Heal (trochanteric) bursitis?

Question

I believe I incurred an irritation of the bursa that lies between the greater trochanter (the top of the femur) and the gluteus maximus (the muscle that crosses over it).

I probably incurred it during a half-marathon race two weeks ago.

In one week I have a half-Ironman that I've been prepping for for 8 months.

Swimming poses no problem. Surprisingly, when I bike, there is little to no irritation. It's when I run that it becomes extremely painful.

By not running, the pain seems to be "going away."

Others have recommended the typical - rest, icing. Especially rest.

Likely, I will just bike, Spin, and swim (surf 'n' turf) til the race on 8 June. I'll do the run, endure the run, and rest afterwards for at least a couple of weeks.

Do you have any sure-fire other alternative solutions to contending with this bursitis?

Regards,

Phil

Answer 1

Phil -

Unlike tendon, muscle, ligament, bone, etc injuries, bursitis is...a little more forgiving.  

I get bursitis in one or both knees every indoor track season, usually in February.  What I do (and I don't actually know of any research that proves or disproves this as effective or even smart) is ignore it.  And one day the bursa sacs will rupture and drain into my feet (big ankles that day!).

Maybe the best thing to do would be to find out for certain what the problem is before trying to push through.  That also kinda sounds like it's in the sciatica region as well.  If it's sciatica....I'm sorry.  Find a good chiropractor.

Answer 2

this doesnt sound like too good of an idea. i have achilies tendonitis. usualy during warm ups in track its ok, but when there is a track meet and i had to do the 100 it was realy bad. i thought the same thing as you: "oh ill just run it and endure the pain and it will go away soon" but the is one of the stupidest things you can do because what happens is it gets like 4 times worse and my doctor said i could even have a stress fracture if i continued to put too much stress on my foot. usualy what happens when i get achilies tendonitis is it goes away in like a week. but this time after running the 100 i still have it and its been like 3 months. and thats just a 100, you are going to be running a much much much longer distance. if you run it one of the two things will happen for sure: either you are going to mess up your problem more in the long run and maby get a stress fracure. or you are going to stop in the middle of the run because of your pain. i know it seems like its a waste since you've been preparing for 8 months but hey theres always next time, and it wont be worth the trouble you will have later. but if you realy realy want to do it then just do the running very slowly or at a pace that it doesnt hurt at. that way you can still finish and not put too much stress on your injured muscle. good luck and i hope you make the right disision.