Saturday, July 10, 2010

Weak hip?

So I've been having right knee pain on and off over the last two years (I've only been running long distances in the last two years). I finally went to a physical therapist yesterday (why do I always wait so long??!!!) and after poking around and asking me to try a few exercises, she determined that my right hip is significantly weaker than my left. Example: she had me lay on the table and lift my leg to like a 45* angle. She pushed on my legs one at a time, trying to push them down to the table while I was supposed to resist. I could resist her push on my left leg, but my right leg just dropped to the table. She had me try a few other similar tests and my right leg just fell every time. I'm all excited to have a reason now, but also kind of concerned. Why would one hip be so much weaker than my other? Any thoughts? Of course now I'm supposed to do certain exercises every day to strengthen my hip, which I am happy and excited to do. I want to run again without pain!

8 comments:

emily said...

is this my ex-roommie rebecca?? :)

i can't tell you why your one hip is weaker, but i can tell you that ben got the same diagnosis. when he is faithful with his PT exercises he can tell a big difference with his running. so good luck and stick with it!

rebecca said...

Yep! Hi Emily! Thanks.

Mrs. Spencer said...

I have been dealing with hip issues for over a year now and I wish I could tell you that I've found the magic solution...but I haven't :( I can say that doing everything that you can to strenghten it is the best thing you can do. I do alot of cross training and yoga for my hip. I've also learned alot of stretching exercises from my PT and a chiropractor. I really work on strengthening my glutes because then they will support the hip better. Also, whenever I run on my treadmill now, I run with it at an incline and that seems to help my hip for some reason as well.
Good Luck!

Juli said...

You haven't injured your neck somehow. A friend herniated a disk in her neck and had weakness - though that was in her arm.

Giggles said...

My guess is that you are running on the road against traffic?

Because that's what I do (because that's what's safe), and I have a bad right hip/ITB problem I'm dealing with.

The curve of the road is what is causing it. Roads have a bit of a curve so that water will run to the gutter and off the road rather than standing in the middle of the road.

But that means when you run you aren't running on a flat surface, you are running on a slight incline.

To help, run on the other side of the road whenever you feel safe doing so (long straight roads, quiet residential roads).

rebecca said...

Thanks for your thoughts. I actually run on the sidewalk most of the time. Hardly ever on the road. I just feel safer on the sidewalk.

My knee is feeling better and I've been working hard on strengthening my hip. I still can't run. Frustrating, but I have hope.

Joanne @ mostlyfitmom said...

I had exactly the same problem! Had IT band problems and had to stop running and rehab the hip and knee for 6 weeks. The good news is that I just did a 13 miler on Friday in preparation for a half. Knee is feeling good! My PT didn't know the cause, but did give me strengthening exercises and stretches. I also iced and foam rolled. Foam rolling hurts like the dickens, but it works. My PT also suggested I don't always run on the same side of the road - even the sidewalks are tilted, so you'll want to mix it up if you aren't already. Hope this helps!

Tifferbob said...

I have a weird knee and hip thing on opposite sides. My chiroprator said it's because I have one leg shorter than the other and the knee and hip are compensating.