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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Pain and Symptoms

I have been asked several times about my pain and the symptoms with a hip labral tear and a hip stress fracture. Different people want to know about them individually and that I can't help with. Sorry. I use to think I could tell them apart and maybe I still can, but I am not so sure anymore.

Back in January and February, I was training with Halee, my 13 year old, for her first half marathon. I started doubling up on long runs because, coincidentally, I was going to be doing a 50 miler myself. In February, I finished out a weekend of high mileage and a few days later could not step forward with my right leg. That was my first symptom. I had to turn my body sideways to get that leg forward. It last a couple of days, and I chalked it up to a sore hip flexor. Pain in my groin area continued to worsen. I kept running. On a run, it took me about 1/2 mile to warm-up, before I would stop limping, and then I was usually okay, but if I stopped and had to start again, I would limp and have to go through the warm-up process all over again. Not running, I limped constantly. My groin, or what I thought at the time was my hip flexor, hurt constantly, running or not. Before I knew what was wrong I would say, "It feels like I am running bone on bone," meaning my femur and hip with no cushion. Early March, when I ran I felt a knot in my right butt cheek. The group of girls I run with and myself assumed it was from my body overcompensating for my injury and it was just a sore muscle. However, I still have that know and now know that is part of my injury, which I believe to be my stress fracture. In the middle of March, I decided to schedule a doctor's appointment to try and get a shot of cortisone - thinking that would take care of it all. My appointment was about 12 days out, so I was going to continue running, because I have never taken a break. Scheri, my running partner, and I did a gradual downhill, 10 mile run in which I was in excruciating pain the entire time. I had to slow from my normal pace and even wanted to turn back. She suggested I take a rest until my appointment. I tried one more easy run with Marc, my husband, in which I couldn't even bear the pain and only made it 3 miles. I decided to take 10 days off until my appointment. During that time, I iced it several times a day. I had my doctor's appointment and got the news, in bits and pieces. (See my other blog entries for gaps.)

My pain now? I ran the Boston Marathon in complete pain. I can't describe it. My groin and butt hurt the entire way. So running is excruciating - I don't run anymore. Now I am swimming a lot, and cycling some - -would like to more, but have gotten a little lazy. I still have that knot in my butt that just won't go away. I feel it when I am sitting and standing, no matter what. Dr. White, my doctor, recreated the groin pain last week by turning my leg a certain way, and it lasted 5 days. The groin pain comes and goes depending on my activity. Kicking in the pool seems to do it after, but not during. This morning as I sit here, it just feels sore, almost a raw feeling. Very rarely does it go down into my thigh or up to my waste, but it does occasionally.

Dr. White said the groin pain was the tear; however, when I Google a hip stress fracture (femoral neck), it has the same exact symptoms of a hip labral tear. When my stress fracture gets cleared, I will know what ONLY a tear feels like. I hope this helps.

1 comment:

  1. Katherine MelbournJuly 12, 2011 at 1:08 AM

    Your blog is making very interesting reading!! I am seriously crossing my fingers when typing this. Your symptons seem different from mine, so I'm hoping that my problem is much less serious. Already I have no pain in the groin, just a slight ache and stiffness in the glute and I've only taken two days of anti-inflammatories. I'm guessing the stiffness is from my 5-miles I did yesterday morning. Will stick to cycling and bodypump tho' for the next three weeks.
    Glad you had good doctors to go to. Love your veggie patch as well by the way.

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