QuestionI'm a running and about five months ago, I felt a little twinge postrun in my left hip, kind of like I overworked an oblique. A month later, it hurt so bad that I was almost limping. The orthopedic specialist said it was my tensor fascia lata and the sartorious muscle giving me issues. He did an MRI, but it came back showing no tears or any other issues. I attempted two months of physical therapy and even a corisone shot, but nothing has seemed to help. I do my stretches every day and have cut my workouts to just light weights for legs and only cardio for warm ups, but it still hurts. I called the physical therapist and he told me that if there is scar tissue, I might have pain there for the rest of my life. I'm freaking out. I didn't tear it, how could there be scar tissue? Wouldn't something have shown up on the MRI? Is there something I can do to make this start to feel better? Please help - I'm in absolute misery with not being able to run. :( Thank you SO much in advance for any help you can give me.
AnswerHi Madeline,
Sorry for the late response. Ok so the deal with scar tissue is that you have to sprain, strain, tear or completely rip the muscle off the bone for it to exist. There are lots of cases where people have had small tears that turn up years later, but by the sounds of it I don't believe this is your case.
From what it sounds like the muscles are extremely tight. Both of these muscles affect the hip greatly. For me to narrow this down I need to know where the pain is. So lets start at the beginning.
The TFL (IT band) & sartorius both have an attachment point of generally the same area. But they attach to either side of the knee. The sartoius on the inside of your knee & the tfl on the outside of your knee.
Another muscle I would like to bring your attention to is the Psoas Major & minor. These muscles are attached to your spine & attach into your hip cavity. If you are having problems going up stairs or you feel pain in your groin chances are that this muscle is affected too.
Sometimes stretching is not enough. Go see a massage therapist. We are much different than a physio. You need to get your tfl (IT band) & sartorius "stripped" meaning they need to be professionally stretched through muscle manipulation. Im going to warn you this treatment is not pleasant & you might see or feel slight bruising for days after, but you should be able to run again. Try to get a sports related massage therapist, they know how to deal with these types of occurances better.
After the treatment slowly start back into running. Dont go full force or you will get hurt. To maintain this you will have to go back & get it worked on again. Everyone is different. I'm a marathon runner & I get my legs worked on once or twice a year. I know what you are going through as I have been through it myself. If you have any more questions feel free to ask. Good luck!
Zira
