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

Agree: hopping up and down on the bad leg helps as well. Although i would avoid overdoing it if the leg is particularly weak as it can exacerbate problems if the glute starts to fail

Getting alignment under control def seems key but i have had not great experiences with PTs in the past..

I’ll be sure to keep those in mind. I’m actually having an Active Release Therapy session performed later today, but if it proves ineffective I’ll be sure to give those a try. Thanks!

Been to a couple appointments now and I think we’re making progress. My chiropractor says my scar tissue/fibroids in my hamstring are massive, golf ball sized, and my hamstrings are some of the tightest he’s ever felt. He feels very confident that with consistent treatment my problem will assuredly resolve. I feel better stride wise, but I’m at the beach right now and runs on hard, flat roads are doing me no favors haha.

I’m cautiously optimistic, but this problem is something that’s had me in an emotional funk for weeks. I don’t think I realized how much of my identity is rooted in running, and how devastating it can be to have that taken away. Anyway, wish all others going through these issues the best of luck.

And one more thing...I bought a Varidesk stand up desk almost 2 years ago and it has made a tremendous difference in the strength of my legs, hips & feet. Sitting all day is counterproductive to your training, it undoes it.

Calling Foomiler....anybody know if he still posts? Would love to communicate with you Foomiler. By far the most intelligent posts I have read on this message board.

Quick update: I’ve been to several Active Release Therapy sessions so far, and I think I’m getting some improvement. Leg feels a little smoother but far from the 100%. The knots in my hamstring are still there, so if 4 or 5 more sessions of therapy don’t get it cleared up I’ll have to re-evaluate. Still very frustrated about the whole situation, but we’ll see how it goes.

Another update if anyone’s interested... I believe I’m starting to get some real improvement. I’ve been on several runs since my last ART appointment and all of them have gone mostly well. I’ve stuck to the trail but thrown a couple miles in on the road, and while they weren’t great I managed them without major difficulties. I even got in a workout with some 66-68 second quarters.

I do have a nerve conduction test soon, just to see if that may be the source of these issues. But overall, I’m feeling a lot better, physically and mentally.

Hello! I am writing this post so that I may share my experience with the muscle imbalance/focal dystonia condition that I developed in October of 2011. As I am not a medical professional, please discuss this with your doctor or treating professional to see if anything I have done might help you. I developed Posterior Tibial Tendonitis in my left lower leg in November 2007. It took a long time to treat and subside. Whenever I would have discomfort I started walking or running on the outside of my foot or sitting with my foot inverted. Yikes! Not good. Anyway, by October, 2011 my gait changed and it became hard to run, much less walk. I could not control my left foot. After seeing 38 professionals including Chiropractors, Active Release Therapists, Muscle Activation Technique specialists, Orthopedic Surgeons, Neurologists, Movement Specialists, Physical Therapists, Acupuncturists, Massage Therapists, Sports Medicine Doctors and Internists, I took the information that helped from each specialist. I also purchased an E-Book titled “Intertwined. How to Induce Neuroplasticity” by Dr. Joaquin Farias. Page 106 states that “after weeks or months of trying, movements can be recovered.” I have found that going slow is very important in correcting the malfunctioning movement because the stronger muscles dominate the weaker ones. Moving slow allows the muscles to begin to work together. Also, I agree with a previous post from “Runnnnn” that putting weight and standing on the affected limb helps balance the muscles in that leg. I was using crutches in 2012 and 2013. In January of 2014 I started going VERY SLOW on a stationary bike and doing slow movements with my walking especially during the swing through phase of my left foot. An important part of the recovery was to pause the movement when the foot was in the wrong position. While paused, the foot was allowed to self-correct (without forcing the correction) and then the gait resumed when the foot was back in the correct position. Also, I did strengthening exercises for my peroneal muscle on the outside of my left leg as the peroneal muscle had weakened. I started Myofascial Release (MFR) therapy in September 2014. I no longer used a cane starting in about January of 2015. I also started doing hip strengthening exercises which I continue to this day. I started running VERY SLOW in June of 2015 and continued MFR to keep the muscle/tendon stretched. A significant factor that I have learned is trying to keep your muscle relaxed as opposed to forcing movements which exacerbate the condition and frustrate you in your attempts to recover. The strengthening exercises along with the MFR and taking the pointers from the Dr. Farias’ book have helped me get back to walking, riding the stationary bike and running. I am about 95% recovered : 0 ) I hope some of what I have written will help someone. Take care and GOD BLESS!

