Just started C25K - struggling with hip pain. Help!

Jessicalg1981
Jessicalg1981 Posts: 51 Member
edited January 22 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi! Just to give some background, I had my second child a year and a half ago. Hip pain became an issue while I was pregnant with her and continued to be an issue after I had her. In October I started losing weight and have lost a little over 70lbs. Since I have lost weight my hips haven't bothered me at all. I have always been a speed walker but I decided as my next accomplishment I want to run a 5K so I started the Couch to 5K program. I'm still in week 1 and aside from muscle soreness (which I expected) after the first day I was fine. Yesterday I did the second day and after my first interval of running my hip started to ache. I powered through it for the duration but as soon as I got out of the car at home I was limping. I've been limping ever since. I really don't want to interrupt C25K! With the way it's organized you only do 3 days a week so I have some time to rest in between but I'd been still doing my regular speed walking on my off days. I'm going to rest today as much as I can (I work on my feet) but can anyone recommend ANYTHING that might help?? Stretches? Anything?
TIA!!

Replies

  • mjculbertson4512
    mjculbertson4512 Posts: 157 Member
    Have a running store check your shoes and your gait. That may be an issue.

    If you can pinpoint the muscle, have someone rub it and relax if for you. I heard a message thearipist suggest rolling a tennis ball across the area. Hurts like heck, but gets the muscle to relax and not contract.

    Arnica, found at health food stores can be applied to the area to reduce inflamation.

    Epsom Salts in a bath to soak.

    Ice, then heat.

    Most of all, Stretch when you are done. This will help, more than you know.
  • sunglasses_and_ocean_waves
    sunglasses_and_ocean_waves Posts: 2,757 Member
    I'm also speed walker transitioning to running via c25k. The first week out, my pelvis hurt like holy hell. I have no idea why or how it resolved itself, though I suspect as I improved my form, things just worked better. It really took about a week.

    Make sure you're not using the same shoes for running that you use for walking. Two different animals.

    If this has been an ongoing problem (you had this issue while pregnant?), talk to your dr. Since you weren't running then, it's probably not running related. It could be something like the need for a new, firmer mattress, or you could have something going on in there that needs adjusting. My feeling is if something lasts more than a couple of weeks and/or is more than just an annoyance, it's time to see the doc.
  • bokodasu
    bokodasu Posts: 629 Member
    I'll tell you what I just found out - I had hip pain with both my pregnancies, but they were fine afterwards. Until I started running, and then I had all sorts of weird ankle/foot problems, that finally got bad enough that the pain wound up in my SI joint. And I *finally* went to the chiropractor, who took an x-ray that showed that my hips were so far out of alignment that it made one of my legs half an inch longer than the other. After one adjustment, I feel about a million times better and I'm really optimistic about being able to run again soon.

    So, yeah. If you check all the other stuff people are saying and it doesn't improve right away, I'd definitely recomment a good chiro sooner rather than later. If I'd figured this out to begin with, I could have saved myself a couple years of pain.
  • TLHarwick
    TLHarwick Posts: 44 Member
    It could be your IT band.. are you running on uneven ground?
    I usually run on a track, but sometimes when I run in my neighborhood I have this issue - I narrowed it down to the IT band.. it was sore for a couple of days and then stopped...

    Hope it gets better for you soon.
  • Jessicalg1981
    Jessicalg1981 Posts: 51 Member
    I had been wondering about a chiropractor after I had my daughter since the hip pain didn't go away but since I got to about 50lbs down the pain did go away and I felt great so I figured it was just the weight causing the issue. It wasn't until now that it flared up again. I'm def going to get new shoes. I have been using the same shoes as I walk in (which are pretty dated to say the least).
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