Help a reader out!

by

Anonymous writes (ok she wasnt anonymous, but I forgot to ask if I could identify her. so for our purposes–until she outs herself–she’s anonymous):

Why on earth would only my left leg hurt while running?  (I swear I’m using both of them to run!)  The pain is in my calf, my shin and also radiates up the back of my thigh (hamstring?).  I have two pairs of running shoes and have tried switching them out.  I stretch before and after I run.  I also have to ice the leg and take ibuprofen after I run.  It just seems strange to me that only one leg is affected.  Any advice?

I know my first thoughts (gait? shoes? muscle imbalance?) but we all know Im more weights than running.

Any of you die-hard runner types have thoughts to spare?

Please to hit our Tribe member up in the comments.

Edited to say it has been crazyhectic around here.

Somehow the fact I was uber-delayed getting home on Monday from TypeAMom threw my entire week off.

Yada yada yada I didn’t announce there’s a NEW Two Fit Chicks podcast out where we talk INTUITIVE EATING with a special guest.

I was remiss.  This blogger, whom I adore, was not.

POSTS BY EMAIL

Never miss a post. Enter your email to get my latest posts delivered to your inbox.

Comments

  1. interesting issue…some follow up questions, if I may:
    does the pain start low and work its way up, or start high and go down?
    do you have any associated (same side) lower back tightness?
    sit in a chair and put your right ankle on your left knee, then relax the right leg. now do the same thing with the affected leg. do your knees (on the top leg) relax as far? either answer me here or feel free to email me at boutdrz at gmail dot com. i’m an RN, and i have had similar troubles.

  2. I’ve had some back problems. Could it be a back problem? Nerves/alignment/etc or I’ve had hip problems on just one side. I had surgery before, and I get juvenile arthritis in both my hip and knee from surgery. It is both sharp and piercing at times, and dull and achy.

    Good luck.

  3. I have had a problem with my left foot and ankle area with pain and numbness which I thought was related to foot surgery last year. However, after going to the doctor numerous times, being sidelined from running for over two months, and having an EMG and MRI, the doctors are telling me that I have a herniated disc and that’s where the numbness is coming from. My problem is actually a low back issue.

    Don’t know if that helps, but it’s worth getting it checked out.

  4. It could possibly be a back issue. You may be out of alignment. Visit an ortho you will get the answer within 10mins of visit once they examine. In the meantime try lower impact exercises until u get to root of problem. Ease up on ibuprofen as your body will develop a tolerance & not actually work when it should

  5. When I get pain in one leg it is a huge sign that I need to see my chiropractor! I tend to go out of alignment and need an adjustment every few weeks!

    You may also want to get your feet checked at a running store. I recently had my feet checked out at New Balance and finally have the right shoes for me….it has made a world of difference.

    Good Luck and keep searching for the reason. It took me a LONG time to get my running groove and I hope you are able to get you groove going!!

    Much love, Jen

  6. I am not a runner but I will often hurt on one side and not the other with any exercise. This week my walking lunges had my right inner thigh much sorer than my left! I had always assumed this comes from favoring one side over the other in whatever it was I did.

  7. …this is really basic but for me a lot of issues were caused because we run on the same side of the road…and because of the grates, the road slopes a bit so it was throwing my gait off a bit. I now try to make sure I change it up a bit.

    Get yourself checked out though…little things in running can add up to big painful things…

  8. I’m not an expert or doctor or anything. But this happens to me A LOT. For me it is my hip. My right hip turns out causing my left leg to over compensate.

    Get it checked out by a sports med or a PT.

  9. I think its actually common for injuries to be on one side. For some people its always the same side, for others (like me) they tend to shift from one side to the other (maybe compensating for one strains the other).

    One leg may be slightly longer than the other, or as someone else said, if you are running on a street or path that is not 100% flat, you may usually have one leg landing higher/lower than the other.

    One thing that can help is to strength train (there you go Miz!) on one leg at a time – lunges, single leg squats, single leg deadlifts ,etc. You may see then that one leg is stronger than the other and you can work on balancing that out.

    Advice from a running/injury article I just read is to stop running for 3 days and try again at an easy pace. If it still hurts, try to see a doctor, preferably someone in sports medicine or someone who treats athletes/runners.

