SI Joint

For some background information on me, I am a 26 year old female who ran competitive track (distance) from age 8 to 18. I then stopped track and have been on and off since then with road racing. After surgery on my feet in April and sept 06, I began running again in dec 06 every 2nd day. I did this until June 07 where I picked up my training and worked into 6 days a week and incorporated speed again. Things were going really well, then at the beginning of November, during a hill work out (one interval up, jog down, 1 interval flat, jog back repeat) I felt a twinge in my groin area that came on really sudden where I had to abort the workout. Later that night, I could not lift my right leg as it was weak. The next morning, I could barely walk.

A week off, I could not run 2 steps. I hit up a local physio who said my SI Joint was stuck. She got it moving and more time off with exercises to tighten the hip area. A week later, hip was stuck again so she got it moving. the pain eventually was determined to come in mid stride and I could feel it in the groin and also just below the glute at the top of the hamstring. About a month after the injury and no change, I was told to try running through it and see what happened.

Each run I went on the pain became worse. Since seeing my physio, I saw a chiro who said my SI was suck. 3 appointments later and 3 massages, things felt ok for my last run, which was this week (nearly 2 months after injury). When I finished however, the pains returned. I feel it below my glute and it is really hard to stand on the bad leg and lift the good leg. I feel it pulling all over my hip/groin region.

At this point, I am lost at what to do. Go back to the chiro, maybe a different physio. All I want to do is run as my race season begins in 3 weeks. yes i know... I wont be racing any time soon, but even just being able to run will work for me at this point. Does anyone have any suggestions on what this could be and how I should proceed? Thanks in advance.

hi
i will suggest you to go to a physio who is good at pelvic and hip related problems.the new findings doenot support the diagnosis of sij stuck,lock etc.here muscles around your pelvic and hip area are the culprits.as the management varies let a physio assess whether there is inadequate force closure ya excessive force closure.

I agree with linbin,

The muscle balance around your hip joint maybe altered. Your local stability appears to be affected. It is important not to simply begin vigorously stretching and exercising this area. You should look to incorporate slight and specific stretches, as well as simple isolation exercises at the moment. You should also look to have your gait examined, and perhaps fascilitated back to normal movement with the assistance of a physiotherapist. This will help to retrain normal firing and gait movements necessary for appropriate muscle firing/coupling.

What else?
You don't want to continue to run with an altered pattern of movement. You will end up training yourself with faulty biomechanics. Try training on a machine in the meantime and gradually move back up to regular training. You can still experience the benefits of cardiovascular training by using machines, while improving your current condition by reducing the risk of recurrent injury and more problems.

Please continue to report your progress

Hi,
The subgluteal and groin pain may indicate SI joint problem, if the problem lies in SI joint structures good therapist should see if the reason is loocked or opened position of SI joint, for that an X-ray of pelvis on one leg standing could be helpful to exclude pelvic instability, anyway when acute phase passes you should try to strenghten your body CORE muscles before starting any sport activity. Any bacterial desease before the first pain? Good luck