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

Shelby,

Am I a heel striker?

I hope not. I think not. At least two coaches took a look at my form and said I am a mid-foot striker.

Why do u ask?

Thanks for all the help. I'm going to start the exercises tomorrow. I think I'm also going to try to continue running for as long as my leg feels okay, and not push through the tightness/loss of coordination. Hopefully I and others on this thread will have some positive news to report here in the future!

I too will be starting the exercise and will report back every week giving updates on the bum leg and race results

My injury last year was along the same lines of this post. Loss of coordination in the right leg, mine mostly in the lower leg and foot. I was tested for nerve damage and had an MRI and there was nothing wrong.

This sidelined me for essentially 6 months. Someone recommended Bikram Yoga to me and I did it 4-5 days a week for 4 weeks with no running. It is a specific type of yoga in a very hot room that takes you through the same stretches every time. The major thing it does is loosen the lower spine and sacrum and pelvis. You have to concentrate really hard to do it well.

Even though I was told that my nerves tested fine, to me, there was no other explanation that would cause one leg to basically go dead other than having no firing power. To me, that meant a nerve was jacked up. I got so much more flexible in my spine with the Bikram Yoga and after 2 weeks, noticed my leg getting better. After 4 weeks, I was normal in sensation but slightly uncoordinated and just had to re-learn some drills and stuff, which took another 2 weeks. I stuck with the yoga the first 3 weeks of running (2 classes a week) to stay loose so the pounding didn't pinch the nerve again. I did some PT stuff too, like the squats and shifting leg to leg with even hips, as was mentioned in a post above.

I used to think Yoga was...well...not for me. But, if you get desperate enough, like I did, you'll have to brave the studio with the yoga-moms. Even the most dedicated runners are lazy as hell when it comes to stretching. But those classes are 90 minutes and you'll sweat 2L. its insane.

Seriously, try it. It saved my year, and probably career.

There is no cure. I went from running sub 9:45 in a 2 mile one day and the next my left leg was shot. It has been like this for 3 years. I have been to every specialist in the country. There is no cure. Your pelvis gets rotated and your VMO muscle gets shorter pulling down on your pelvis. I will bet anyone that if everyone on this board looked at there hips bare naked they would see there left side tilted down and in. the right side will look pulled back. What does this mean? Your glute med muscle is probable non existent on the left side. but your body needs something to hold it up. Your pelvis then tilts down and in until something brings it back up. Finally after your past the point where your right side is pulled way back and your left side is way down your TFL will kick in to propel you forward. The reason for loss of control is when your stabilizing muscles don’t function right your leg will need to find a better center of gravity.You will never get your glute med to function right again.My femur has rotated ,calf muscle shorter,hamstring is elongated.i would pay anything to be fixed again.

andy b

i agree with everything you said, but it can be fixed. It is just a muscle imbalance. I don't know who you have seen, but I can give you some ideas.

I had it for three years and now it is corrected. I saw everyone too. It can be corrected.

track dude wrote:

Spokompton - where in your leg would you experience your symptoms?

Always seem to have problems in my left leg. I believe my left leg is slightly longer than my right, or at least my hips are misaligned in a way such that this is true. (I'm working on this.)

At first I would have the problem when starting to get fatigued over the long flat surfaces. The first signs of trouble usualy begin with my middle toes on my left foot. They start to cramp and spasm. This usually lead to my hamstring seizing up, coupled with my calves ever so slightly.

If I tried to maintain pace at this point my leg would start doing all sorts of things induced by spasms.

As I stated above, the hamstring curls have really help balance out my weaker side. This, coupled with months and months of high mileage have really help prevent this or at least lessen the affect.

I am still trying to strengthen / stretch my right side into proportion with my left.

mlbfan24 wrote:

Spokomptom,

I'd also be interested to know how bad your symptoms were while at their worst? And can you race distance races up to 10k or half marathon on the track or flat roads now without incident?

My symptoms were at there worst when I first made the switch to full time training in H-Streets. I was determined to stay in these shoes because all of my other nagging injuries, as a result of high mileage, went away with the switch.

