I didn’t think it was a very big deal back in March, but I still have this issue with hip pain. I have been to a orthopedist, just finished physical therapy, and I had a MRI a couple weeks ago. But unfortunately, none of this has resulted in relief of pain or any answers as to what is causing the pain.
There are some clues. I have a small L4-L5 lumbar annular tear as seen in x-rays and MRI. I have other signs of some back issues from the x-rays, and I think most of this has come from taking falls in karate class. But the doctor doesn’t think this is the cause of the hip pain because of where the pain is. It’s like I have two separate issues – unexplained hip pain and some back issues. My back does hurt occasionally but I’ve always been able to run through the pain which was minor.
The next steps are to see a chiropractor, and then I return to see the orthopedist in January. If I’m not better by then, I may get some cortisone in some trigger points. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of other options.
This has been by far the worse running year I have had since 2011 when I first began running consistently. This year’s total is just 99.8 miles! I usually run 700-1000 miles annually, but when I try lately, I cannot run 1-2 miles before feeling the hip pain coming on and then lingering for days.
I post these types of things in hopes that if I works out and I overcome it, someone with a similar issue may have something to reference and it will help them. Hopefully I will be able to return to running soon, as I would still like to run some long distances and attend races. Feeling far from it right now though.
How did you get the pain from your annular tear and hip pain to get better?
I had to take a break from both running and karate from about Oct – Mar. My treatment consisted of prednisone, physical therapy, stretches, chiropractic treatment, and rest. Even now my runs have not been too frequent. I did run every other day at the beach in April – a 3 miler, 4 miler, and 5 miler with no hip or back pain. The back still bothers me sometimes. I do think the chiropractor treatment is what fixed my hip. If you can find a really excellent chiropractor, it is worth it for a runner and even a martial artist as well. I am returning to karate too, but taking it easy on the falling. Annular tears can take a while to heal and can easily tear again. However, my chiropractor says there’s no reason I can’t still do karate even with a tear.