Hip Pain After Running – How You Can Assess and Treat Your Problem
Hip Pain After Running How You Can Assess and Treat Your Problem
Hip pain after running is a common complaint. Running places enormous demands on the musculoskeletal system. Thousands of times, you are jumping from one foot to the other. To be able to do this efficiently and without causing injury requires a lot of stability and control.
The stability I mentioned comes from core muscles and muscles around the hip joint itself. If these muscles are deficient, hip pain after running may be the result. Why? The muscles concerned cannot cope with the demands placed on them. They overwork, get tight and become painful.
Below I outline my approach to assessing stability once I have satisfied myself there is nothing wrong with the hip joint itself.
Tests for Stability
Poor stability may be at the root of hip pain after running. Try these tests yourself:
Standing in front of a mirror, balance on your good leg for around 10 seconds. Make a mental note of how easy or difficult this was. Now do this on your affected leg. Do you notice a difference between the two sides? In my practice as a physiotherapist, I am suspicious of poor stability if this test is difficult on one side but not painful.
After the balance test, I go on to what I call a single leg dip: balance on one leg, and keeping your trunk upright, let the knee bend around 20 degrees and return to the start position. Compare the two sides. Again, I am suspicious of poor stability where this appears difficult but is not painful.
Tests for Muscle Strength
Hip pain after running often stems from weakness in key muscles; gluteus medius and gluteus maximus.
To test glut medius, lay on your side making sure your trunk is vertical. Bend the lower leg slightly and keep the top leg straight. Lift the top leg so that it is just above the hip. Repeat 10 times and compare the two sides.
Weakness in glut medius will result in pain high up on the side of the hip. This may also result in tightness in the ITB. This can cause pain over the bony point at the side of your hip, as the tight ITB squeezes the bursa beneath it, causing bursitis. I have often found this to be the case with hip pain after running.
To test glut maximus, lay on your front with the knee bent to 90 degrees. Lift the leg up without arching your back. Compare 10 reps on both sides. I often find glut max to be at fault in cases of hip pain after running and in other injuries.
Muscle Length
In cases of hip pain after running, infrequent stretching and tight muscles may also be at fault. Runners need to make sure they regularly stretch all of the muscles in the lower limb which includes the gluteal muscles.
I advise people to stretch daily, whether they are training or not. Hold each stretch, just to the point you can feel the muscle pulling, for 30 seconds.
Final Thoughts
I hope I've been able to convey to you some ways you can assess your problem. If you have found a difference in the strength of your gluteal muscles, add this to your training routine.
If you suffer with hip pain after running and it continues to be a problem, don't struggle on! Get it checked by a physio and at the same time, have your gait analysed.
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