Strained Quad

[breanna cobler]

I haven't been able to run for about a month now. My left quad is very sore and won't let me. I have been on prednisone which did nothing. They did an ultrasound of it and said everything looked normal. Does anyone have any suggestions of things I could do to make it get better faster. I took some time off and it seemed to be getting better and when it was almost better I tried to run on it. I can only run with a limp so I only run to test it out every once in a while, but the furthest I've went is a mile and a half. Region is next week and I'd really like to run in it so if anyone has any suggestions I would really appreciate it.

[Paul Petersen]

Strains generally take awhile to get better. Have you tried deep tissue massage? That can sometimes accelerate healing.

[breanna cobler]

I have been trying deep tissue massage. Sometimes it is hard to tell if it is helping or not, because I'll be sore from the massage. I have also tried a chiropractor but that didn't help and possibly made it worse.

[Josse]

I would also suggest massage.  Also I would do some ice/heat alternating throughout the day, this will decrease inflamation.  But this also could be more than a strain.  I would think it would be mostly on the mend after not running for a month.  It may be a stress fracture, you can get a bone scan to rule that out.  But an ultasound is not going to pick that up.

[breanna cobler]

I have also suspected that it could be a stress fracture, but my doctor is sure that it isn't. It doesn't feel like anything I've had before, but that could be because I've never actually been hurt before. I would think if it was a stress fracture it would be caused by really high mileage, but I was tapered the week this started to hurt. I didn't do really anything out of the ordinary before it started to hurt. I went on a 15 mile bike ride, and I sat on a bus all the way to st. george and back but other than that I didn't do anything that would hurt it.

[Jon Allen]

Stress fractures often are not caused by a single incident or single hard day, but can be caused by long periods of stress (i.e. overtraining for a few weeks).  I know my stress fractures (foot) often came 1-2 weeks after big increases in mileage.  They didn't always show up right away.  I would look at your training for the month before you got injured rather than just the day or two before to look for probable causes.  The injury could have started weeks before your taper, you just couldn't feel it yet.

[Josse]

I have been trying deep tissue massage. Sometimes it is hard to tell if it is helping or not, because I'll be sore from the massage. I have also tried a chiropractor but that didn't help and possibly made it worse.

Alot of times if the injury is bad, thing will get worse form massage, chiro, or any other type of treatment you do before you see results.  I see this all the time in myself and when I work on other people.  I always tell people I would expect it to feel worse before it gets better.  Keep with it and I would not run if the pain is bad enough to make you limp, you will just injure other things and may put yourself out for months.

[Josse]

I have also suspected that it could be a stress fracture, but my doctor is sure that it isn't.

I would go with your gut feeling, alot of the time doctors don't know what they are talking about (personal experience).  It won't hurt to get a bone scan to rule it out (just the pocket book).

[Scott Zincone]

Last year I had the same problem.  Every run I would have pain in my left quad area.  It would hurt in the beginning of the run, then feel ok, and hurt as soon as I was done.  This went on for a couple of months.  I went to my doctor and he suspected it was a strained quad.  X-rays showed nothing.  Finally I went to see an orthopedic doctor.  He did a bone scan and it was definitely a stress fracture in my femur that was the cause of all my troubles.  I agree with Josse, get a bone scan if you have not already.  I would have bet money it was something muscular, but I was wrong.  I blogged about my aches and how they felt before I was diagnosed last March through April, I believe if you want to check it.  Also Scott Browning on the blog had the same problem before and he gave me great tips and advice.  After four long months of cross training I was finally able to run again.

I hope it is something minor and you get healthy soon !