Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

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Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby musical comedy » Tue Jul 09, 2019 11:02 am

Dresseur posted an in-depth report on her health on the progress thread. I can certainly relate to it, and had intended to write a report on my own groin issue.

I strained my right groin decades ago. It was when I was first starting up/down lessons and stood in 2point too long. Because I didn't own a horse then, and wasn't consistently riding, the strain healed somewhat.

When I started riding consistently again, I would have groin or hip pain off and on. Sometimes it had to do with a saddle that wasn't right, and sometimes the horse would throw me around and cause it. Not to mention that when I have fallen off (many times) over the years, it is always falling to the right.

I always felt nqr in right right leg in the saddle, and I knew my right leg was much weaker than the left.

About two years ago I took 5 months off riding (I wrote about it here) do to persistent UTI issues. When I returned to riding again, my groin hurt like hell, I overdid it, and the groin pain became more pronounced.

When not riding, the pain was often non existent except when I moved a certain way, I would get a sharp painful jab like I trapped a nerve. It resolved as quickly as it came.

When I starting riding the new mare about a year ago the groin pain became worse and started to travel down the leg to the knee and also sometimes on the lateral part of the calf. Often the pain was so bad I had to shorten my ride and I would hobble around a bit when I dismounted. Shortly after the ride, the pain would go away except I would get this sharp pain twinges from time to time if I moved a certain way.

My biggest concern was my knee. I was worried that my knee was getting torqued due to tight abductors or something and that it might cause a soft tissue injury in my knee. So, I went to physical therapy before I saw a doctor. I went 3x a week to therapy for a month. It helped a little, as did getting a new saddle.

I made an appointment with an orthopedic doctor to check out my knee just in case. This doctor specializes in sports medicine and knees, although all docs in this practice are general orthopedic guys.

What was found was that my knees on xrays were great. My right hip has 50% loss of cartilage! So, this explains my groin and knee pain, according to the doctor (referred pain). I don't agree 100% because I had the groin pain when I was young and I doubt I had an arthrtic hip then. What it does explain is why I have trouble with my right aids when riding. My horse doesn't come through on the right rein because my hip is locked. This ties into what I wrote on a thread on the training forum about my lightbulb moment.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby khall » Wed Jul 10, 2019 1:07 pm

MC will you need a hip replacement? A friend who rides in the clinics I host had one, says it's the best thing she ever did to help her riding.

Hope you can get some answers! I injured my right butt sit bone last week in pilates. Doing a stretch accidentally went too far (damn gumby self) and heard a pop then pain. Ibuprofen helped. Not sure what happened but it is firing up a bit again after pilates last night. Did this one time other side in Yoga. Seems soft tissue, just not sure exactly what. Ouch though.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby musical comedy » Wed Jul 10, 2019 3:29 pm

khall wrote:MC will you need a hip replacement?
I specifically asked that. Doctor said "no", likely will never need one. I actually don't have any issues with my hip. No pain, Not much restriction, etc. I wonder how many women my age have lost cartilage but just don't know it because they were never x-rayed.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby Josette » Wed Jul 10, 2019 3:49 pm


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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby Sue B » Wed Jul 10, 2019 4:30 pm

In 1998, I cracked my femoral neck and crushed my greater trochanter in an amazing horse-powered launch. I also damaged my si btw. Misdiagnosed in the ER, etc, etc. Long story shorter, the injury left me with pretty significant right hip pain that not only made riding a bit of a challenge but also limited the amount of sleep I could get in a night. (oh, I already had L hip pain from a similar injury years earlier that went untreated.) Fast forward to last September and breaking things in my back in another spectacular launch, I no longer have the aggravating (almost oppressive) hip pain. At first I thought it was because my lower back and sacrum were numb from the injury, but the feeling is totally back now and STILL my hip pain is vastly reduced. :) So, while I can't recommend that kind of back trauma as a cure for hip pain, maybe the injury shook loose restrictive scar tissue or some such thing. I literally have no L hip pain at all any more and greatly reduce R hip pain. So weird. The orthopedists and back specialists all seem to agree that it is very difficult to pinpoint which area is causing groin pain in an individual. Seems to be multifactorial.

