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

Glad to hear your surgery went well. Best of luck in your recovery!

Ray11 wrote:

Hi Run7.

So I've been playing the same game you have for 5 years...tried PT, injections, dry needling, chiro ect.

I'm currently seeing a hip specialist in Boulder, CO named Dr. Mei-Dan. When I lived in OH, I was diagnosed with the larbrum tear and impingment. Dr. Mei-Dan believe the root of this is from mild hip dysplasia, which for me specifically means that my hip socket is not properly covering the head of my femur. I am considering PAO surgery (and have talked to several runners who have already had the surgery).

Ray11

I just had surgery with Mei Dan. Would love to discuss more with you. I had a wonderful experience and already notice issues subsiding. You can email me at

sdesde wrote:

go to a chiro..

NO

quacks

Ray11,

I finally got an official diagnosis- FAI impingement and the labral tear. I, too, have borderline hip dysplasia. I got a cortisone shot yesterday, but am not optimistic so the next step is to consult a surgeon. Please let me know if you go the route of PAO - I just feel like I've exhausted every conservative method, and would just love to run healthy again, as I'm sure you would! Best of luck!

With me, I had extreme tightness in my hamstring in the same spot you do. I also felt that tendon feeling almost like elastic when I stretched it and ran (very unpleasant). I warn you not to continue to run like that, because I did and I regretted it for years. Foam rolling didn't do anything for me, but massage worked in that inner hamstring area. However, the belly of my hamstring was also very tight (massage didn't really break it up), but my athletic trainers used the scraper (look it up) on it and the next day, my hamstring felt sore and the day after that my hamstring was normal again!

-But I still had the awkward running feeling, and that was because my glute needed to be retaught to work. Because with a tight hamstring, the glute is inhibited. So, you should, I feel, do glute strength exercises like squats and bridged and focus on turning that glute on!

Rachel Nypaver wrote:

How many people on this post (with symptoms) have seen a hip specialist?

I've been diagnosed with hip dysplasia (but I dont have pain) so am wondering if it is still the cause of the loss of control over my left leg.

-I know there are many runners who post that have hip problems that could lead to their symptoms. In my case, my hip was not the problem. I had a labral tear, but it wasn't the cause of my problem. The glute medius in particular is close to the hip, so if that is weak, it can lead to hip problems. For me, I had to focus on glute strengthen to fix my loss of coordination, I also had no hip pain.

George_213 wrote:

May I ask how you "focus on activating the glute" during exercise? Do you just make a mental effort doing so?

Yes basically, because I found that I was doing it wrong. My glute was so weak that when I did a bridge, my leg would move in a was so that my glute wasn't really doing any work, this occurred with other exercises. Like I would do a tiny box jump and land so that my quad was absorbing the force. However, after telling myself to focus on activating my glutes, I was able to fix my errors and make my glute do the work. Its really hard! Like during exercises, I have to think if I feel my glutes turning one and it helped immensely.

Thanks again for your advice Runn, but, as has been painfully illustrated over the past 60 pages, not everybody is so fortunate to just have to strengthen their glutes. 3 years for a diagnosis, and I feel insulted when someone, although they have the best intentions, says "oh just strengthen you glutes". Those of you out there with FAI and tears, I hope you encounter an MD who doesn't dismiss you as needing "strengthening".

Run7 wrote:

Thanks again for your advice Runn, but, as has been painfully illustrated over the past 60 pages, not everybody is so fortunate to just have to strengthen their glutes. 3 years for a diagnosis, and I feel insulted when someone, although they have the best intentions, says "oh just strengthen you glutes". Those of you out there with FAI and tears, I hope you encounter an MD who doesn't dismiss you as needing "strengthening".

Yes, I just checked back into the tread and was answering people back who replied to me. I feel very bad for you and also those out there dealing with these complicated issues. How have you been?

Hi Runnnn,

Thanks for your reply. Can you elaborate a bit on your history with this problem. You've mentioned that you were plagued by this for several years. Just how bad was it? Did it only come on while racing,or was it significantly impacting even easy runs?

Does this still bother you now, or are you completely cured? If so, how long have you been healthy?

By the way, many years back I had some kind of loss of coordination issue, but it was more in my quad. I ran less and it went away in about a week. A lot of the one-off recovery posts on this thread are probably from similar short term problems. You seem to be one of the few people that was able to recover from this after several years of issues. In that sense, I'd be interested to hear more about your case.

-DF

Run7 wrote:

Thanks again for your advice Runn, but, as has been painfully illustrated over the past 60 pages, not everybody is so fortunate to just have to strengthen their glutes. 3 years for a diagnosis, and I feel insulted when someone, although they have the best intentions, says "oh just strengthen you glutes". Those of you out there with FAI and tears, I hope you encounter an MD who doesn't dismiss you as needing "strengthening".

+1

Hey Albe,

Seeing if you're still on this board. Any luck with the chiropracter you were seeing or the yoga? Not sure if you tried any accupunture.

