Groin and thigh pain.

[James Moore]

This is kind of a complicated issue so I'll give the history.

Last summer after my last marathon I started feeling pain in my upper thigh. It was initially quite painful but over the course of many months it got better and better, it was primarily a problem on my long, hard runs. It wasn't a hamstring issue or a groin issue. I would feel the pain if I put the ball of the foot on the ground in front of my bent my knee and tried to pull it towards me (like a bull preparing to charge). It was primarily this combination of movements and it seemed like it hard to be a lot of repetitions before it would be a problem.

Anyway, I took a some time off in the winter after running a half and the pain seemed to be worse when I started again. Except this time, it was accompanied by groin pain (in the inguinal region). When I would run i would first experience the groin pain, but then it would be replace by the upper thigh pain. Again, with consistent training and injury management it seemed to be getting better everyday, but about a month ago everything got all of a sudden worse and the pain has been all over the place since. I can't for the life of me figure out what is wrong and nothing seems to make the groin pain go away other than warming up.

[Chris M]

Unless you have already done so and not managed to get a diagnosis/successful treatment, I would just go and get it looked at by a physio, it may not take that many sessions to get it sorted.

[Sasha Pachev]

Which side is it on? From an anatomy chart, can you identify the muscle? Can you find the source of the pain if you press around in the trouble area?  Is there a non-running movement that reproduces the pain?

Groin/upper thigh would usually involve a hip flexor and/or adductor. Look up hip flexion and adduction, those would be the movements that would use the trouble muscle (helpful to know if you want to either strengthen it or give it rest). Going the other way, hip extension and abduction, that would be helpful to know if you wanted to stretch it or test the range of motion.

If it is one sided, a possible cause is some sort of surface imbalance when you run - track, side-sloped road, shoe wear.

Another thought - a lot of times when you up the mileage, it exposes the follies in your recovery routine. So let's say you have a slight natural imbalance that wears out a muscle off 40 miles a week, but it is able to recover. You up it to 80, and now it will not recover unless you go to bed an hour earlier, and/or eat more fruits and vegetables. So do your absolute best in the recovery department.

[Blaine Hawkes]

I had a abductor injury last fall. I took off 2 months of running thinking that it would get better on its own. I would go a week or two and the pain would be gone and then I would attempt a light run and be hobbled over and be in pain for several days. My doctor said it was just a muscle bruise/strain and to lay off it. That didn't solve anything.
I ended up going to a sports medicine chiropractor in provo, ut who I knew. He got me back up and running through a combination of massage, acupuncture, herbal patches and some gait training. I wish I had gone to him after the first week. My biggest problem was that my core was weak and I wasn't evenly distributing the weight.

[James Moore]

The input is much appreciated. It's on my right side. I have a definite imbalance in my gait. It probably comes from running on sloped surfaces alot, but it has not caused me problems before. It is really difficult to identify the muscles involved, but it is definitely adductors. The best way to reproduce the ab pain is to lie on my back and do a crunch while raising my legs. I've been avoiding lower ab work because that seems to make it worse, although I agree that core strengthening is usually good. Before I had to stop, I'd say that I was as strong as ever.

I think at this point I need to go see an expert, I'm just not sure I can afford it with my health insurance  .

[Sasha Pachev]

What if you just flex the right hip against resistance?

http://www.getbodysmart.com/ap/muscularsystem/thighmuscles/anteriormuscles/psoasmajor/tutorial.html

Click on Flexes link to see the visualization of hip flexion if you need it.

[Penny Abdiel]

Sasha, that is an amazing link, thanks! I could spend hours looking at that! Especially helpful for adductor/quad/hip flexor injuries where the source of the pain isnt terribly clear.