Hi all,

In relation to alcohol and its effects on the nervous system - Has anyone considered heavy drinking to be a cause of loss of coordination? When I first began dealing with this issue 4 years ago I also noticed that my alcohol consumption had increased big time. Personally, I've only continued to drink more over the past 4 years (Largely to cope with my loss of running competitively and getting heavily into the craft beer scene). Going to significantly cut back on my drinking in hopes that I might see a change in my body with my coordination getting better. Interested to get some opinions on this...

Thank goodness for this thread. I wouldn't wish loss of coordination on my worst enemy. Its a terrible feeling to be aerobically OK and feel as if you can run at a certain pace forever if not for your legs inability to stop tripping over itself and hobbling.

I haven't had a drink in 15 years and have loss of coordination for last 7 years. The whole thing is simply f**cked up. Very strange and disconcerting!

Quick update:

Still working on the glute strengthening, neuromuscular retraining with stim machine, and gait retraining. Interestingly, the stronger I work the glutes, I feel a little flicker in my lateral glute, where the Quadratic Femoris is, and I can run better. I had a few dry needling sessions where I had some great runs after the glute/hammy was needled. I came across an article from Scottsdale Sports Medicine that really caught my eye:

Ischiofemoral Impingement can be an under-recognized cause hip, buttock, or inner thigh pain. It is cause by a narrowing of the space between the Ischium (the lower, lateral pelvic bone) and the Lesser Trochanter of the Femur bone. Pain can arise from this as the soft tissues of the body are pinched between these two boney prominences. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), it has been demonstrated that the muscle being compressed in this area is the Quadratus Femoris muscle.This muscle functions in the body to help externally rotate the leg, which causes your foot to turn outwards. When the Quadratus Femoris is compressed it can cause edema (swelling) in the muscle, and may over time cause the muscle to atrophy (become smaller).

Interesting for those of us whose femur inverts during loss of coordination and foot drops (inverts).

I wonder if people who had successful labral surgery and are back running 100%, could it be due to the release of the Quadratus Femoris during the surgery? Interesting, anyways.

Wish there was an easy way to search these threads-but has anyone brought up mercury toxicity yet? I have been having slowly progressing declining use of my left side in running (and some twitchiness in my left arm) since October. My fear was MS after trying chiro, glute exercises, psoas work, cold lasar therapy, accupuncture, you name it with no improvement. I initially even thought it was maybe a compressed peroneal nerve from my new job where I was sitting cross legged for hours at a time. I am having an MRI this Thursday on my brain and neck. If I see lesions, and MS is discussed, my gut is saying it's actually mercury toxicity (I have 7 amalgams in my mouth currently-will be removing them at the end of the month). Since the symptoms of mercury poisoning mimic many modern day issues (including MS) I am hoping it's "just" that since I can detox from it after removing the source. Long story short, anyone else look at this as a possibility for their year long struggles? Regardless, Grandma's Half in a couple weeks is gonna be a LONG day with my step/slap gait the way it is currently. Hope we have nice weather.

Hello Neliah, I know this is so random and from forever ago, but I just decided to research my symptoms today and came across letsrun.com, where I found others complaining of “loss of coordination” as well. It’s the strangest thing and so hard to explain to people. I’m going into my senior year of cross country and slightly terrified. ANY help/advice would be so incredibly appreciated. Thanks!- Demi

BeLikePre wrote:

How many of these issues can be attributed to high cushioned trainers with heel to toe drops of 10MM or more. Plus you throw in the orthotics/inserts which makes it worse. You didn't start out with these high heel to toe drop cushioned trainers when you first started running. You were most likely as we all were training in close to zero drop running shoes. High cushioned trainers cause you to overextend your stride which leads to injuries among other problems . Maybe time to transition back to zero drop or less heel to toe drop running shoes.

This was the fix for me, and an easy one at that. I used to heel strike and run in 8+ mm drop shoes. Above a certain pace, my legs would suffer a horrible loss of coordination, slapping the ground, and going numb. I converted to forefoot striking and 0-4mm drop shoes about 8 years ago and have not had a loss of coordination ever since. For me it was the shin muscles tightening up as my foot flexed upward as my heel struck the ground. Repeated striking would eventually cause it to seize up. As a forefoot striker, my shin muscle is more relaxed upon impact and the energy is transferred to my calf and other muscles. I know this has been dismissed by many ardent heel strikers in the thread, but giving it a try can't hurt and, like many others, could be the cure to your situation.

