Cramped Muscle? I don't know.

Australia2013

Well, I did something to my leg/hip - what, who knows?! No, seriously, who knows? I went on a 10 mile walk with a friend yesterday - averaged about a 4mph pace for the first half when my hip started to bug me. It just felt like a bit like a cramped muscle that needed to be stretched so we stopped at the turn around and I stretched out my legs, back, hips, etc and we turned back. By the 8th mile I was starting to limp. We had slowed down our pace and I stopped a few times to stretch as well. We made it to the car and I seriously didn't want to move my leg for the rest of the day.

This hasn't happened before. A 10 mile walk is a bit longer than I normally do but not by much. The pace wasn't faster either. It feels like all the muscles in my hip are cramped and refuse to be stretched. I can put weight on my leg but not my full body weight without feeling like my leg will give out. I'm active enough that when I told my husband I think I hurt myself he said, "On a walk?!? How is that possible?"

I'm going to make an appointment for a sports therapist tomorrow if it doesn't feel any better but the main thing I am having trouble with today is the constant pain. It's manageable but occasionally when moving around I get sharp pains. Pain killers aren't doing anything for it and I really don't want to take a ton of them. Anyone out there have other suggestions such as an ice/heat pack routine or stretches that worked for them? I haven't been able to find a stretch that has really felt like it was working.