Finally Answers to Malissa's Hip Pain

Written by Malissa

I wanted to give an update about all that has happened with my hip since my last race:

I took a month off of running in hopes that my pain would go away. I iced and stretched daily. The pain in my quad went away but I still had really bad pain in my hip. I started strength training in hopes of building leg muscles that would help me run more efficiently in the future and then maybe my hip pain would go away.

I was getting more and more frustrated because nothing was helping my hip pain. One of the many times I complained about my pain and frustration on facebook, a friend mentioned that I might need a hip adjustment. That got me thinking and I remembered how on all my running shoes my right heal is more worn off than my left.

I made an appointment with a sports chiropractor. Dr. Bill told me that I had a tilted pelvis and that it was important for me to keep my hamstring loose. He wants me to stretch it a couple times a day and also wanted me to strengthen it so he wants me to incorporate the pelvic bridge into my strengthening workout.

Dr. Bill said the regular pelvic bridge was too easy for me so he wanted me to do the pelvic bridge with a ball.

Towards the end of my appointment he noticed that my left leg was shorter than my right. He measured from my belly button down to my inner ankle bones on both legs. Sure enough my right leg is longer by 5mm. He said most likely it has been like that since birth. That made so much sense to me because I've had joint/hip pain most of my life but it has only gotten worse since I started running. He gave me a heel insert to put in my shoe and told me I should notice a big difference when I walk and run.

*side note* When I told my dad that my right leg is longer than my left, his first question was, "does he think it has been like that since birth?" I guess when I was 2 or 3 my parents took me in to the doctor because I was falling all the time. The doctor had me walk for him and then told my parents that babies fall a lot. I have tripped a lot in my lifetime so much that one of my nicknames growing up was Gracie.

Dr. Bill gave me the okay to run. He said I should start off slow by running a mile and then I could slowly add more miles as I strengthen my left leg. The first week I noticed my hip didn't hurt to walk but it still hurt while I ran. The most I could run without it hurting was a half mile. By the second week I was up to a mile twice a week. On National Running day I was determined to run 3 miles. I got the ok from Dr. Bill, grabbed my running partner Lynne, and hit the greenway.

We took it very slow but it felt so good to be out running again. My hip felt pretty good until about two and a half miles. The pain was a little different, it was more like pressure instead of sharp pain.

I'm getting really excited for my next half marathon training. Dr. Bill said I should notice a huge difference because I will be running more efficiently. Now I just need to find a place that I can get specialty flip flops made because running shoes and dresses just don't look cute together...