Hip pain

[Donna]

Can any of you folks give some direction about hip pain after sitting? One doctor said it was due to too much exercise (!) but I don't want to give up the jogging as it seems to have given me back some cognitive function and memory. I've got good shoes, do the proper stretching, etc. and dress well. I'm not carrying any extra weight either (5'2", 125 lbs). I live outside the U.S. and good information is sometimes hard to get. I stopped all exercise for six weeks, saw a little less pain after the first two weeks, then it was sometimes the same, sometimes not. I jogged some with my daughter the other day fir the first time and the level of pain I had come up to just before I stopped was right back.

[LivWell]

Do you have spasticity in your IBand muscles? The long band of muscle that runs along the outside of the leg from the hip to the knee? I have hip and knee pain because of spasticity and increased muscle tone in my IBand. It seems to kick in after I have been immobile, particularly on a soft surface. (Getting off the couch can be an adventure.)

I stretch - a lot - and that seems to help quite a bit. I also seem to need more warm up and cool down time when my muscles are tight. Some days I walk several minutes before I begin to run.

My physical therapist really helped me target this issue with stretches for the IBand.

And there's this
http://activemsers.com/exercisesstre...etchoften.html

[AMFADVENTURES]

I went to see my doc about hip pain late last year. A couple of x-rays showed some bone abnormalities and a bone spur so he sent me to an orthopedic doc. The orthopedic guy ran more tests and suggested we shoot it full of cortisone every 3 to 4 months until it rots or the cortisone doesn't work any more, then replace it, which suited me just fine. We agreed, because of the MS, I would probably have a difficult time recovering from hip replacement surgery, with a chance I might not ever fully recover.

So I had the first cortisone shot last December. The pain was gone almost immediately and I began trying to get the hip stronger. It's my impression right now that the pain was the cause of some of the weakness in that hip, but most of it is due to the MS, and that, I know from experience, could take years to get at.

Anyway, if I were you, I'd get my doc to refer me to an orthopedic doc, get the hip evaluated and go from there.

Good luck,

[Donna]

Thanks for your input. I did get an x-ray and there was nothing abnormal or even of note about the right hip (he seemed to think there might be something with the left as he kept questioning about pain/discomfort there - none), and was the one who said I was exercising too much. I'm looking into whether or not there's some muscle tension/imbalance in my back which is influencing my gait and thus the running and thus the hip tendon. Since the cog fog, memory problems, dizziness are coming back, I'd appreciate any input right now; jogging was a small price to pay to have my brain back.

[Donna]

Oh, and thanks for the input about the stretching/IT band. I'd love to know what stretches have helped. If it's just spasticity and not a serious problem, then I'd feel better about the jogging. I just don't know how to evaluate the after-sitting-pain starting only after having already been jogging 3x a week for six months, and seeming to increase with continued jogging. Maybe the weather was the key and not the jogging. May be obvious to everyone else, but IT band spasticity would be worse the colder the weather I'm jogging in? That would explain why it didn't cause pain before...

[AMFADVENTURES]

Donna, just noticed you're in the Ukraine. Sounds exciting, hope it doesn't get too exciting. If you're chronicling your experience, I'd love to hear it, you can contact me through my user name on any post of mine.

As for the hip, because we're all different, your best bet would be to get with a good physical therapist, preferably one familiar with sports injuries and maybe even MS. There are a lot of small stabilizing muscles in the lower back and hips that can be affected by MS. I tried to attach a scan of exercises my PT gave me that you could try but the file was too big. If you contact me I'll e-mail it to you.

You're doing the right thing by trying to get on top of this now and you're right about staying active to ward off the MS brain effects. There's always cycling, swimming, ellipticals, stair steppers, weights, etc, etc, anything to get the heart rate up.

Good Luck

[LivWell]

I also had my hip checked out and like yours, mine was fine. My doctor diagnosed me with bursitis, which made a lot of sense. Pain on the outside of the hip. Not too serious unless you ignore it. I remember one of the worst bouts of pain that I've had came after I had been sitting outside in chilly weather.