Sounds also like a severe lack of proper dorsiflexion in the foot could be a culprit. The calf and foot may feel normal, yet the inability to bring the foot up past a certain angle will cause all sorts of problems. It can be remedied of course.

Before being aware of this thread, back in mid-May, I posted the following elsewhere on Letsrun.com:

“Have been running/racing for about 20 years. Last fall, I began to slow significantly, realizing that my left foot seemed to be dragging a bit. Initially thought it might be foot drop, but this has gotten worse since then, to where I feel that my whole left leg is being dragged along. Weird thing is that there is no pain whatsoever. My left foot constantly drags on the street/track, representing a clear decrease in coordination. This has reduced my turnover significantly (since left leg can’t keep up with right one) to where I’ve slowed from 7 minute miles to nine(+)-minute miles in a rather short period of time. Since then, I had two Airrosti treatments, have seen two neurologists and one neurosurgeon, have had four MRIs (brain, cervical spine, thoracic spine, femur), had a vitamin B12 assay, and had an EMG (electromyography) exam comparing the nervous conduction of the two legs. Unfortunately, no significant cause has yet turned up from any of this. My racing career is certainly over, and if this can’t be diagnosed/corrected, it may not be too long before I can’t run at all.

Has anyone ever had or heard of anyone with similar symptoms, or can suggest any treatment?”

It is somewhat reassuring to now be aware of many others with this or a similar problem. Given the long life of this thread, it is clear that more runners suffer from this than the medical establishment is aware of. Since my previous posting, I have had an additional EMG/NCS, a lumbar puncture (spinal tap), and an MRI of the lumbosacral plexus. Still, no smoking gun as to the cause of the coordination loss. As others have noted, running backward is perfectly normal but also, on rare occasion, I suddenly feel that the left leg is behaving normally and I can safely pick up the pace and feel like a real runner again, at least for a minute or so. The only diagnosis that fits my symptoms, given the lack of any other diagnosis, is runner’s dystonia. The one exception is that I definitely have developed noticeable weakness in the affected leg despite continuing to “granny jog” most days. I’m not sure how common weakness is in people with runner’s dystonia, since I haven’t attempted to read through this entire thread.

Given all the negative tests, I am about to embark upon the pharmaceutical approach to try to remedy the dystonia, with another neurologist who has actually heard of runner’s dystonia and is also a runner herself. If anything works, I’ll post to this thread.

Runnnnn wrote:

I also had a scar tissue problem with my hamstring. No amount of message therapy could fix it, until my PT used this tool called the scraper on me. It helped tremendously with the process.

You can get those for low prices on E bay. I ordered a couple of the resin ones.

Here's a video example of the process, but you can do it yourself however you wish to at home.

Hi everybody,

Long post ahead. If you don't want to read all of it, I recommend skipping the part between the dashed lines!

I've been following this thread for some time. I'm 27, and I ran competitively from age 15 until last year (I hope to again when I can!). I got through college with mild ankle issues and one tibial stress fracture at age 20-21 that I made a full recovery from. I ran my first marathon when I was 24 and a marathon every 6 months for the next couple years (I've done 5, 2 of which were Boston). I distinctly remember two races at the end of 2016 where I felt the "loss of leg coordination" issue described in this thread, though I may have felt it on treadmills before that and dismissed it since it was exclusive to those "dreadmills". I had the sensation in a handful of harder training runs after 2016, particularly in the heat on long flat roads as well as treadmills. My way to describe the "loss of coordination": No pain, numbness, or tingling. Didn't feel like a tight muscle cramp kind of feeling. Felt like a feeling of heaviness and extreme muscle fatigue that prevented my quads from lifting my leg through the full motion of a stride. It was like my legs were locking and preventing me from moving, like a brake mechanism. Meanwhile I would try to fight this sensation, and the result was feeling incredibly awkward and feeling like I was losing my balance. Without being able to cycle all the way through my stride, my feet would jam into the ground and strike with much greater force, which made it that much harder to get my legs to lift again. I felt a kind of disconnect between my muscles and my brain, but I don't think there was actually a disconnect. I think it was just the muscles unable to respond to the messages my brain was sending. This was exclusive to my upper legs, and at first it was both, and then eventually I could tell it was more of an issue on the left side. I never felt like my foot splayed or dropped, just an awkwardly forceful landing on the ground. All signs point to classic muscle fatigue and my upper legs just not strong enough to sustain the paces I was trying to do. This was how I defined the issue until the fall of 2017, and I called it the dreaded "wobbly legs".

