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pain in the (sort of) butt

Posted on February 13, 2018February 14, 2018 by thirdstoryies

I wrote an email to a friend in response to her question about how things were going with my minor running issue. As I neared the end of that email exchange, I joked with her that I might just copy and paste it into a blog post. Anything to break the silence here. I just can’t seem to get ahead these days.

But it’s not a bad idea, so I’m running with it.

If you follow me on Instagram, I mentioned back in January that a nagging pain that had started in December on some of my longer runs was still sticking around, despite having rested for several weeks during the coldest and darkest days of winter. A couple of miles into a run I start to experience a sharp pain on the outside of my left knee that doesn’t let up as I continue to push through it. After running, the pain continues for a few hours – not while walking around, but I notice it when heading up and down stairs.

I self-diagnosed it as an IT Band issue, and when it still persisted through the end of January, I decided to tackle it head on before spring running weather rolls around. I made an appointment for my routine physical, and my doctor agreed with my assessment, and wrote me a referral for PT. I contacted the PT that my dear friend (of earlier referenced email fame) recommended with “1000 stars”, and I saw her for the first time on Monday where she confirmed the diagnosis.

Turns out I’m really lopsided in how I engage certain muscle groups. My right (dominant) side is fine, but on my left side I’m using other muscles to do the work for me, and my left hip flexor muscles are way weaker than my right. So it’s time to target and build those up. As I’ve increased my strength training in my Body Pump class (if you have access to Les Mills classes, I highly recommend them), my larger muscle groups have been worked, but those smaller muscle groups can start feeling neglected. I didn’t ask this during my first appointment, but I have wondered about it since – I’m curious if always defaulting to starting with our right side – in Body Pump or Power Yoga or PiYo – means that the left side (then more fatigued) defaults to engaging the larger muscle groups over the smaller ones when doing the same work. I think I’ll ask that at my next appointment.

Other contributing factors? I cross my legs while sitting, and often sit with my left leg tucked under my body. In December I probably spent 100+ hours in that position while working on holiday cards (outside of the hours I sit on my tush in the office). Now I’m using a small platform for my feet, and catching myself every ten minutes on my leg positions. Breaking bad habits is so tricky.

I learned something else new – did you know that there is an ideal angle that an ankle bends to for running? I didn’t. That angle is 20 degrees. One of my ankles is three degrees, the other is zero. Zero!! This is why my heels never touch the ground in downward facing dog! I know I’ve got problem feet, and the rods in my feet probably aren’t helping here, but building some more strength and flexibility in my ankles will also help. That will reduce the stress on my upper legs as well when my feet hit the ground.

Next week I’ll have a running analysis, and I’m pretty sure that my Hoka days are numbered. (Also might have helped contribute to this problem.) I’m glad that I decided to get in front of this and talk to someone specializing in running health and strength, rather than throwing a bunch of ideas and gear towards the problem. I’ll let you know how it goes. And how exciting it is to do a zillion reps of strength building exercises while focusing on ONLY engaging the correct muscles. It’s a lot more thinking about my butt than I generally care to do!

Onward, upward!

6 thoughts on “pain in the (sort of) butt”

  1. Julia Hart says:
    February 14, 2018 at 10:54 am

    Please let us know what shoes you switch to, if the Hokas are retired!

    Reply
    1. thirdstoryies says:
      February 14, 2018 at 3:47 pm

      Will do!

      Reply
  2. Caroline says:
    February 14, 2018 at 2:55 pm

    I had IT band issues summer of 2016 but for me it was a simple shoe issue – I was wearing new balance that had very little support. How many miles are on your Hokas? I would think they are good shoes for combating IT band, but maybe just a new pair are in order. Curious how your run analysis goes! Maybe you just need their more stable kind – the Ahari (sp?) I believe. Let me know, I love running shoe talk, but certainly not injuries! Hope you’re feeling better soon!

    Reply
    1. thirdstoryies says:
      February 14, 2018 at 3:21 pm

      I will report back, for sure. The shoes might not have caused the issue, but they might not help either, and it might have more to do with the ankle issue than the hip flexor issue. I’ve got some pretty complicated foot structure (real and fake) to deal with, and so shoes and inserts are a big deal. I’m excited to have someone looking at the whole picture again.

      When I did PT after my foot surgeries, I had the same kind of oversight and analysis, and we actually tried out and evaluated three pairs of shoes. That was great. But over the course of four years, I’ve defaulted to the advice of the running store people. I think they are great, but there’s no way to really convey all my health history and issues to them when trying out shoes.

      Reply
  3. Nancy K says:
    February 21, 2018 at 7:51 pm

    Well, I wasn’t far off. Maybe I SHOULD quit my day job. ;-). Kidding. Community planning it where it’s AT! Glad you are moving in the right direction!

    Reply
    1. Kristin says:
      February 23, 2018 at 10:38 am

      Yes, you rock.

      Reply

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