loss of coordination in leg

It's very possible that your sacrum is out of alignment. Very few chiropractors know how to correct this problem that affects runners. I had your problem, and this adjustment helped me.

I went here:

www.therunningdoctor.com

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yesstiles wrote:

It's very possible that your sacrum is out of alignment. Very few chiropractors know how to correct this problem that affects runners. I had your problem, and this adjustment helped me.

I went here:

http://www.therunningdoctor.com

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try this:

do that quick foot drill (slow slow quick) where every third step is a quick pull through. the one where you basically take turns making each leg come through quick that sprinters do. it takes a fair amount of coordination. if this works as a diagnostic for you, you probably have nerve impingement in your spine somewhere or sciatica. Do bikram yoga (the hot yoga)3-5 days a week to unpinch the neve and give it 4-6 weeks to grow back healthy and you will be fine.

i recently explained the problem to my chiropractor and he explained some stuff that helped:
Take off your shirt so you can see your hips and stand in front of a mirror. Quickly bend your knees so that your butt comes down about 4-5 inches. Look in the mirror to see where your hips are and if, like me, they are out of ailignment, then one hip will be higher than the other. To fix this you can do what you just did but focus on keeping your hips level when you drop. After you've done this, move your body from side to side with your feet planted and your body in alignment: your torso should remain perpendicular with the ground and your hips should be parallel with the ground. Then you can stand on one leg (bent) and move the other leg out from your body from different angles, once again keeping your body aligned.

Bump. I've been cleared of MS and an EMG came back negative for any type of nerve damage. The neurologist says its most likely a biomechancial/muscular problem, the problem is nobody knows where to look. Any ideas?

Add me to the list, since I've started a couple threads on this in the past 6 weeks or so. I'm trying the rest route right now and haven't run for 17 days. I'm also seeing a chiropractor who has been adjusting my lumbar spine and the right side of my pelvis because it is anteriorly rotated and also rotated inward. I will be getting a blood test, dopplar test (for DVT... blood clots), and probably an MRI on my back to check for nerve issues.

When you guys run, are your legs uncomfortable the entire run? Mine feel awkward and stiff or rigid, as if my range of motion is greatly decreased. The weird thing is, I can run my normal pace fine and feel like I am jogging, but then have to come to a complete stop to stretch out my quads before continuing on for a few minutes. It definitely isn't an issue of fatigue in the usual aerobic sense.

I have also noticed if I greatly exaggerate an anterior rotation in my pelvis while standing still, then bring my knees up in a running motion, there is even greater tension placed on my quads and hip flexors. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with it, but it's worth a shot.

Well, I had a progressive loss of control of my right leg. After trial diagnoses of MS and ALS I finally had a consult with a neurologist who was also a runner, who sent me in for a CAT-scan to confirm a herniated disc causing pressure on a nerve at the C-3-4 level. After the keyhole disc surgery it didn't get any worse, but the existing nerve damage will never get better (nerve tissue damage doesn't repair) so I run with a slight list to starboard and sore knees and back, and an occasional back muscle spasm.

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mlbfan24 wrote:
When you guys run, are your legs uncomfortable the entire run? Mine feel awkward and stiff or rigid, as if my range of motion is greatly decreased. The weird thing is, I can run my normal pace fine and feel like I am jogging, but then have to come to a complete stop to stretch out my quads before continuing on for a few minutes. It definitely isn't an issue of fatigue in the usual aerobic sense.

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Mine is both legs, although the left leg is worse. It's as you said...almost like pressure building up, but something else. When I was trying to run through it, I'd wake up with stiff legs, but now that I haven't done anything for 2 1/2 weeks, I feel normal. Even while training, walking around throughout the day felt fine. Did you have any back pain or back injuries when this first occurred? I'm also wondering if it is some sort of strange nervous system fatigue.

*update*

After taking 3 weeks completely off and not cross training, I ran 4 miles last night and 4 miles today. I feel much worse and have no coordination at all while running. I can't even hold my normal cadence while running because I simply can't move my legs fast enough anymore. I'm not sure if I could run 7:00 pace for 5k right now, simply because my legs won't do it.

Does anyone else's condition get worse with rest? This is ridiculous and needless to say, I'm really frustrated.

*bump*

In the absence of disease, this is my guess:

Your body will only move 'correctly' if it has the strength / flexibility to do so - many biomechanical problems can be improved / solved with the correct conditioning exercises.

With insufficient strength, your body compensates, and moves awkwardly. Perhaps with a huge conscious effort you can control it for a few steps, but it always slips back to the awkward movement.

This shouldn't be at all controversial so far - so what has this to do with you, where you're fine for a while and then the coordination goes wrong part way through a run?


Well, i am suggesting your conditioning in some area is a bit borderline. At the start of the run, you're fine, but then you fatigue. Fatigue causes a transient strength loss. So during the course of the run, you pass from having sufficient to insufficient strength, and the coordination starts to go wrong.

With this rationale, you would expect it to be worse on hard surfaces. You would expect it to get worse with prolonged rest (i.e. weakening from detrainng). You would expect doctors to be unable to diagnose a specific condition responsible for the problem.

How does that fit your experiences?

It fits, but what would bring on such sudden weakness? I can't speak for anyone else on this thread, but in my case, I went from running mid 26's for 5 miles to being unable to sustain that pace for a mile without losing coordination and being forced to stop. I'm starting to think I have some sort of neuropathy, but I don't even know where to begin with that.

Geez Boys,
I'm in the same boat. However, I start to feel a general tightness in my left lower leg and it progress up to my knee and ITB. After about 1/2 mile of running on a hard surface it feels like my left leg is completely rotated out and I have to stop to stretch it. I've been tested for compartment syndrome, no dice. Also saw an ART guy, nothing there.

Other info:
Chronic Achilles Tendonitis in the same leg
For foot lander/supinator.

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mlbfan24 wrote:
Did you have any back pain or back injuries when this first occurred? I'm also wondering if it is some sort of strange nervous system fatigue.

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Yes, my weakness came on all of a sudden at the tail end of my best every track workout. In the month leading up to that, I was running better than ever. The fact that it happened in an instant led me to believe there was some kind of trauma associated with the injury, but I have no idea.

mlbfan - I often assumed it was some type of neuropathy for me, but the neurologist more or less ruled that out in my case. I suspect that it is some type of exercise induced neuropathy, which may explain why it did not show up on any of my tests, since I was at rest during the tests. Its kind of like compartment syndrome, except in the upper leg.

I'm going to a very agressive massage therapist next week to see if he can help.

Alex S is right on, lots of work ahead to correct this, it's worse then a injury.

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Alex S wrote:

In the absence of disease, this is my guess:

Your body will only move 'correctly' if it has the strength / flexibility to do so - many biomechanical problems can be improved / solved with the correct conditioning exercises.

With insufficient strength, your body compensates, and moves awkwardly. Perhaps with a huge conscious effort you can control it for a few steps, but it always slips back to the awkward movement.

This shouldn't be at all controversial so far - so what has this to do with you, where you're fine for a while and then the coordination goes wrong part way through a run?


Well, i am suggesting your conditioning in some area is a bit borderline. At the start of the run, you're fine, but then you fatigue. Fatigue causes a transient strength loss. So during the course of the run, you pass from having sufficient to insufficient strength, and the coordination starts to go wrong.

With this rationale, you would expect it to be worse on hard surfaces. You would expect it to get worse with prolonged rest (i.e. weakening from detrainng). You would expect doctors to be unable to diagnose a specific condition responsible for the problem.

How does that fit your experiences?

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