Btw, when I was trying to get my poor old R hip and knee to feel better, I went to pt and did all the prescribed exercises. The pt also identified a couple of trigger points along the IT band (iliotibial) and treated with therapeutic ultrasound. The second (or third?) treatment caused some eye-watering pain for like 30 sec and then poof, pain went away and never came back! It was that band that was driving my R knee crazy.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby musical comedy » Wed Jul 10, 2019 6:41 pm

Really interesting Sue B!! I have fallen so many times my right side. Funny thing is how my groin/knee pain come and goes and it's not based on how I'm using it. It's like I move a certain way, and a nerve gets trapped. Really hurts, then resolves quickly. I told my friend that perhaps a lot of times this is what our horses experience.

Wanna laugh. Day before yesterday I fell on the barn concrete aisle. How? I was rushing and carrying a bucket of water in my left hand and lost my balance. Where did I fall? Right side. I often think I ought to get a medic alert "i've fallen and I can't get up".

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby Dresseur » Mon Sep 09, 2019 1:33 pm

I really hope that I don't have to break my back to get relief lol!!!! I'm glad you have found some relief, persistent pain is tough to deal with physically and mentally. MC, to me it sounds like the knee was definitely part of the equation, and may have persisted after the groin strain - I say that because all the doctors at PT people were clear that groin pain doesn't refer past the knee. But, this whole journey has been a nightmare.

For me, after the injury, I treated it very conservatively... rest, no riding or other exercise. That didn't resolve it, so I started going to PT because in my mind, I knew what the injury was - I strained my adductor. First PT people did mostly static exercises, lightly squeezing a ball, trunk rotations, clams, bridges, that kind of thing. It seemed to be getting better, and then they had me go from a 10 second hold on the ball to 3 minutes. This completely derailed all progress that I had made, and I couldn't even do trunk rotations because I could feel the pull in against my hip. I couldn't walk for a few days and pain got pretty out of control, radiating down my leg to about mid-thigh and up into my abdomen. It was at this point, that I got scared and started going down the diagnostic route.

Rads looked good, no cams/pincers, joint all clear, MRI showed an abnormality in the labrum of the hip, but nothing that they could definitively call a tear, because the MRI wasn't strong enough to really see those structures, and it wasn't an arthrogram study. They diagnosed me with hip impingement and a possible labral tear, and started the process to schedule and injection. In the mean time, they put me on a heavy dose of pred, and a heavy dose of anti-inflammatories, then referred me to a new PT place. Luckily, this new guy was one that I had worked with before and he had given me great results when I had a major injury a few years ago, and very many years ago had a track injury. So, they start treating me conservatively while I wait for my injection.

So, the first, conservative round of PT was this: Foam rolling - a smooth roller, not the ones with the nubs and core/hip work to strengthen the surrounding muscles and stabilize the joint, as well as get range of motion back. Those consisted of bridges (single leg and double leg), an exercise where I lay on my back and pull two bands down to my sides that are anchored overhead, an exercise where you are on all 4's, there is a stability ball that you are pressing with your butt into the wall by engaging your core - and then doing that will lifting one arm then the other, 1/2 kneeling trunk rotations, fire hydrants (on all 4's, pick knee up and out to the side for mobility) and a sideways band walk. To calm everything down, they use Graston, a percussion massager and heat, as well as some manual stretches. As I progressed, they added some squats, step back squats, and then double and single leg leg presses. I got the injection, and it took about 3 weeks before I started to really feel the effects of that. Interestingly, after the injection, I started to get severe pain under my seat bone - a hamstring tendinopathy, which is no fun either :/

After the injection, they started adding more stabilizing exercises. Hip hinges, some unique exercises where I stand on stability disks and paddle (like a canoe) using a bar attached to a stretchy band, and another raising my leg up and I do a majorette type movement with the bar/stretch band, side planks, bird dogs (on all 4's alt leg/arm raised at the same time).

