Help me, my groin is hurting! (Read 2000 times)

Ok, help me out here folks. I'm going to get a reputation if I don't figure this groin thing out. Any time I run anything over 8-9 miles, my right groin is killing me for the next 12-18 hours. Subsequently, I walk around looking like I'm holding on to my crotch (hence the reputation issue!). By the next morning, the pain is gone & I can run without any problems. I stretch, I ice, I whine, I cry! And ice that high in the groin is a less than pleasant experience, I'm here to tell you!! 8-9 miles isn't a long run for me, just an average day. My long runs are 12 miles or more. I have some right hamstring tightness frequently too, but usually if I run a couple more miles after it starts, I can run through it. The groin thing I can't run out of it. By the end of my 25K race, my husband & his best friend had to help me step up & down curbs because my groin hurt so bad I couldn't pick that leg up to step up or down!! What can I do to prevent this? Why is it happening? I'd appreciate any advice. And my family would appreciate it too, since it might lead me to quit embarrasing them in public!! Eryn

It also occurs to me that with your history of stress fractures it could be a couple of things: 1) something in your gait has changed due to you adapting to your earlier injuries and your body doesn't like the change. 2) something's going on with your hips. Go get it checked out. Running should not be an exercise in pain. (They have whips for that sort of thing if you're interested )

LOL!! I'll skip the whips & stick to running for my pain!! I just ran 10.4miles today & felt generally great. But, after mile 8 through mile 9 or so, the groin pain was back. Then it seemed to go away & my last mile or so felt good. Good thought on my gait changing though. After I came back from the stress fractures, I did start to notice things hurting in places they hadn't before. I chalked it up to my being lazy & having a hard time getting back to running again. But maybe I should look at it more seriously, hey?! And no, I don't hurt every time I run, just some of my longer runs. I've worked for doctors for about 13 years & always say they make the worst patients. The 2nd worst patients would be those that work for doctors (ie, ME!). I said that I would go to the doc after my 25K race & have him put me back together again, and that was a couple of weeks ago. Maybe it is time!? You all have to understand that I live with my formerly Amish husband who was raised to never go to doctors, short of a life or death matter, so I feel like a wimp when I go!! Ok, tomorrow I'm scheduling an appt...honest, I am!! Eryn

I was just going to comment that I'm not the only doctor avoider!! I'll go see the doctor, the question is...will I follow their orders?? Now, if it is a stress fracture, I will, because the last ones hurt & didn't get better till I rested. But, other conditions.... As we say in the horse world: COWBOY UP!!!!

Ok, I'm feeling guilty now. Your speech worked!! I'm doing a short run tomorrow with zoom-zoom, then a long run on Monday. If it hurts at all on Mon, I will call & make the appointment...and listen to the doctor. I have a few other things to be put back together anyways. The week before my first 25K race, dummy me was pounding a wood stake into the ground and missed & hit the back of my hand pretty hard. It was that kind of pain where you can't say anything, you just get dizzy & try to continue breathing!! Several weeks later, the swelling & bruising is almost gone, but the pain is still there. And it throbs & swells when I run. It was actually one of the more painful things I dealt with during my 25K. As for the horse injuries...I layed off riding for several weeks prior to my 25K, but I have ridden since. And I'm a trainer, so I do tend to ride horses that are, shall we say, less than cooperative. I've had back problems for a few years compliments of a past horse, which I thought would worsen when running. Strangely enough, the only time it doesn't hurt is when I run. So run on, I say!!!

Try stretching the psoas. There are a few ways to stretch just check on line. A tight psoas can mimic a groin injury.

For those of us who are medically challenged, this means something like "hip flexor." (I had to look it up.)

My plan was a 12.2mi run, the groin started hurting around 7 or 7.5, but quit shortly thereafter. The problem was that I lost my breakfast around mile 8 or 8.5!! Stupid Michigan weather changing every ten minutes!!! I'm doing a long run tomorrow to make up for cutting yesterday's run short. I'll see how it feels then & make my decision!

Yeah, you give yourself a long, hard run tomorrow--I want you to be worn out and slow on Weds.! :P k