Back in 2016 when I was following a less educated lifting paradigm, I started having chronic pain in my right hip… except it wasn’t exactly my hip. Sometimes it felt like my hip flexor, sometimes it felt like my IT band, sometimes it felt like it was underneath all the musculature around my hip and in my bone. In true ego-driven fashion, I ignored it (and it was quite painful at times), and continued to lift unsustainably.
Fast forward to today and having been pain free for some time, it resurfaced after doing a rather intense set of split squats about a month ago. I’ve attempted to adjust the load/intensity with some effectiveness, but the pain will flair up when I climb stairs, do any kind of single leg work, squats or lay on my side. Having dealt with it for so long, it’s starting to drive me crazy, mainly because the exact source of the pain feels so nebulous. Once again, sometimes it feels like one or a combination of “hip parts”: hip flexor, IT band, some kind of insertion point for some muscle or tendon perhaps, a torn labrum, etc.
I can’t afford to see an ortho, so I’m hoping some part of my description is usable to “diagnose” this.
For the sake of discussion, let’s say that we were able to confidently tell you an exact diagnosis or a specific structure that is clearly implicated. What would you plan to do differently with this information?
Thanks for your reply. I appreciate you asking that question. Nothing super useful from a training standpoint, I guess, since I couldn’t afford any kind of treatment and don’t plan on not training. I guess it would offer me some closure lol. Maybe if it continued to be painful, turned out to be a torn labrum, and my financial situation changed down the road, I might consider surgery or something.
Based on what you’ve described so far, there’s no immediate indication that surgery is necessary. As a result, seeking a specific structural diagnosis is unlikely to be helpful.
This still sounds to me like something that can be improved through more conservative rehabilitation, and the persistence of discomfort is more likely related to ongoing programming issues. I think a one-time consultation with our rehab team would likely do you a lot of good to get set up with a plan moving forward. Shy of that, if you’re able to list your current lower body training in the thread, there may be some suggestions we can make.
That’s good to hear :-). Thanks I’ll reach out to the rehab team.
I’m currently on week 6 of the General S&C template. I have been trying to include pain into the RPE ratings with things like squats and split squats. An @8 in my data is a level of pain tolerance as opposed to actual output… now that I type that out, it occurs to me that might not be the best way to manage the pain
If you’re still following a “regular” training template, you haven’t even scratched the surface of potential modifications you can make to your training to achieve symptom improvement. Sample strategies can include any (or, more likely, a combination of):
-Take 4 weeks away from all “competition”-type barbell movements, and use other variations instead that you’ve not done before.
-Cap RPE target @6 for movements involving the affected area for the first week.
-Increase rep ranges to 8-12 (or even 15).
-Utilize tempo, whether 3-0-0, 3-0-3, or even slower on the eccentric.
-Substitute unilateral movements - front-foot elevated split squats, rear-foot elevated split squats, lateral lunges/cossack squats, box step-ups; these can begin with just bodyweight if that sensitive.
For more specific, structured, and/or individualized advice, a one-time consult would be a great option.
I feel dumb, because I’ve heard you guys talk about many of these things. I should know better. I’ll look into getting a consult, thanks for that suggestion, those training ideas and your time!