Can you
provide more information about the hip impingement I have? It is cam
impingement or pincer impingement?
Cam
vs. pincher impingement is mostly an x-ray finding. My x-rays do not show definitive
findings, but it would most likely be a cam impingement or a
combination. Both are treated the same way. My x-ray doesn't show
anything for sure.
What exactly causes the pain?
Pain is caused by movement and inflammation. My anatomy has always been this way but something irritated it.
Could muscles in the area also be painful from compensating?
Muscles in the area will compensate for it so could be contributing to pain, and could perhaps be why it's so running-specific.
Is it
a definitive diagnosis from my MRI, or the most likely issue?
It is not definitive. MRIs are the best tool to diagnosis this type of issue but can also miss subtle findings.
What
is the prognosis for this issue? Will this heal with rest and PT?
Will this always be an issue? Will I be able to return to running high
mileage when I'm pain-free?
This will
get better with rest and PT. The pain will go away. It will not always be
limiting/painful,. We need to calm down the inflammatory process. My anatomy
will always be the same (and has always been this way). I can definitely
return to high mileage running when pain free; I have been running all of
this time with this anatomy.
Would Aleve or a similar medication help?
Aleve may be helpful (or Ibuprofen, Motrin, Advil, etc.), taken with food twice daily. I am going to try this before trying a steroid injection.
I hope the pain goes away soon!
ReplyDeleteI need to write another follow up post! After manual distractions done by the PT (which take 5-10 minutes) I could walk without a limp for the first time since Feb. 11. I've been having those done daily (Jon does them on non-PT days) and also doing nerve glide exercise twice daily (also takes only 5-10 minutes), and am pretty much pain-free now. It's insane that these specific movements helped dramatically more than 8 weeks off running. If only someone had showed me them 2 months ago! But, I am optimistic about running soon.
DeleteThat's so amazing! At a PT appointment I had for a minor injury my PT told me that time off on it's own rarely solves the problem (unless it's some specific issues), you need the exercises to go along with it. I'm so glad you had success at the PT!
DeleteDefinitely. I think you pretty much always need to do additional exercises - even with injuries like a stress fracture or muscle strain that need time off to heal, it's still important to work on whatever weaknesses or imbalances caused the issue. Since the sports doc thought I might have a stress fracture I was expecting improvement with time off, but since it wasn't one it also makes sense that I didn't see much improvement. This issue has been SO WEIRD because it seems like it didn't really need time off at all but just very specific treatment that no one I saw was aware of until now.
DeleteThat is so weird. Don't you feel special, haha!?
DeleteSpecial isn't the first word that came to mind, haha! But, I am glad that it's not an issue I could have done anything differently to prevent. If it had been a stress fracture I'd be mad at myself for too much mileage, or not enough recovery, etc., but there was no way I could have known that knee drive drills would trigger this weirdness.
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