Running injury and a weekend of MTBing planned...

miss notax

Hello

I am training for the Great South Run in October (10 miles of running hell ) and i'm slowly realising that running is NOT good for me... Did 11Km last night and felt a *ping* in my hip / groin, carried on running and then couldn't sleep for the pain. Emergency appointment with my chiro this morning and she's clicked me all back into place, but I am left feeling very battered and my hip / groin is flipping painful with any movement.

Which is a shame as we had planned a 2 day getaway to Wales MTBing this Sunday & Monday :?

So, what do you reckon? I'm taking it easy today and don't plan any running or sport tomorrow. Am also taking ibruprofen. My Chiro says i'm ok to ride, but she also knows i'm unlikely to stop anyway!!

Keep taking the painkillers and go for it??!

robertpb

Stop taking the painkillers well before you ride otherwise they will override your ability to know if you are overdoing it.

Make sure you start off slowly and get everything free and flowing, then take it from there.

borntobemild

Did your chiro say what had caused the problem?

Running is a lot harder on the hips than cycling, but I would take it easy for the first day at least.

Anonymous

Keep stretching stretching stretching and stretching again. Every spare moment you have. Whilst the kettle's boiling, when you're waiting for the bathroom, when you're waiting for someone to answer the phone, when you're waiting for or are in a lift etc etc.
That will help.

Also, if you're a bit more masochistic, When Eddie Izzard was running his insane epic marathon thing round britain, he had 10 minute ice baths to apparently help his body heal the damage done by running. Might be worth a try.

miss notax

Thanks guys

She's not sure what the cause is, only that I am very prone to lower back damage which then twists my pelvis (and causes the pulling in my hips / groin etc). It was so bad a few years ago that I damaged my sciatic nerve and only had about 30% strength in one leg for months. Now THAT made riding challenging :?

You're right in that I need to stretch more - will do some now! Not so sure about the ice baths though.... :shock: :shock:

Anonymous

Ooh, the nerve thing sounds like what Sian, of Coed y Brenin fame suffered from.
If I remember rightly, she was on the Olympics team or something, but damaged a nerve in a crash, and found she just couldn't put any power down. Her legs just wouldn't do what her brain was telling them to do or something.

miss notax

yeehaamcgee wrote:

Ooh, the nerve thing sounds like what Sian, of Coed y Brenin fame suffered from.
If I remember rightly, she was on the Olympics team or something, but damaged a nerve in a crash, and found she just couldn't put any power down. Her legs just wouldn't do what her brain was telling them to do or something.

Sounds about right. I walked like a complet idiot, I could kind of fling my leg in the right direction but no more than that! I actually fell over trying to run across a road in traffic - very embaressing. And it was in front of a hospital, i'm sure people thought I was making a bid for freedom :?

I think running is generally bad (for me) as it lets your pelvis move around, whereas riding keeps your core relatively stable. I actually find now that if my back aches, a good MTB ride sorts it out. Probably the adrenaline, but if it works - who cares!!

Anonymous

You're right you know. I find that a blast on the bike can sort out all sorts from a stiff neck to a clicky back.
I think maybe it's because you DO move, all over, but it's a low impact (is that the right word?) kind of sport.
Swimming would probably help too.

turpinr

miss notax wrote:

yeehaamcgee wrote:

Ooh, the nerve thing sounds like what Sian, of Coed y Brenin fame suffered from.
If I remember rightly, she was on the Olympics team or something, but damaged a nerve in a crash, and found she just couldn't put any power down. Her legs just wouldn't do what her brain was telling them to do or something.

Sounds about right. I walked like a complet idiot, I could kind of fling my leg in the right direction but no more than that! I actually fell over trying to run across a road in traffic - very embaressing. And it was in front of a hospital, i'm sure people thought I was making a bid for freedom :?

