bother it too. swimming (especially pulling) was find mostly, but interesting flip turns were painful, and breast stroke was totally out (that leg motion REALLY strained it)

I was past my collegiate running at the time, so i was able to be a little patient and not cross train daily, but I didn't totally lose all fitness.

Interesting that you say that breaststroke hurt a lot— I wonder if that’s why it’s so irritated today. I used a pull buoy but still found it hard to stop using my legs in the pool today and did breaststroke, so maybe that’s why I’m in so much pain now. It’s super inflamed now so I’ll probably take the next few days off of anything and if it improves maybe I’ll try some light cycling.

What’s weird is that I have none of the abdominal signs of osteitis pubis, nor do I have any tenderness over the pubic symphysis. It’s really all in my adductor tendon area/ outer hips. I’m hoping this means it’s not too advanced

groin pain wrote:

When you say nothing, did you try to limit time on your feet? Also if you don’t mind me asking, what supplements did you take?

Yes. No running. Limited walking. No spinning. No nothing. The doctor put up the x-ray and showed me the two ends of the pubic bone. They were disintegrating! I could have been crippled for life, he said. Then, he wouldn't let me do anything that moved the pelvis, not even swimming or spinning... just water jogging for six more weeks.

I take about 30 supplements/day. Back then, I probably only took 12. I don't remember what I was taking back then, but it probably included every raw material to build bones and reduce inflammation. Cal-Mag-Zinc, a multivitamin that contains several hundred percent of the RDA of B vitamins, C, beta carotine, selenium... probably all of those. Today, I'd research bone healing and see what else I should be taking.

The RDA is a joke.

You're a runner. You tear down more muscle in a 10 mile run than the average person does in a month. In your case now, you're healing a major injury. It's just common sense that your body needs more raw materials to repair major damage than it does to simply remain "not sick," which is the goal of the RDA.

Best of luck. Be very patient. My injury was 15 years and four world records ago. I mention that to point out that you CAN come back. You just need to be disciplined and patient.

Ouch, disintegrating? That sounds extremely painful. My MRI only showed mild bone edema although I did continue some light running on it so I’m sure it’s worse now.

I’m taking calcium and a multivitamin now but I’ll definitely do more research into other vitamins/minerals that might help speed up bone healing.

Unfortunately I don’t have much of a choice in being able to stay off my feet— like I said, I have a pretty active job. I go back to the doctor in a month, so I guess I’ll see how my healing looks then

Ended up trying a really easy 20 min in the bike this morning. It felt ok during, maybe a little tight but now I’m in pretty bad pain. I’m going to take your advice and try to stay off it as much as possible for at least a month. Hopefully by then I can start some cross training

groin pain wrote:

Ouch, disintegrating? That sounds extremely painful. My MRI only showed mild bone edema although I did continue some light running on it so I’m sure it’s worse now.

I’m taking calcium and a multivitamin now but I’ll definitely do more research into other vitamins/minerals that might help speed up bone healing.

Unfortunately I don’t have much of a choice in being able to stay off my feet— like I said, I have a pretty active job. I go back to the doctor in a month, so I guess I’ll see how my healing looks then

As my doctor (a former US Olympic team doctor) explained, the ends of the two bones were rubbing together very slightly. Any exercise that rotated the hips, even slightly, was to be avoided. That included running, swimming, elliptical, and brisk walking. I could walk, but I was careful not to try to walk fast.

I’m worried that I made my OP into a full blown stress fracture at this point because I was running and walking on it for so long. I don’t have any pain when standing on one leg (which I read is a big red flag with these stress fractures) but I am in considerable pain. My doctor prescribed me an oral corticosteroid to reduce the inflammation and pain but I’m a bit hesitant to take it. Did you take this at any point in your recovery?

Also do you think it’s worth it to ask for a repeat MRI? If it has progressed to a stress fracture, I’d like to know so that I’m not doing too much on it.

So, and I was worried about the usual skin problems, I even constantly read all sorts of sites to find a way to treat, like https://beverlyhillsmd.com/product/dermal-repair-complex/ and only now I realized that my problem is not so serious. I wish you a speedy recovery, my friend! I hope everything will be fine with you.