Just last week, they decided that I was stable enough to start directly addressing the adductor to strengthen. I'm building up to an exercise called the copenhagen. https://simplifaster.com/articles/copen ... -injuries/
So, I'm now using a sliding disk to extend leg out to the side and draw it back to me, manual resistance as I sweep my leg sideways across my body while I'm laying down and resistance as I put it back (these hurt but don't and are VERY fatiguing), side sweep across my body using a resistance band (for these, resisting against the band when the bad leg is stationary is the problem for me) and mimicking a runners stride in slo motion against a resistance band - driving leg up fast and bringing it back very, very slowly to help with the hip flexor. So far, I'm not sure how my body is adjusting to these new ones, there's a bit more pain, but it seems to settle after 24/48 hours. But I'm starting to feel like I need to take a 1/2 step back, because it's getting a bit more intense again. Through all of this, foam rolling, graston and percussive massage is being used to basically chase the inflammation across the adductors, piriformis, and back of my hamstring. And then a judicious use of heat and ibuprofen. So... we'll see.. I do feel strength returning, but it's not without pain. Good thing is, so far, any small amounts of riding I'm doing don't hurt while I'm in the saddle, but it does have minor flares after... but that could also be soreness from using muscles that haven't been used since February.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby heddylamar » Mon Sep 09, 2019 11:55 pm

Those exercises are very familiar Dresseur!

It's been 2 years since the re-injury of my left hip. Still no MRI, but lots of pain. I've pretty much given up on running until this is resolved. It's fine to run ... until I accidentally step sideways (toe out) on that left foot :|

In the meantime, I just purchased a rowing machine (yay!) because road biking for exercise is not a good running replacement for me and have continued doing a whole bunch of exercises from PT that helped:

Pistol squats. This guy has a great how-to progression for all sorts of squats — use a chair, nearly sit down. Eventually, after you learn the movement, you can forgo the chair.

Romanian deadlift. Begin by mastering the one-leged by picking up something light (5#) from the seat of a chair, eventually moving the object to the floor over the course of 2 weeks.

Lateral squat-walk with resistance band. The key is to side step (v. drag your foot) and never allow the band to become loose.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby heddylamar » Tue Sep 10, 2019 12:05 am

And a few more:

Squats and bridges on a bosu balance trainer. Any sort of unstable surface will work for these. Even standing on a foam pad v. hard floor. I use the upside down overinflated bosu trainer like this lady, but on a hard surface.

Lunges with resistance band. This guy has the best explanation of form that I found online, although my PT had the band above the knee, not below.

Glute bridge march on a bosu trainer (see #3). Rather than shoulders on a stable surface, the PT had me using the rubber side of a bosu trainer. The key is the keep the shoulder-hip-knee line straight.

Mountain climbers are pretty good too.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby Dresseur » Tue Sep 10, 2019 12:32 am

Heddy, I forgot about the bosu squats! They just started me on those, as well as some weird sit up thing, I’ll have to ask about the name of that exercise- I think it’s called the Turkish get-up. The other thing I forgot about were hip hinges. I do the sideways squat/band thing. And the bridges started on the floor, I’ve know progressed to doing them with my feet on the foam roller. The hip is a little junky today, I have pt tomorrow at 2, hoping they can calm it down.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby heddylamar » Tue Sep 10, 2019 1:37 am

I hope PT can calm your cranky hip! I'm using a heating pad, but neither that nor ice helps. Hopefully the new orthopedic has some new ideas. In the meantime, my formerly weak side riding has improved from all these exercises.

The Turkish get-up looks entertaining! I just watched a guy do that with a 60# dumbbell :shock: PT never had me do hip hinges. One of the intern PTs asked about adding them, but my main guy said no. I'm not sure why ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I forgot about one I do occasionally. It's similar to this but I stand on only the leg furthest from the wall. PT had me standing one-legged on a balance board while doing these, but I don't have one at home.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby Chisamba » Tue Sep 10, 2019 5:56 am

So, my "hip" pain. We had the annual 4h show and fair and i was on my feet all day, as the day progressed my hip became more and more painful. My clinic was the following week and I was desperate to be able to ride. I am allergic to all NSAIDS, so that was out. My mom and Aunt were visiting and they both have had hip replacements so they were direly predicting hip replacement etc.

My good friend is an ER doctor so she pulled strings with an orthopedic doctor she liked and off I went for xrays et al. Not a darned thing wrong with my hip. I was astounded. Every bit of pain was in my right hip, groin, et al. I had a absolutely no faith in the diagnoses. Well steroid shot in my back. Yep, sciatic nerve impingement. And physiotherapy.

Darned doctor was right, all that right hip pain, stiffness and injury were from nerve impingement in the back.

Not my hip or knee at all. So all my physio is about core and back and my hip pain faded .