I think running is generally bad (for me) as it lets your pelvis move around, whereas riding keeps your core relatively stable. I actually find now that if my back aches, a good MTB ride sorts it out. Probably the adrenaline, but if it works - who cares!!

i would sack the running if i was you.
i had a hip replacement nearly 2 years ago and whilst cycling (road or mtb) helped me as it does you and kept my back loose running had the opposite effect.
the first symptoms i had began as a twinge in my groin when i was out running and then got worse.
stick to cycling

butcher of bakersfield

yeehaamcgee wrote:

Keep stretching stretching stretching and stretching again. Every spare moment you have. Whilst the kettle's boiling, when you're waiting for the bathroom, when you're waiting for someone to answer the phone, when you're waiting for or are in a lift etc etc.
That will help.

If it's a pulled muscle, which is very easily done in the groin, I wouldn't stretch at all until it starts feeling better. It needs to start repairing itself first, before you start tearing it more.

As above though, unless you're doing some seriously aggressive riding, it's generally pretty easy on the body and the movement is good for you. Your body isn't designed to be sat still, so as long as you're not feeling that bad, take the bike out, but just be aware of your limits. I once pulled a muscle in my groin years ago, skating. And being about 13 at the time, I had no concept of taking time out to let things heal, until one day I felt it pop, then sudden agony. That had me out for 6 months.

Anonymous

oops, sorry then.
Stretching seems to prevent and cure most things though. Which I'm only realising now I'm getting older. I never used to have to stretch at all

butcher of bakersfield

yeehaamcgee wrote:

oops, sorry then.
Stretching seems to prevent and cure most things though. Which I'm only realising now I'm getting older. I never used to have to stretch at all

Nah, you're right. Stretching is awesome. I've always been elastically challenged, so I have to stretch before I make a cup of tea. But if you've pulled a muscle or ligament, you really need to let it start healing before stretching otherwise you'll make it worse. As a rule, if it hurts, don't do it. Once it begins to stop hurting, as in ouch, get back into the stretching, light at first, and build up.

If it's a nerve, I guess that's different. One of the guys at work pulled his shoulder playing on the Wii. It just happens that one of our clients is a physio. He diagnosed it as the nerve within two minutes based on the symptoms. Might be worth going to see one?

Anonymous

Physios are good. I'd definitely recommend seeing one if you can.
I just couldn't believe how my physio basically just looked at me, and knew precisely what was wrong. And it was a very unexpected thing as well, which I would never have guessed at.
They are fantastic.
Another friend of mine was having problems with her hip, but the physio reckoned it was actually her knee that was causing it, cue two months of physio, and it's all fine again.
Awesome stuff. I have found a lot of respect for them.

rhyko7

i am going to offer some very simple advise here,:
pain is your bodies way of telling your brain something isnt right stop hurting me you cruel b*tch
its ok to run through mild pain, but if it gets worse than mild and becomes whats known as "acute pain" then stop because the likelyhood is you are doing yourself more harm than good.
i struggle to run nowadays after a groin injury in a half marathon where i just ketp going to the end :oops: runnings boring and not good for me anyways (says the guy with more scars than than an old lion)
good luck with your run!

butcher of bakersfield

yeehaamcgee wrote:

Physios are good. I'd definitely recommend seeing one if you can.
I just couldn't believe how my physio basically just looked at me, and knew precisely what was wrong. And it was a very unexpected thing as well, which I would never have guessed at.
They are fantastic.
Another friend of mine was having problems with her hip, but the physio reckoned it was actually her knee that was causing it, cue two months of physio, and it's all fine again.
Awesome stuff. I have found a lot of respect for them.

I couldn't agree more. I went to a physio on the NHS, almost a year after breaking my ankle. Besides learning that the original diagnosis way way off the mark, it was by far the best experience I've had with any kind of medical professional. Straight on the ball. Same as yourself, he was telling me stuff purely by looking at me and for a moment I thought I was speaking to a magician.

Anonymous

What surprised me is that the cause of something can often be so way off what most people, including GPs will guess, it's just not even funny!

turpinr

yeehaamcgee wrote:

Physios are good. I'd definitely recommend seeing one if you can.
I just couldn't believe how my physio basically just looked at me, and knew precisely what was wrong. And it was a very unexpected thing as well, which I would never have guessed at.
They are fantastic.
Another friend of mine was having problems with her hip, but the physio reckoned it was actually her knee that was causing it, cue two months of physio, and it's all fine again.
Awesome stuff. I have found a lot of respect for them.

phsyios are brilliant, you're right.i got got treated for all sorts when my hip was on its way out.about £600 i paid out only to visit the nhs physio and be told my hip was goosed.
stretching is another matter.

miss notax

Thanks for all the advice

As it was, my back (and hips etc) were fine all weekend. although what I can politely describe as "rider error" means that I am now sporting a lovely graze on my face (and others - but the face one bothers me the most!) from rolling face-first down a slope this afternoon :?