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I had just run my best marathon in Boston in April of 2017, and I didn't take the time off that summer that I should have. I ran a half marathon in the fall where I felt the wobbly legs after only about 4 miles on a long flat section of the course. When I tried to run the week after that, I felt like my left quad was strained. When I wasn't running, I felt like my left quad just wasn't all the way there, and the wobbly legs feeling began to be exclusive to that side. I developed a limp in that leg, but I thought I had some kind of nerve conduction issue because my pain had decreased and was replaced by a feeling of weakness even when I was walking. I took about 2 weeks off (I should have taken much more if I wanted to run Boston in 2018). After that time, the limp had subsided, and I began running again. I made it through about 6 weeks of training for another half, and the wobbly leg was back again. For a couple of strides near the end of the race, the left leg buckled, and the quad wouldn't lift properly again. I was able to finish and took about 3 weeks off before starting Boston training. Side note: I had weird anxiety symptoms after this race too, which I attribute to overtraining and onset of the injury it took me until February to start realizing what I was really dealing with.

Boston training went alright for a couple months before the wobbly legs, most particularly the left leg, began to set in sooner and sooner on my runs as I tried to push paces faster. I even would notice that I would get a sudden shortness of breath feeling along with it too, which was purely a nervous reaction, like a flight or fight response. The last race pace effort I did was a 10k in February of 2018, where I had another moment of wobbly leg and sudden shorter-ness of breath (Running of course makes me out of breath already, but this was like a sudden fear kind of gasp that stopped my breath for a second). I jogged a bit on some grass on the side of the road, and then I was able to finish out the race like normal. So weird, why did that help? A couple of weeks and a couple of long runs later, my quads, particularly my left one were just shot constantly. Worried about a potential injury, I tried to bike instead. That didn't help. I got off the bike one time, and my left leg felt heavy, and I even had tingling in my hands (Again, a nervous response. I was a nervous wreck and thought about everything from multiple sclerosis to dystonia).

I ended up seeing a chiro who thought it could be compartment syndrome, but he did a test that finally gave me a clue. He put a stethoscope on my pubic bone (I know, awkward), and tapped on each knee. And the left side was distinctly duller. STILL, the chiro suggested I see what running felt like since I'd taken a week off at that point. I ran and woke up the next morning with a distinct pain in my left quad. It got progressively worse just from walking throughout the week. It was so bad I went to urgent care just to get crutches. Okay, enough of this story. Is it obvious yet?

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I had a femoral stress reaction! Confirmed by MRI in March of 2018. No wonder soft surfaces helped! The doctor couldn't find an actual fracture line, but he did find a ton of bone swelling. And I believe that in my case, the wobbly legs were extreme muscle fatigue that contributed to bone stress. The locking and braking mechanism I mentioned earlier could be some kind of defense mechanism against injury. Eventually this became more localized to my weaker left side until I ended up actually injured. I also believe the anxiety issues are somehow related to the stress my body was under from overtraining and eventual injury.

I am now running 2-3 miles, and my leg still wobbles a bit from time to time as I try to push harder, and now I know this is where I should stop until my leg gets stronger. In my case, the loss of coordination was a sign that I was overloading the muscles in my leg and putting all of the force on the bone. Also, for me, time off has resulted in improvement, though I still have a long way to go. I realize that for a lot of these posts, time off didn't fix the issue. I still wanted to share in case anyone else is defining "loss of coordination" the way I did. It COULD just be run of the mill muscle fatigue from overload that can lead to serious injury. It COULD just be that more recovery is needed and more strength work needs to be done instead of just pounding the miles. I have found that glute and hip strengthening is very helpful. If those muscles are weak, the quads have to work too hard. Eventually they get overloaded, and say hello to wobbly legs. Also, I want to emphasize that I have learned from this thread that there are lots of issues that can cause "loss of coordination", and we all define "loss of coordination" differently.

Brent I know you posted this a while ago but I've been suffering with the same issue for years. My right hamstring always has a slight ache/weakness and when I run my entire right leg completely falls apart to the point I can't control anything (both leg and foot). Were you successful in treating it?

Any input would be great!