I'm still having the same issues. I feel like my pelvis is rotated which is making my right leg longer and causing lot of issues. I cannot really improve it with any of the strengthening or stretching. Wondering if more frequent adjustments / massage might help make it more manageable.

I followed up with the doctors to look into my hip, but they suggested to start with sciatic nerve/piriformis. They have me scheduled for a W + W/O contrast MRI of my lumboscaral plexus. I guess if they see nothing there, they would image my hip next.

Hope you are improving!

Hey dysfunctional foot, I'm still here! I was actually going to post later tonight ... This is totally out of character for me, but I started a blog today on this issue. Long story short, I actually reached out to Nate Jenkins (who, I just learned) has the same/similar issue, and he was kind enough to give me some pointers on how he's managed it. I'm determined to understand this (could be the academic in me), and so I'm hoping creating a platform where we can collect some credible resources will help. For those who are interested, it's called findingourstrideblog.wordpress.com (it's not much yet at all!)

As for me, I've started running a little bit, I'm finding adjustments help a bit, as is yoga. I encourage everyone on this forum to check out Nate's blog, especially the "Fix You" series:

http://nateruns.blogspot.com/2015/03/fix-you-part-i-guest-blog-by-melissa.html

update: the blog is live! here's to getting us all back on the roads.

https://findingourstrideblog.wordpress.com

hey all. just thought i would post an update. havent checked this board in almost a year. ive been dealing with the "loss of leg coordination" for over two years now (mine came on rather acutely in the immediate aftermath of a marathon although i can now looks back and see many factors and warning signs and gait issues that i ignored that im sure contributed to it). I have pretty much given up on ever running again. I get sad every year, especially around boston marathon time :(. Every month or so I will try to go for a short (3-4 miles) jog. Sometimes it is manageable, sometimes it is awful, but the awkward sensation/ feeling of effort is always there. Its just not even worth it to me to try to run anymore. I have taken up many other forms of exercise over ensuing years...including a fairly vigorous yoga practice, all of which have helped my strength and balance and core and even my walking gait and posture tremendously (i have glutes where i never had glutes before!) so i keep expecting it all to make a difference in my attempts to run, to no avail. It appears to me, from reading all these posts, that there really is no solution short of numerous expensive tests and imaging which seem to most of the time lead nowhere, potential MAJOR surgery, and visits to doctors who have no idea what this problem is. Im convinced it is some sort of a dystonia in my case since really there are NO other symptoms and it ONLY impacts my running. And while it has gotten better over the years, it has not gone away at all. I feel like this neural "bug" has settled into my brain/ nervous system for good. I actually have dreams about running with a normal gait...LOL...and it feels so good :) Anyway, thats where I am. Will continue to occasionally pop back in here when I think of it , and hope for some sort of miraculous news from others, but so far , it seems it doesnt exist. Best wishes to everyone!

Sorry to hear that saraht. It is one of those very alienating injuries because it's so difficult to explain to anybody. I thought I would update as it may help, particularly Albe - we sound like we have absolutely the exact same symptoms. After 3 years of every bit of testing under the sun (literally) and PT, graston, ART, chiro, HA injections and prolotherapy I finally have surgery tentatively scheduled for the labral tear. My surgeon is 50/50 if the surgery will "fix" my loss of coordination, but if I'm willing to take the risk, I can have it done. The plan is to re-do the lidocaine injection on the treadmill and film me, but this time I am going to run without an injection until the loss of coordination kicks in, and then jump off the treadmill, get the lidocaine injection, and jump back on the treadmill. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to do this. Then, a few more prolotherapy injections over the summer, and if I'm still experiencing the symptoms, the surgery will be late in 2017. I'm hoping I can help shed some light for others experiencing this insidious condition! Cheers!

Hi DF!,

WARNING: this is going to be a long post, but it may help others. This is my story, and I know that many of you don't have glute problems.

-Sorry for the late reply, I'm currently in grad school and been busy. So I don't know if you want the whole story, but it may help someone. My story starts with a hamstring issue that turns into this dis-coordination.

My story:

-I strained my hamstring during my soph year of college in XC (2013). It hurt and was mostly very very tight. But, I didn't do much rehab for it, and when the pain went away, I didn't care.

-Months later, during the indoor track, at the end of a long run, when I was pushing hard, I felt the loss of coordination in that leg. It only happened at the end of that run, and I didn't feel it again.

-Then, the first day of outdoor track (after 4 days off, March 2014), I do a simple easy run and I feel that my leg won't go straight. I'm running and forcing it to go straight. My hamstring is so tight that my leg is flaring out to the side, and when I stop to stretch, it feels terrible like elastic. The next day, my hamstring felt extremely sore (like it was ripped open).

-However, even though my leg feels like this, I keep running anyway (dumb). My leg then, continued to flare out/ spasm on every run, mostly at the end.

-Then something strange begins to happen, 24/7, I begin to feel that my right leg is just messed up. My leg begins not to really flare out that much when I run, but its replaced by this awkward/annoying feeling. A feeling that I can't push through my leg, a dragging feeling.

