Hi One of You (and everyone else):
First I'll answer your questions, then an update from me.
1)The specifics seem to vary a bit from person to person in this thread, but in GENERAL, the loss of coordination is WORST when doing a fast, sustained run on a level, hard surface. So a tempo run on the roads. A fartlek on trails is sometimes better, although I've had instances where trail running seemed to irritate it worse than flat grass.
2) I was a fairly healthy runner up until 2009, when I straight-legged a steeplechase water barrier landing and smashed the fat pad in my heel and rolled my ankle (right side for both). After that, I had ankle issues, obviously, but soon after developed adductor problems on the left side. A few months later I had piriformis/glute pain on the...right side I think? I'd have to check my logs. A few months later I had some muscle issues behind my right knee (popliteal muscle), and during the summer of 2010, soon before this problem initially presented, I had mild ITBS on my right side. There is a *chance* that this all could be related to smashing my right leg down so hard back in '09, but that's far too tidy of a story, I think....I do wonder about whether any of my prior injuries were indicators of this problem developing, though.
3) I was wearing supportive shoes with OTC orthotics (superfeet) when the problem initially presented. If you've read my earlier posts, the first time I got the loss of coordination problem I tried to run through it and got a sacral stress fracture on my left side because my stride was so messed up. I took ~8weeks off, aquajogged, and was able to come back and run again with no problems, and during this "comeback" I was wearing fairly minimal shoes (Kinvara, Free 3.0, NB Minimus) and midfoot striking. Things went pretty well until I had a series of pretty bad bacterial and viral infections in the spring, and when I tried to come back from that, I got adductor pain again (left side) and my loss of coordination issue on the right side quickly resurfaced. It has not really gone away since then.
4. See #1 for surfaces, but different shoes did not seem to help, no. When it was bad, I still had issues whether I was barefoot, in flats, etc. I don't think the roots of this problem are in the foot/ankle.
5. Like I said, the first time I had it, it went away when I took 8 weeks off (2 completely off, 6 in the pool IIRC). When it came back, however, nothing really made it go away (except possibly lidocane injections). However, other people in this thread have found success with hamstring stretching and glute strength. None of the other wacky "cures" (running clockwise, cell phones, injection sites, whatever) have worked or revealed an anwer for anybody.
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As for the previous poster, Neliah had the surgery and has recovered and is running again, if I recall correctly. Look back to about 10 pages ago. Several other posters have had this problem and found that they have a labral tear. I *think* one person reported having an MR-A and NOT finding a labral tear.
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An update for me: Last time I posted, I had taken two months completely off from running, cross training, and strength, and had started up again with some basic aqua jogging and hip strength, only to find that I was getting hip PAIN (not just "loss of coordination") with many of the things I was doing, which quickly spread to daily activities (getting out of bed, sleeping on my right side, etc.). So I went in to see the doc again. Now that I had actual hip PAIN (a new development, remember) with simple range-of-motion stuff, he had me go in for another injection. Just lidocane, no cortisone or anything, along with a CT scan of the bone structure. The lidocane made a noticeable difference on the hip range of motion pain and a HUGE difference on "isometric" pain (resisting internal rotation more specifically), so looking at all the evidence, the doctor and I decided to go ahead with the surgery. Recall that my MR-A came back positive for a labral tear back in September, but I was not having hip pain at the time.
So I'll be having surgery in April. Until then, I'll be working on my front crawl, bench press, and pull-up PRs :) I've decided it does not make any sense to try to run on this between now and surgery, now that I know I'd only be doing more damage to my hip joint. I am also still working on clearing up the adductor issues on my left side. My PT thought they were related to the coordination issues on the right side, although scar tissue might also be a problem. I thought for a while I might be having hip joint issues on the LEFT side too, but the adductor pain is just that—ONLY adductor pain. No hallmarks of a sports hernia or FAI or labral tear. Just pain along the last 2" or so of my adductor. So I've been working on clearing that up, and putting up an "impressive" 120 on the bench press. Perhaps I'll make a twitter or something so I can log my recovery post-surgery.
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I've read and studied a LOT on this problem, and once I've gotten to the other side of surgery and done a bit more research, I'll sit down and write out something more substantial. As for now, the best advice I can give anyone with this problem is:
1) try stretching and glute strength, along with working with a good PT, for a month or two and see if that makes a difference
2) If it doesn't, in the words of Miss Osage County, "get the f***ing (MR-)arthrogram." Partially for your own benefit and partially so the others in this thread can get a better picture of the "geography" of this injury. I have a hunch right now (and it's only that) that the problem IS caused by a labral tear/hip joint instability in most people, but in some cases strong hip muscles can counteract or overcome that. That would explain why my problem got worse when I got sick for a long time, and when I took a lot of time off from everything (but not when I cross trained for most of it).
Good luck to all.