Getting your muscle strength balanced is also something to consider. Runners need strong glutes and the hip flexor muscles need stretching.

Here's a link to a video posted on Runner's World about hip pain. (I don't know if you'll be able to view it from your location but I apologize in advance for the rabid American commercialism.)

http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-p...-beat-hip-pain

As a side note: I don't always appreciate how much spasticity affects me. The increased muscle tone is not really very dramatic. I'm not even aware of when it is happening until my hip or knee starts to hurt and I check my outer thigh. The physical therapist called it ITBand Syndrome. I have had significant spasms and contractures in my toes but it hasn't been constant.

One of the joys of living with MS is figuring out what you need to live your best life. I've never had a doctor tell me not to run, even when I complained of pain and tried to get one to tell me to back off. I will have my 60th birthday this year and after 15 years only recently has my primary care physician told me "You're not a 20 year-old you know." But she's never told me not to exercise.

[nabbosa]

Piriformus?

I had some issues with the piriformus muscle in the hip and did PT - mostly stretching, but also strengthening. Have you looked into that?

The PT said certain kinds of exercise make one prone to this (ANY one, not just MSers) - ballet, jogging, figure skating. In addition, sitting for long periods of time make the muscle shorten and make the pain worse.

It can be tightness, or it can feel like sciatica - just that it starts from pressure on the nerve as it goes through the pelvis. So there's a pretty easy solution.

Hope that helps - especially since it's a pretty easy fix!

[Donna]

Thanks!

Thanks for all of the input -
I'm looking forward to checking it all out/applying it. If you are able to give any specifics or links to the stretches, etc. you're recommending that'd be amazing. Because I'm here and not there, the whole MS picture is different, including the fact that I don't (yet) have my MS 'team' in place, e.g. PT, etc. I only have a neurologist, and, well, even after 15 years in this language and culture, things sometimes do get lost in translation :-)

[sayop33]

Donna, I know what is like to be in a remote place with MS. In 1986 we moved to a fishing village in the Philippines. Jan, 1988 I began my MS journey. For 2 years I searched for someone who could tell me what was wrong. In those days MS was not thought to be in the tropics so even the head of neurology at the best hospital in the country couldn't diagnose me. We finally returned to the US in 1990 and it took a year to received a diagnosis (I had already self diagnosed) Two weeks later I was back in the fishing village. I didn't find a a knowledgeable neuro in country (in the capital, Manila) until 2004. I also eventually found a physiotrist and physical therapist. Anyway, there is so much on line now; you have to be pro-active. I was also fortunate because friends in the US watched for developments for MS and notified me. I have had hip pain, so severe I couldn't sleep and wanted to die. Went through all sorts of diagnostics in US. Returned to the Philippines and thought maybe I needed a hip replacement. I went to the x ray department at the hospital where I did PT. The radiologist said I had a "rotated pelvis". Went on line and the symptoms matched. Then told neuro and physiotrist Understand about cultural and language problems. Since you have internet, use it!

[Diana]

Donna - a question and a piece of advice:

1. Do you run on the road, and if so, do you run on the same side of the road all the time? Most roads are slightly higher in the middle, and that imbalance can wreck the hip on the higher side of the road. I know of runners who have ruined themselves because of this. If its not your IT band and X-rays don't show anything, it could be the off-sided impact.

2. Stop running for a while - find something else to do and cross-train while your hip heals. Take up cycling, rowing, dancing, whatever - give it a solid month or three to recover. When you get back on the running program, try to alternate sides of the road, or go run on a a trail or path to keep your joints more evenly impacted. And keep up cross-training - running alone is a great way to injure yourself because of muscle imbalances.

Finally, don't forget to use ice after workouts to calm down inflammation in injured areas - it can have a significant effect on the healing time of the injury.