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

did you purchase a tower? I think this is going to work for you!

sounds like your femur is sitting differently

haha, I did order the tower! I was very resistant at first, but when I tried it out at the clinic I realized that it works much better than any of my homemade substitutes.

Did they tell you it's okay to continue running while doing the exercise routine? And do you feel their evaluation is worth whatever cost they charge? I'm in Orange County so it's not outrageous for me to drive down to San Diego to get evaluated. I'm just not sure I can afford it at the moment.

Thanks for the excercises. Felt a little funny getting balanced at first. The left hip area is not smooth when doing this.

Do you think egoscue could help the Yankees?

Yes, they said it was definitely ok to continue running while doing the exercise program...in fact it is encouraged. I was told to try the SGP exercise the night before a hard workout to see if it helps at all.

As far as whether I think the evaluation was worth the price, I guess it really depends on whether I get any lasting improvement out of it. If it works, then it will definitely be worth it. I'm sure I've spent ten times the cost on chiro appointments. I did walk away feeling it was worth it though. My appointment was only for an hour, yet they spent 2 and a half hours evaluating me and going through all of the exercises. I felt like they found something concrete that I can work on. I will post updates on my progress and you can decide if you think it will be worth your while to visit the clinic.

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hi, i saw this thread and was wondering -- what does it exactly feel like this loss of coordination? in my right leg i get a tightness in the calf to my foot, and then it eventually goes numb -- usually 3/4 into an hour long run. i lose coordination too - mainly because I can't really feel what's going on. Is this the same sensation you get?

That's kind of what it's like for me. I've had this problem for a long time and I still can't describe it very well. It's just a weird feeling...it's like a painless pressure building up (lately in the upper calf but it has been in the quad and hamstring before) that eventually reaches the point where my leg just quits and my foot feels like it's flying forward and landing all over the place. I think there is some numbness too from the foot to the upper calf. Also, if I lift my left knee up to my chest after a run, I also feel a pins & needles sensation in my quad. Very strange.

for me, it feels like i lose control of my foot/ankle. my right ankle keeps on pointing really far inward and i can't help it.

For me, it's my lower leg that bothers me and I don't get numbness or a feeling of pins and needles when it happens.

I've had this for 5 years+ so I've had plenty of time to assess what it feels like: my fibula both at my knee joint and down at my ankle joint feels like it's ratcheting tighter and tighter until the muscles in my lower leg can't control the movement of the leg and I get cramping at both ends of the fibula. Since I can't control my lower leg, I can't control my foot plant and I get severe foot and knee splay where both twist out laterally uncontrollably.

Yuck! This SUCKS.

this may be it!!! THANK YOU

I also do not appear to have a leg height or hip angle difference but I have been struggling with this problem for over a year.

When I did the test, the weaker leg seemed to be really slow to raise compared to the other. Then I tried the excercises and felt nearly immediate exhaustion in the hip of that leg.

I will post back in in a few days.

I'm not going to say I'm completely better, but I've been feeling a lot better lately. I'm not exactly sure why either. I still feel a bit of restriction and awkwardness on distance runs and my right foot kicks my left leg a lot, but it's somewhat manageable. The weird thing is, I can get through 10 miles feeling okay right now, but if I do a double day of say, 8 miles and 4 or 5 more at night, the 2nd run feels much worse. Even so, I still feel as though my core muscles are firing better than before, although not quite as they should.

track dude:

what is going on with your egoscue training?

would love to hear of any results.

I've had my tower for 12 days now. The therapist gave me a 14 menu item including SGP and I told him that it would be too time consuming to do the entire menu every day. So basically I do 50 minutes of SGP one day, then the other 13 items the next day with a shorter SGP session mixed in.

I can't really notice any improvement yet. The therapist said I can expect to notice a change after 3 menus (about 6-9 weeks). I'm hoping for the best but at the same time I can't help but wonder if something else is causing the problem.

that sounds about right. I'm really pulling for you. Keep us updated.

Hello Track Dude and other posters, I also purchased the tower as well as the adjustable slant board.... I was evaluated at an Egoscue Clinic in Utah, there are 20 of them across the country, the director here trained under Pete Egoscue for 2 years before branching out.My issue has been a shutting down so to speak of the right quadrant of my leg, sometimes if feels like rectus femoris is burning and exhausted 10 mins into a run which is not possible... other times the pain and tightness jumps to the IT band and vastus lateralis as well as my TFL....I am doing a new set of exercises which still includes the supine groin stretch, I am into my 3rd week of doing these.Here is my question, are there good days and bad days with this because I still get plenty of days when a 4 mile run is very painful on the quad area yet I am trying to keep running as I am hopefully healing.Are there others of you out there that feel as though some days it feels like you are back at square one? I feel like I am battling up-hill to get well and invest atleast 75 mins of exercises a day into getting well....I have a left hip which is more elevated than the right causing a twist in the spine and pelvis, my right SI joint always aches..... The left leg does not work properly yet causing the right to do it all and thus get exhausted :O(Has anyone had total sucsess with this Egoscue program, perhaps I just need to be patient.... Thanks guys.

track dude wrote:

I've had my tower for 12 days now. The therapist gave me a 14 menu item including SGP and I told him that it would be too time consuming to do the entire menu every day. So basically I do 50 minutes of SGP one day, then the other 13 items the next day with a shorter SGP session mixed in.

I can't really notice any improvement yet. The therapist said I can expect to notice a change after 3 menus (about 6-9 weeks). I'm hoping for the best but at the same time I can't help but wonder if something else is causing the problem.

we are exactly the same.my left leg hits the ground at a terrible angle my psoas major on my left is so tight you can see it buldging and my rectus femoris at the top where it attaches to the hip is 2x the size on left than on the right.Weak right glute med