    I usualy follow a 2 week rule – if taking it easy for 2 weeks doesn’t solve the problem then I see a doctor (because I’ve spent too much $$$ on MRIs etc when I really just needed to take 2 weeks off). If its just running that’s a problem, I do the elliptical or bike instead.

    The main thing is not to run through true pain. You can do real and possibly permanent damage if there is a serious underlying issue.

  10. I am NOT A RUNNER. But I am a certified Corrective Exercise specialist. Many of the runner are pointing in the back direction, I’ll give you something different to look at (as it keeps me from running).

    Have you ever sprained the left ankle? (Miz, if you could bold this please??) or hurt that foot?

    The pain you describe sounds as if your body has learned to use small stabilizing muscles to do the work of the larger “moving” muscles. This often happens while healing from sprain and we never quite get things moving right again without some help.

    I can give you some things to “test” to see if this is the case – and some direction to go to make things better. Let me know.

  11. I’m so glad you posted this. My injuries are always on my left side, too (plantar fasciitis, shin splints, etc.)

    I wonder if my right leg is stronger/more in shape from driving — it’s the one pushing the accelerator and brakes while the left leg just kinda hangs out enjoying the ride.

  12. Check if any physical therapists or sports doctors in your area offer free assessments. You may have a weak or injured area that you are not even aware of. You could be compensating for that while running. Everything is connected and the pain will travel. I had to do a bunch of exercises to strengthen my piriformis (injured from overuse and not enough stretching) even though that is not where I actually felt the pain. It made a huge difference!

  14. Definitely a postural imbalance, sounds like it starts from her back (L5?) – especially if it’s radiating down. She needs to see an osteopath to find out where the origin of the problem is.

  15. It sounds like she is putting too much pressure on her left side. Some runners gravitate to one side, sometimes due to a hip alignment or just because it feels right.

    She should have it checked by a chiro or other health practitioner. An unsolved ache/injury can be become a problem.

  16. Ah, thanks for the link back. A great topic & podcast it is. Look forward to the next one 🙂

    Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

  17. Hi, it’s me, sore-leg runner! Thanks for the suggestions – I never would have thought about the possibility of a back issue, so that is interesting.
    Gene, an email is on the way.
    Laura, I actually wondered about that – most of my runs are done in my neighborhood where the road does slant down on the left side (because I am being a safe runner and going against traffic;) ). Today I ran 10 miles(!) in the middle of a road (race) and I’m not experiencing the pain.
    Coco, I WAS strength training (quit in September to concentrate on running) and I thought that I would have been in better shape, but one thing that I’ve always had trouble with is quad strength, even after 18 months of working with a trainer.
    Deb Roby, I’ve never sprained either ankle, but I am interested in your test – please tell me more (40somethingsjourney@gmail.com).

    It does sound like I should find a sports med doc – I know of a PT who does evals for sports injuries…wonder if I should start with him?

    Thank you all for the comments – this has been really frustrating and mystifying to me!

  18. Hi, I’m not a runner, but when I was taking Statin drugs I had problems like this for over 3 years. I am a walker and exerciser though. When I discontinued the Statin drugs, because I was reduced to walking ONLY ONE BLOCK, the problem went away too.

    Not advice, just my experience.

  19. My two cents: The writer doesn’t say what her weight lifting routine is like but I’ve seen a lot of “running” injuries cured by strengthening the glutes, hams, hips and low back. Also, has the writer had children? If so, her sacroiliac joints (where the hips meet the spine) can cause pain down one side like that.

  20. I’m a runner, but not a doctor of medicine (psychology probably doesn’t help too much in this instance, huh?). My guess would also be postural issues.

    Also, quick shout out that I loved the interview this week on Two Fit Chicks. Very cool!

  21. I’m going to suggest the possibility of it being a pronation thing. I pronate only on my right side, and all of my pain/injuries tend to be on that side.

  22. I had pain like this for the better part of 2009, but mine was on my right side. Different medical professionals suggested that it was due to different muscles. Ultimately, the thing that helped me was total body strength training and finally finding the perfect pair of running shoes. (I not realize that my shoes were an issue until I found the perfect pair.)

    I hope that you reader is able to find a solution. I know that I was very frustrated when I had constant pain with no idea why.

Trackbacks

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This