Any time in the first few months I would try to go for a longer run on a hard flat surface, I would experience spasms in my foot, which would then cause my hamstring to seize up. At first I had to slow down, stretch my calves and hamstrings before returning to a slower pace. This is one reason why I stayed on soft surfaces for so long in the transition period.

Leading up to my first half marathon after switching to minimilast only, I was nervous. I stretched my left side so well that the only problems I had were slight cramping in my rigth calf, go figure. I was lucky there. I did that race in T4s, which was the last time I used them, even though they served me well.

In the fall I ran a good 5 miler in H-Streets with no problems, (not really long enough.) Shortly after I raced a somewhat hilly 10 miler and had the ultimate spasm in my left leg occur right on the last hile about 3/4 of a mile out. I had to stop and stretch, and slow down, but was still not too upset with my time/place. (I think this one was slightly caused to going out unevenly, and trying to race. Damnit I should have known better and stuck to time trialing :)

Since then, with the leg stregthening, continual stretching, and high mileage in very minimal shoes, the problem seems to lessen.

Got another half coming up and hope to be able to crank it in whatever footwear I choose.

16X -I think a lot of us are experiencing the same symptoms, but isn't it likely that we have different causes? How can that website work for everyone if we may have different underlying causes? (maybe there is a part of the program that I am missing) Also, can the symptoms of a muscle imbalance appear in an instant? Mine just came on one day, which is why I did not suspect an imbalance early on.

Andy B - I think what you are saying makes a lot of sense. I am certain in my case that muscles in either the back or side of my upper leg and not functioning properly and are possibly even shutting down when running on flat pavement. I feel most of the "weirdness" in my lower quad right above the knee, but I suspect that my quad is fine, it just feels weird because its taking on most of the load.

I started working on hamstring curls, I will report back if there is any improvement.

16x

is there an email I can reach you at for questions?

a great PT who is on the board all the time.a great podetrist who is on the board all the time Ron Hureska who can fix about anything and just might be the smartest man alive from Lincon Nebraska.

andy b,

are you able to run at all now? and does rest cause your problem to worsen when you come back? I have an extremely hard time contracting my left glute while running now, and would venture to guess it basically isn't working at all. my left hip and thigh feel locked up and when examining my hips, they are so far away from being even it's ridiculous.

a question to everyone else suffering from this...have you guys also noticed a dramatic drop off in turnover and top end speed as a result of this? I can't maintain my normal distance running turnover anymore, and have noticed that what little sprint speed I had before is completely gone.

I also wanted to add to the comment about the hips, because I've been told by a chiro that my right hip is rotated interiorly and anteriorly. If I have my right foot pointing straight ahead, the only way for me to even out my hips is to turn my left foot inward. I'm unable to even out my hips by keeping my left foot straight and manipulated my right side.

you can post your e-mail and I will gladly contact you for some discussion on this. thanks.

That happened to me years ago - it turned out to be plantar fasciitis! Did what the podiatrist told me, wore orthotics for awhile and was good as new in a few months.

I went to a massage therapist last night who said that my left hip was an inch higher than my right, and there was some anterior rotation. After about 15-20 minutes of work on key muscles, he said he was able to balance them out. If he what he's saying is correct, then this could explain a lot of the problems.

I am going to attempt an 8 miler on a flat surface on Saturday, so I will know for sure if there has been any improvement at that point.

track dude,

just from looking in the mirror, I can see that my left hip is higher as well. I think both of my hips are anteriorly rotated though, but I'm not sure.

do you feel any better walking around? I'm anxiously awaiting to here how your Saturday run goes.

That's interesting about your left hip being higher too. I was surprised that he told me that it was higher by an inch, because I never noticed anything in the mirror. Have you tried going to a massage therapist to get this straightened out?

Yes, I feel close to 100% when walking around now, but I don't know how much credit to give the massage therapist for that. Avoiding running for 7 and a half weeks seemed to make a difference. I think triggering the condition by running on flat pavement would drain the strength out of my left leg and it would carryover to when I walked.

Good luck!

i think your right glute being weak will cause your left hip to get higher.