running issue

[robbo1]

Hello everyone, I am new to the forum, and I was wondering if anyone can give me some advise please. I am 12mths post hip-resurfacing surgery and I am doing very well. I have  a couple of questions, of which are regarding running and post op exercises. My background is one of club runner for many years, and fit and healthy. I have been cycling regularly and started to run twice a week, I am running up to just over 4 miles now, but experiencing a dull ache half way through the 4 mile run. Is this normal?  I did not start running until 10mths post op. Also when doing a stretching exercise where I try and bring knee to chest at a certain point I get some pain/restriction/clicks before I can move my knee further to chest. Hope this is as clear as possible for anyone to be able to give me some advise

Many thanks in anticipation

Robbo1

[Saddlepal3]

Robbo1, I’m sure there are other runners on this forum that will chime in; however, I think you are experiencing normal symptoms. It takes a year for things to heal up but that doesn’t address tight muscles. My suggestion: keep up the stretching, but don’t force anything. Reduce your running mileage for now. Go to 2 miles 3-4 times/week, or 3 miles 2-3 times/week. Keep listening to your body. Good luck.

[blinky]

I agree. Give it time. I don't have a magic bullet answer. Things you could try: massage including myofascial massage like ART, stretching, running less at a time but more often, PT targeting any weaknesses you feel now like in glutes or abs.

I am three plus years out and feel like I am still making progress in running. It hasn't always been linear for me. 

[MattJersey]

Following getting through Achilles rehab in December I have gradually been rebuilding my running.

This latest Achilles bout started in May 2018, but from about Jan I was building up running for first time since hip done in 2015. I went through very similar symptoms. And it is quite sore. I found it gradually improved with my (running specific) fitness level. And I am now experiencing it again.

So it a month ago it would come on about 20 mins in to run, but now it is out at 30-ish and far less intense.

My theory is it is due to the disruption of the blood vessels down there from surgery. A few pipes were cut and maybe not all open these days. I feel it is like an oxygen starvation issue.

Sounds pretty normal your situation.

[hernanu]

Hello everyone, I am new to the forum, and I was wondering if anyone can give me some advise please. I am 12mths post hip-resurfacing surgery and I am doing very well. I have  a couple of questions, of which are regarding running and post op exercises. My background is one of club runner for many years, and fit and healthy. I have been cycling regularly and started to run twice a week, I am running up to just over 4 miles now, but experiencing a dull ache half way through the 4 mile run. Is this normal?  I did not start running until 10mths post op. Also when doing a stretching exercise where I try and bring knee to chest at a certain point I get some pain/restriction/clicks before I can move my knee further to chest. Hope this is as clear as possible for anyone to be able to give me some advise

Many thanks in anticipation

Robbo1

Not a runner, but some advice, especially on stretching.

We not only have to deal with the recuperation of muscle that has been lying quiescent during our recovery but also:

• Scar tissue that may have come to be from surgery
• Wasted muscles from disuse during the arthritic attack on your body (atrophy)
• Imbalance / overexertion of other muscles that picked up the duties of the atrophied muscles
• Vascular issues as mentioned by Matt
• Still need to recover in the small balancing muscles distended or cut during our surgery(ies)

So there's a lot to consider.  It's not just the large muscles that have to be brought back, in some respects, those are the easiest to manage.

It's the other items in the list that can be addressed. The great thing is that our bodies are wonderful organisms that can do the work if we give them a chance.

I think you'll find many athletes in this forum in different disciplines. All of them had a hard time with being patient in recovery. We are all used to powering through pain / obstacles, but this is not that type of recovery.

To me, a little strategy helps. If you are in pain at four miles, do three repeatedly until your body is at the point it can do four.  If your body takes only so much stretching before complaining, do so much minus a bit.

A piece of advice on stretching - make sure your muscles are warm before you stretch. If the big muscles are cold, they won't stretch and will only put pressure on the smaller and on the joints.

Anyways, good luck, but to me one year your body still has to be strengthened in ways we are not used to - balance, flexibility, relearning movements and allowing the body to equilibrate from all of the misuse it suffered while dealing with the arthritis disease.

[Tri Hard Alan]

Agree with Saddlepal3 regarding running shorter distances more often and Blinky that the recovery is certainly not linear.

I am 3 years post op now and running times have gone up and down and so have the discomfort levels, with the 2 often linked together with running milage, ie the more I run the better things generally are.

My target of 100% pain free running is an ongoing process so you definitely have to be patient. As long as any discomfort is short lived and dissapears once you stop running I wouldn't be concerned.

I would see a physio (admittedly, I have seen several, seriously, I have lost count) and get a diagnosis on where you are weak and where you are inflexible and a plan to address those areas. My latest physio (for UK readers, on Harley Street and shockingly expensive) is hands on loosening the tight areas and using Rock Tape to hold things in their proper alignment (my right foot always has and still does point outward) and this has provided an immediate benefit (I ran 15k easy Saturday and 11K hard Monday with no issues). But it takes a while to get to this point.

[johnwitt]

I am 2 1/2 years post-op and have had similar issues.  Actually, the first 1.5 years of running, begun at month 6, went relatively well.  I gradually worked up in mileage and intensity.  When I overdid it, my hip would tell me so via a dull ache that turned more intense if I kept going, and would remain for an hour or so after I stopped. 

Then I really overdid it.  A hard 10K followed a week later by a slow 13.1 (part of a half ironmen relay; my metal hip is no ironman!).   Every since then the threshold for pain is lower, and it seems to stick around longer.  It wasn't until I looked back at my training log that I figured what I did wrong.  I would not run for 3-5 weeks, and then start up again slowly for the first 2 weeks.  Then, I'd see a race on the calendar 8 to 10 weeks out and my gradual ramp-up became not so gradual.  Nothing crazy, but not as gradual as it should have been.

I thought taking the time off would reset everything, and I'd soon be able to get back to the same mileage and intensity I was at before.  And for many injuries, that works!  But not with the hip resurfacing pain.  The body is an amazing organism said someone in this post, but it needs to get used to the metal hip.  And if you take a break -- even if its only 3-5 weeks -- it needs to get used to it all over again.  It probably would have been better if I just cut back on mileage and intensity rather than completely resting.  That's what I am hearing on this thread.  So, what I have I learned?

- If you feel pain during a run, back off.  Walk and stretch and try again.  Never run through it.  If you can't run without pain, hop on a bike or elliptical.

- give yourself at least 2 full days off.  Run lighter next workout.

- increase mileage and intensity gradually.  I was always a fan of speed work-outs.  .25 mile repeats are PERFECT.  You run intense for a short while, and then take a break. 

- Long Slow Distance runs have to be just that -- much slower than race pace (Matt Fitzgerald's 80/20 training book is a great read)

- Warm-up is critical.  We've all been there -- you have limited time to get your run in, you cut short the warm-up!   

By all means I don't have this completely figured out.  But I think the following the above guidelines will bring me to a better place.  A place where I can run a half marathon.  Just not the week after a hard 10K!