Ugh.

This is the continuing saga of my hip sob story.  The good new is that since I started physio and doing the “core” strengthening exercises that have been prescribed to me, I have not peed my pants while running in quite a while.  This is nice.

Also, whereas before I was experiencing pain in the Left hip while the actual problem was in the Right hip, I am now happy to say that all the pain seems to be properly located where the problem is.  Which means that my Right hip now hurts. A lot.

And that is the problem.  It’s a new pain, and I’m not sure what to do about it.  When I ran the 10k route for the Marathon the other week, I had a fabulous run and didn’t feel any discomfort during the 10k.  I ran a decent pace that allowed me to run the whole thing and not feel like puking.  Later that night, however, I almost OD’d on Advil and Tylenol because my lower back on the Right side hurt so bad.  So bad that I thought I might throw up, and I certainly didn’t sleep, and my stomach hurt the next day because of all the pills I’d swallowed the night before in an effort to find SOME relief where there was apparently none.

The same thing happened after my 10mile long run, and again after my 12mile long run.  I actually went out and purchased some Robax Platinum because I could not sit at my desk the following morning at work without wanting to cry.  The Robax helped, but I want to know what is going on???

I’ve been using my foam roller and I’ve been sitting on a tennis ball and rolling it around the (many) spasmy spots in my glute.  And while these give some relief, it never seems to last long.

Needless to say, I’m frustrated.  Very, very frustrated.

Berry Guy told me to get my hip fixed already, since it’s starting to affect other stuff (mainly my mood).  And, sure, that’s a great idea, but it costs me $40-$50 an appointment for physio or massage. That’s a lot of cash to shell out at this point in our lives.

So I’m going to throw this out there and hope that some of you runners (and even non-runners) might have some insight that I can bring to my next physio appointment.

I’m pretty sure, based on this picture…

that my problem lies in the Gluteus minimus and the Piriformis.  When I sit on the tennis ball, if I roll it right along the side of my hip, I get pain radiating all the way down the side of my leg (which may be my IT band?)  If I press the ball into the piriformis, the pain shoots up my back and down my leg.  If I sit just normally in a chair (no tennis ball) then there is pain down the side of my hip and into my inner thigh.  And also up my back.

I just don’t know what to do.  Any ideas?  Thoughts?  Give up running?  Become a couch potato?  Eat more chocolate?  Drink more wine?…