Hip Pain

Hip pain is definitely an injury that can become very painful and develop complications with runners. There are many things that can cause hip pain but the most common in repetitive motion athletes is an overuse injury of the external rotators of the hip. The most famous of this group of muscles is the Piriformis muscle and it is the largest of the external rotators. Running through tightness of this hip muscle can lead to more serious problems, such as sciatica like pain. The condition known as Piriformis syndrome can cause numbness, tingling, and even shooting pain into the leg. It is also not uncommon to find lower back pain in correlation with Piriformis Syndrome, which could lead some medical professionals to diagnosis you with full blown Sciatica.

Hip injuries and the possible progression can be easily be fixed by treating the affected tissues and normalizing your hip extension. When the problematic muscles have been properly treated and the correct muscles have been “re-educated” to extend the hip, the injury will be resolved. Generally, this external rotator can become overused and damaged with excessive external rotation when running hills or even with running on flat ground.

Lower Back Pain

Lower back pain is another injury, which can occur in the same fashion as an injury to the external rotators of the hip. When running with an abnormal hip extension motion pattern, the accessory hip extensor muscles, such as the lower back paraspinal muscles, can become overused, damaged and develop loads of scar tissue, leading to pain and a decrease in your running performance. It is not uncommon for runner’s to be out of training for weeks or even months due to this type of injury.

Many times this scar tissue cannot effectively be stretched out by you. One thing to remember is that when a muscle has accumulated large amounts of scar tissue, this tissue becomes less resilient, less stretchable and gives you the sensation of chronic tightness. Many times it is necessary to see an Active Release Techniques® provider to manually get rid of the scar tissue in order for the pain and tightness to resolve.

If you are tired of having hip pain slow down your run or keep you from living life to the fullest, you have come to the right place.  Stop living with hip pain and contact Temecula Chiropractor Dr. Horst today!