Q I suffered from pain in my hip and back for about 12 months. Then my back suddenly stiffened completely while I was out running and I had to stop. It has been variously diagnosed as a slipped disc and a trapped L4 nerve, but after treatment

. She explains what this revealed: “A spondylolithesis [a slipped disc] was putting pressure on the nerves in the base of the spine. She may have had this condition from a very young age and not known about it until running started to irritate the area

the whole muscle, including the area at the top of it, because the pain is likely to be caused by a tightness. You could be suffering the effects of a slipped disc, which you feel in your thigh, for example. Treatment by a physiotherapist, an osteopath or a

crunches, you may find you have slipped into a routine. "You need to constantly challenge your muscles to get results," says running coach Sam Murphy, co-author of Running Well (Human Kinetics Publishers; £14.99). The fix Mix it up. Fine-tune your