Forums >Health and Nutrition>Quad Pain
For the past two weeks I've been dealing with pain in my left quad muscle. It seems to feel fine while I'm running, but it hurts for a few strides or so when I first start to run (at the very beginning of a workout, and if I just stop for a moment to take a drink or something). The pain seems to be on the very front of my leg, about halfway between my knee and the top of my leg. It hurts when I lift my leg (to take a step forward or to go up stairs).
I've been icing, stretching, and foam rolling after each run. When the pain first started, I turned the next two runs into recovery runs (walk/jog intervals). I haven't cut back on running, though, since running doesn't seem to bother it. Doing some research turned up the possibility that maybe my hamstrings are stronger than my quads, so I should do squats. Does that seem to make sense? I haven't really turned up anything concrete.
I can make an appointment with my doctor, but I thought I'd check here first. I imagine he'll just tell me it's a muscle strain and to stop running for a while, which I'd like to avoid if possible.
~Kate
Life is short. Running makes it seem longer.
I dealt with some similar last summer, although the pain eventually got to the point where I couldn't run. My Dr also told me to take a week off and see if the rest would help, when it didn't I went to a PT for about 3 weeks, PT told me that my hip was out of alignment and we did work stretching and strengthening, but I had to take most of the summer off either not running at all of very low mileage. PT told me that if there is a problem with the hip it can translate the pain elsewhere, which was why I felt it in my quad. Good luck!
Ah, well, I give up. Last night it was affecting my running stride, so I've made a doctor's appointment for tomorrow to avoid courting further injury.
Quick update and a request for opinions.
I saw the doctor this morning, though I felt a bit silly because it's obviously a muscle strain that just needs to heal. He was really nice about it though, and said that since I'm trying to train for a race, he'd hook me up with some physical therapy appointments so I can try to keep running.
However, he also wants me to take a high dosage of ibuprofen to reduce inflammation: 800mg (4 pills) 3x per day (2400mg total), for up to two weeks. He stressed that I shouldn't take it any longer than two weeks or it could cause stomach problems, but I'm a bit nervous about taking it at all. I've done some searches about the effects of high-dosage ibuprofen while running, but the only thing I found sounded kind of dire. (Along the lines of, "Don't take Advil before a long run or your liver will explode!") Does anyone have any experience with this (the ibuprofen, hopefully not the exploding liver), or some links I could check out?
not bad for mile 25
Quick update and a request for opinions. I saw the doctor this morning, though I felt a bit silly because it's obviously a muscle strain that just needs to heal. He was really nice about it though, and said that since I'm trying to train for a race, he'd hook me up with some physical therapy appointments so I can try to keep running. However, he also wants me to take a high dosage of ibuprofen to reduce inflammation: 800mg (4 pills) 3x per day (2400mg total), for up to two weeks. He stressed that I shouldn't take it any longer than two weeks or it could cause stomach problems, but I'm a bit nervous about taking it at all. I've done some searches about the effects of high-dosage ibuprofen while running, but the only thing I found sounded kind of dire. (Along the lines of, "Don't take Advil before a long run or your liver will explode!") Does anyone have any experience with this (the ibuprofen, hopefully not the exploding liver), or some links I could check out?
I'm not a doc, but personally I would ignore the ibuprofen advice. I'm dubious about the need to reduce inflammation in a lot of cases. Trent, are you out there?
don't remember the forum thread but this has definitely been discussed around here somewhere, sure that Trent was part of it
Shoe Alarmist
Trent has advocated pain over renal failure for as long as I remember.
Two weeks ago, I broke a pizza delivery vehicle's headlight with my bike while riding down the street (my bike is fine, thanks for asking). Among the prescriptions were many milligrams of NSAID. I declined.
I hope you get back in the game soon bakerkate, being sidelined is definitely frustrating.
MTA: One of the threads returned from the above search reveals Trent's position isn't as absolute as my sentence indicates. I don't know why I tried to summarize his advice into one sentence. Mistake! "Was it Kierkegaard or Dick Van Patten who said, 'If you label me, you negate me.'?"
Thanks for the link. I had searched the forums before making my initial post, but I didn't think to do so when I got the ibuprofen recommendation. (And bdub, I'm sorry about your bike, and, I guess, the pizza truck's headlight.)
So I read some of Trent's posts and some linked articles, and they pretty much matched what I'd found on the subject. This week happens to be a cutback week in my training, so I'm taking the ibuprofen and making sure to stay hydrated. I plan to wean off of it after a few days, and certainly before my next long run. Being hopped up on Advil means my leg no longer hurts, so I don't want to strain it further due to being artificially pain-free. I have my first p/t appointment next week, and I put some KT tape on it for good measure.