-My leg beings to flare out when I walk, when I stand I can feel my right side isn't supported ( it almost feels like one leg is shorter then the other), the right side of my body feels like its collapsing. I begin to tell people that I feel like I'm limping when I run/walk.

-Saw TONs of doctors/ pts/chiropractors/acupuncturists that thought I was crazy/ didn't understand.

-However, pt helped a little with loosing my hamstring. My pt said it was the tightest hamstring he ever felt. (1 yr later, 2015) My athletic trainer at school used this thing called the scraper that really loosened up my hamstring and it made my leg feel better, the flaring of my leg when I walked was gone. BUT the awkward running feeling was still there.

-(1 more yr later, 2016) So my athletic trainer said that I may have a weak glutes medius. So I did alot of exercises with that and it got a little better. But then I got IT band syndrome (b/c my leg was moving in a corrected pattern that it wasn't used after these 2 years). So I went back to a new pt (she was a runner!) and I told her also about this limping/ awkward feeling, and she got to work telling me how the glute is responsible for that (she also made my IT band syndrome go away in like 2 weeks after I had it for 2 months).

Secondary problem: Well I did xc/ track in 2015-16, even though I felt like this. So b/c my glute was so weak, my quad started doing all the work. It was okish in XC. But in track, when I started running on my toes, it was over. Standing on toes requires so much glute activation, but mine wasn't strong enough to do that. By the end of indoor/ outdoor, my quad started giving out on runs. I was so dumb; I tried to train through it, I did take time off, but just kept trying to workout/run. I raced a couple races and my leg would collapse when I finished and I couldn't even stand it was horrible. So now I'm dealing with a quad that's chronically fatigued.

OVERVIEW

SO what happen with me is my hamstring was so tight, it inhibited my glute. And in the beginning, even with pt, when I did do glute exercises, I didn't feel better, for some reason ( b/c of my hamstring/ b/c I wasn't focused on activating my glute??). With my athletic trainer and runner pt, both showed me how really focusing on turning on the glute makes a difference instead of just doing the exercises through the motions.

PROGRESS

So with glute exercises, I have gotten better. I'm still dealing with the awkward feeling, but not even as bad as it used to be. I would be running now if it wasn't for my quad. I'm confident that if I stick to the glute activation/ exercises, I'll be back to normal in a couple more months. The improvement doesn't come at once, is VERY slow, but hey its improvement. I find that its almost like a cycle, I get improvement every week, then a month with no improvement, then 2 improvements a week. Just gotta keep the faith and keep moving up that ladder.

-I used to do a lot of glute exercises, and have gotten improvement. Like Single leg squat, baby squats, clam shells, kick backs, etc.. Exercises should be done while holding in the lower transverse abdominal muscle (pt said it helps active glute).

-But now that my quad is messed up, I stick to simpler onces so they don't activate the quad as much. I do glute sets (just squeezing the glute), regular glute bridge (that I do very low) while squeezing my glute, easy single leg bridge (without left my butt off the floor). In addition, I got a EMS machine a couple months ago, that helps train the muscle to activate (it should be used with exercise,but just staring out it can be used alone). I put it on my glute muscle and it activates the muscle, after a couple months, I started combining it with glute bridge. All this has given me improvement.

-With all my improvement, my glute still is weak, I still can't stand on my toes, or so a single leg bridge on that side, but I am getting stronger, and it is working. If my quad wasn't messed up, I would be able to do more of the glute stuff I want to.

ADVICE for someone like me

-It may feel that you are doing the exercises right, but another muscle group it taking over. Make sure you really focus on your glute activating, and make the exercise easier accordingly.

-If your glute is as weak as mine, start out just squeezing the glute in different positions (like laying down, sitting, standing, glute bridge position). Then work your way up to other glute exercise. Also an EMS machine may help you, it is helping me. Theres lots to read about EMS and reteaching the brain to turn on a muscle.

- Runnnn

Wanted to ping this thread regarding an MRI arthogram of the hip, with the injection into the joint capsule. I had this on Friday, and I'm still limping around. There's a dull ache and it just doesn't feel like it's improving at all. From most of what I read online it seems like for most people any swelling/pain went away after 1-2 days. I'm a bit worried something might be wrong here.

I know there are a lot of people in this thread that had this procedure. Wanted to see if anyone was limping around or had issues for longer than 1-2 days.

Thanks

Hi snowman323,

I had the procedure last year, the first day, it was hard to walk. The second day, it was still hard to walk. The third day, I tried to run a little and my hip hurt a lot, and also felt pulling on my grind. That day I also noticed that the very top of my hamstring started to hurt when I stretched, it was like my hip was pulling on my hamstring it was kind of weird. That hamstring feeling when I stretched lasted a couple weeks. But overall the hip discomfort was mostly for 3 days, then I was back to normal. On the 4th day I was fine. Hope you get better.