Severe groin pain after i run?

Question

Im a 21 year old female with pain in my groin after I run. The pain only lasts until the next day or two then it goes away. I only run on the weekends so around wednesday I start feeling better again. When I do have the pain I feel it the most when I walk, try to get in and out of a car or bed. It also have pain when I sneeze even on days when it doesn't hurt to walk or run. I've had an x-ray and an MRI both came back negative. I was also given Mobic which doesn't help. Any ideas on what it can be?

Answer 1

ss,

The problem with this problem is that the shoulder and the pelvis have the most complicated joints in the body. Pain in the groin can have several explanations, most of which will not show up on an MRI.

Given your MRI result, we can rule out a rupture of a ligament or a tendon or a hernia. Therefore it might be bursitis, but I doubt it--I'd expect that to show up as well. Therefore the most likely explanation is either a strain of your adductor muscle on that side, or tendonitis. Happily, the treatment for both is the same. There are some very important muscles and tendons in the groin area, and it's easy to anger them, causing them to become inflamed. I think you've done that.

Runners often are not strangers to tendonitis, even more so when they overtrain only sporadically. To your body, your training regimen is rather sporadic. Because of this and because of your age (an age where we all say, "I can do this"), your tendency has been to run too seldom and to run too much when you do run.

Can we get to what to do about your pain in a few minutes and discuss where it comes from right now?

1. Overtraining

2. Shoes

1. Running should be started and increased slowly. For the first few weeks we should start easy and run comfortably, even if we jog 11-minute miles for those first weeks. Then, as we increase our time and speed, we increase either one (but not both--never both) by no more than 10% per week. Increasing one by 10% one week and then the other by 10% the next week is a good training goal.

2. Oh, and always buy the best shoes for your feet that you can get. There are three basic types of shoes from which to choose: Neutral-cushioned (for high arches), stability shoes for average arches, and motion-control shoes for low arches, flat feet, or for heavier runners.

Go to the Runner's World website and find the pages on "gear" or "shoes" and follow their reviews and tips. It'll save you a lot of pain.

I don't know what shoes you've been wearing, but I would guess that they weren't the right ones, especially for the limited running you've been doing. Add that to most likely running too much on the weekends and not enough during the week, and that would explain your pain.

OK, that's cause and prevention. Now, what to do about your pain?

The only answer at this point is complete rest and Aleve.

I like Aleve because it lasts a long time, you can take up to 1200 mg of it a day (that was often the prescribed dosage back when it was a prescription medication), and it's very good at lessening inflammation. Take it only with meals because after a while it can irritate your stomach pretty seriously, but taken carefully you will have no problem with it.

Then complete rest. It sounds as if you've had this pain for a while now, and therefore you'll need to address it quite deliberately if you do not want it to become chronic. Once a tendon has been inflamed for a while it becomes harder to cure it.

So lay off running completely for 2-3 months (normally recommended rest time is 1-2 months, but it depends on how long you've been running with this pain an dtherefore aggravating it. In severe cases it can take as long as 6 months), and take naproxen sodium (Aleve) all that time. Do whatever you need to do to keep that groin pain from returning during this time. If you can keep the pain away you stand a good chance of curing what looks like tendonitis.

When you start running again (and you should), go slowly for only as long as you are comfortable, and that includes your breathing, even if it means that you do not at first even run a mile. How far you go at first doesn't matter. What does is if you can run without pain. Take naproxen sodium about 30 minutes before you run (and eat something with it, remember, even if it's an open-faced peanut-butter sandwich) for a while, until you are certain that you can run without pain.

Then make sure that you do some stretching exercises before and after you run.

I'll bet you a big dark chocolate bar that if you do this you wll find yourself pain-free at the end of your rehabilitaion period.

Wanna bet?