Nothing like another injury to distract you from the first one, eh??!

turpinr

miss notax wrote:

Thanks for all the advice

As it was, my back (and hips etc) were fine all weekend. although what I can politely describe as "rider error" means that I am now sporting a lovely graze on my face (and others - but the face one bothers me the most!) from rolling face-first down a slope this afternoon :?

Nothing like another injury to distract you from the first one, eh??!

:oops: nice one

mea00csf

dump going to the chiro and start going to a physio. Chiros are reactive to injury, they put right injuries after they've happened but don't diagnose what's going wrong meaning you'll just end up back there. Go to the physio, a good one will figure out what's wrong and give you exercises to not only sort the problem, but to stop it happening again.

i used to get ITB pain, which only ever came on after about 7km of running. As i have private health insurance through work i went to the physio, not really expecting him to be able to diagnose as it only occured will into the run, within about 2mins i was howling in pain as he found the source of the pain, comparing it to the other knee when doing exactly the same thing showed where the problem was. Whenever i feel it start to flare up i start doing the exercises the physio gave me again and it sorts itself out.

Sciatic nerve problems are a bitch. i popped a disk (as a result of a snowboard injury) which ended up trapping my sciatic nerve and an ambulance trip to a+e as i passed out with the pain. I still get occasional flare ups, but nowhere near the extent of the initial injury, stretches and core exercises eleviate then pain.

ride_whenever

mea00csf wrote:

dump going to the chiro and start going to a physio. Chiros are reactive to injury, they put right injuries after they've happened but don't diagnose what's going wrong meaning you'll just end up back there. Go to the physio, a good one will figure out what's wrong and give you exercises to not only sort the problem, but to stop it happening again.

+an awful lot.

V.v.v. good advice. a decent sports physio is worth their weight in gold.

Equally decent coaches can spot most of these things pretty easily and know when you need to go to said physio to get fixed.

blablablacksheep

running allways gets injurys for you, i have issues with running injurys but the thing that i been told is.

the mroe offen you run the better your body will ajust, if you a "yo yo " runner then you get more injurys, lower the distances 11k is tbh silly distance and only going to cause damage with very little health bonuses.

id stick to no more than 5 miles max, if you dont like short runs or want harder runs, run faster lol. try 3-5 miles and push out the pace more, it a well known fact(i think runners world mag had issue about this) that running slow for a long distance+ 6 miles can cause more damage than running fast for shorter distances < 5 miles.

something to do with how your running technique goes down hill as you run further and causes issues in joints ect.

keep up the bike, it good for you, maybe try swimming it a good non contact form of exercise and heals and protects the back a lot, it very good for building the lower back.

miss notax

That's really interesting (and helpful!) - thank you

My 10 mile run is next Sunday, so I am starting to cut back on the running now as I don't want to be injured for the race. Still riding though as that tends not to injure me unless I come off

mea00csf

blablablacksheep wrote:

id stick to no more than 5 miles max, if you dont like short runs or want harder runs, run faster lol. try 3-5 miles and push out the pace more, it a well known fact(i think runners world mag had issue about this) that running slow for a long distance+ 6 miles can cause more damage than running fast for shorter distances < 5 miles.

something to do with how your running technique goes down hill as you run further and causes issues in joints ect.

I'd completely disagree with that. As long as you build up slowly you'll develop muscles and aerobic capacity to run long distances easily with degradation in running form. Finishing a steady half marathon feels no different to me as finishing a steady 5km because i built up to it gradually

Running hard is what kills your form, and has far heavier impacts, which means you'll be more prone to injury. Some sports coaches suggest not doing any tempo sessions until your comfortably running 50km a week due to the increase in injury risk when you run at tempo