Hamstring/Shin/Leg injury

Dear all, 

I really need some help before I give up running altogether...

I am now 50, but have run since I was 18, doing any thing from 1/2 marathons down to 5ks..I have never had an injury from running, and have nearly always been out running perhaps on average twice a week.

I am now down to running 5ks, as on my last 10k about 6 years ago, my left leg went all wobbly on me during the run, and I had to stop for a rest to enable me to go on and finish the race. I did go and see a phsyio who didnt really know what the problem was.

Since then 5ks have been fine until last year, when I found that even 5ks are causing me problems. My left hamstring seems to have a dull pain in it. I did use some spray on the hamstring which helped me run, but of course that is masking the issue.

I also think that the left hamstring issue may be caused by my left leg. Whilst running I can feel my right leg hitting the ground, and doing what it should do, but my left leg i can feel a bit of numbness there, especially around my shins..and I cannot feel the shame impact on the ground as my right.

I have given up running now for 6 months, which is killing me, and recently did a 4k run to see if anything had changed, and whilst running the 4k I could fell whilst running  that the leg shin was numb, and I ended up feeling a dull pain in my hamstring at the end of the run. I also felt an ache in my left hip.

Now I always warm up and warm down by strecthing, in fact my left hamstring I can strecth better than my right. But I do not know what is going on with my left leg...

Does anyone have any ideas as to what could be causing my issue?

Thanks

Dave

hi ross,

wow....  i actually live in Chandlers Ford, so not that far away.... but have lived here for 40 odd years...

I will certainly look up the joint.. thanks for that info...

I have never been a member of any running club, I suppose i have have never got round to it.... I have always just run on my own.. or with friends when they need to get fit.. 

I do remember doing the first southampton 1/2 marathon back in 1981 when i was 21... and young and fit, and the soton university 1/2 marathon back in 1980......

regards

dave 

I went to see the physio at the Joint just before christmas, and after explaing all my details, and lots of prodding, leg raises etc, the physio reckoned it could be my IT Band (lloitibial band).

I am now doing lots of IT band stretches, a bit of massaging on the IT band, and have just been doing the cross trainer, a few weights and no running. Next appointment in a couple weeks time...

I have been diagnosed with the same thing as you. Not sure if I have some problem with the piriformis too as sciatic nerve goes through it. A nice man (Hitman) from the forum told me about self massage with a quadballer. I also spoke to several other people. I hav ordered a quadballer and a foam roller. In the meantime I have been massaging with a rolling pin and also with a massage ball I have. Whilst it is by no means cured yet, it all feels much easier. At least my leg works now. It I sat down for more than a few minutes, I couldn't use my leg (from hip joint I think) for a few strides until it loosened up. Why do we do this hobby??

Fed

Go and seek advice from your GP. Veins don't get stuck, though you might have a venous problem. You also may have any number of other knee problems.

I went to see the phsyio for the second time today. Even though I am doing quite a few IT band stretches, she still said my IT band was very tight.

She rechecked my hips, as I have a slight feeling of a bruise half way up my left hip, and I wonder if it was the hip giving me a problem... she poked and prodded the area, and said that its all to do with my IT band, and until we get the IT band sorted out, then things will not get any better.

She also told me to try and stretch my illiopsoas  or psoas, so I have been looking up the best stretches on the web.

I am going to do the IT band, quad, psoas stretches for the next two weeks... then I will try a run.. and see what happens as I am going to see her again in 3 weeks times.

an update... I have been making lots of use of the foam roller, massage plates at the gym, and generally doing as much stretching as I could..but she reckons I should do more on my psoas.... I went for a 4 mile walk, followed by a 5k run the next day, then a 20m jog the next day.. then I went to see the physio.. I must admit the jogging did seem much better.. but I still seem to have a bit of numbness in my lower leg... nowhere near as much as I did before.. so things seem to be getting better.

The phsyio once again did an all over check on my left hand side... as thats the side where I now feel just a bit of numbness, and massaged bits which semed to be tight, and had problems.. she also wanted me to do some side bend strectches.. which I have started doing..

She advised me to do a 5k run once a week, and see how that goes, especially after all the streching, and foam roller work.. and massage work she gave me.

tomorrow will be a 5k run... lets see what happens

I was reading all the other posts on this forum to do with the IT band, and found someone who was using a golf ball to roll on for their IT band... so I started off doing this, and found this an excellent way to stretch/manipulate my IT band... It seems to me that the foam roller does not have the same impact on the top of my IT band as the golf ball does. The gold ball seems to hit the spot.. When rolling on the ball, I can feel the ache/bruise type feeling in the top of my IT band.. that is where I lay on and move around the golf ball.

This seems to have worked well for me, so much so that a couple weeks ago i played football one day, then did two 5k runs on the next two days... and guess what my leg seems to be much better.

I did go back to the physio last week... and besides her doing lots of massaging of my IT band, she doesn't think she needs to see me any more, as I know where the problem is, and I just need to do more manipulation of my IT band... with the golf ball.

She did remind me that when I first came to see hre, I could not run a 5k without one leg feeling like jelly half way through.. now of course I can easily run a 5k... now all it needs is for me to get my fitness up...and do mroe running... what excellent news...

Latest update.. after lots of swiviling my IT band on a golf ball... I have managed to run the following...

Last week.. one game of fottball and three 5k runs

This week five 5k runs in 5 days... 

When I think back to a couple months ago when I couldnt run a 5k without feeling like I had a dead leg... I find the transformation amazing.. 

Another update...

The golf ball seems to have done the trick... between me and the physio we found what area was causing the issue. For me it was the top of my itband... and by laying and rolling on the golf ball it seemed to make things better... 

I had been building up to the basingstoke 5k run, with training runs of 5k 5x a week, for about 4 weeks. I completed in the basingstoke 5k a few weeks back and put in a time of 24 mins which i was pleased with.. Since then I have been doing lots more running, and haven't looked back.. hopefully this will be of help to anyone else who has the same issue..