I only mention it because I had no back pain at all, but it was the cause

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby Dresseur » Tue Sep 10, 2019 12:56 pm

Chisamba, I'm so glad you found answers relatively quickly!! The specialist I saw ordered an MRI for my back, but at the moment it's pretty clear that it's the actual adductors because there is marked weakness and the pain is with specific movements. That being said, it does hurt when I sit, so that could be my back.

The PT guy was telling me that pain in the hip is one of the hardest to diagnose properly, and is often misdiagnosed because of all the structures that play a role. You have the psoas, all the glutes, adductors, abductors, hamstring and quads all attaching into the pelvis at different points, plus all the pelvic floor muscles. He said that if we couldn't resolve it, there's a place in Philly, the Vincera Institute, that deals specifically with core injuries and that they've pioneered surgeries to bring athletes back to normal. As things seem to be getting better at the moment, I don't think that I need to get myself into their program, but I was looking into it a few months ago out of desperation.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby Chisamba » Tue Sep 10, 2019 1:33 pm

well about twenty two years ago i had a fall where i fractured the wings of one of my vertebrae in the sacral spine. I did rehab it, and it has not bothered me, but it has obviously been telling my leg to "walk this way" for years because my hip flexor and lap band are very tight in the right. So once my physiotherapy is done i shall have to continue with the exercises at home. pelvic tilts, bridging as well has a few stretches for the back and then hip, i need to get an exercise ball.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby heddylamar » Tue Sep 10, 2019 2:01 pm

I'll have to ask about sciatica.

I did injure that hip about 30 years ago, and have had minor discomfort on and off since then, so hip does make sense. But it could be something else entirely, since it's clearly not muscular ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby Dresseur » Tue Sep 10, 2019 3:22 pm

Heddy, definitely ask about sciatica either originating from the back or piriformis or other.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby heddylamar » Fri Sep 13, 2019 12:57 am

Well. Not great news. But it remains to be seen if it's horrible news.

Saw a new hip ortho who came highly recommended at the same practice as the one I saw at original injury in November 2017. The current X-rays (and 2017 X-rays ...) clearly showed bone spurs on the point of my hip.

The IT band lays over top of that spot, and a whole bunch of tendons connect right there, so there's no way to go in and shave the spurs down.

Since NSAIDs and ice/heat haven't been working I got a one-time cortisone shot. Fingers crossed that the cortisone calms it down enough that the stretches I'm adding to my daily routine (doc sent me home with a bunch), plus the strength-building PT I've been doing, will actually be effective.

If not, there's an alternative med ortho in Annapolis I'll try.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby Chisamba » Fri Sep 13, 2019 11:10 am

So I had my "last" physiotherapy visit yesterday. I had Mikhail take a video of me riding, and showed it to the therapist. I wanted her to see the range of motion and the freedom of leg needed for dressage. She really looked . Then she measured my range of motion and applied to extend my physiotherapy with my health insurance. Anyway I don't think people know how much the cire and pelvis and thighs move in dressage unless you show them.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby heddylamar » Fri Sep 13, 2019 11:25 am

That's great, Chisamba! I'm so glad she listened.

The last PT practice I saw was a repeat for exactly the same reason -- they understand that I run, and ride and need a full range of motion. My main PT even aded specific exercises for trail running (my preference).

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby Dresseur » Mon Sep 16, 2019 8:25 pm

The right PT is definitely key. The first place I went to had me doing static holds, and I had a major relapse. They also weren't interested in seeing what I needed my body to do. The PT that I'm going to now comes up with exercises, watches video and let me bring my saddle in so that they could see how I sit in the saddle.

Heddy, I don't know about you, but I'm prone to cortisone flares- intense pain up to 48 hours after the shot. My PT said that for hip injections (other than bursitis) to expect improvement in the 2-3 week range since they put so much fluid in the joint and so many structures interact near the joint.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby musical comedy » Thu Sep 19, 2019 11:06 am

Good you guys are getting diagnosed and finding solutions. I don't really have a diagnosis. True, I know about the right hip, but I do not believe that is my issue. It's uncanny. I went for a long period recently riding just about pain free. Then the other day the leg starting hurting and it was on a non-riding day. The next day when I rode, I was in a lot of pain and crippled when I dismounted. The next day, pain gone and riding pain free again. Some kind of trapped or inflamed nerve somewhere. Sometimes (and this applies to horses as well) there are multiple things going on.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby heddylamar » Fri Sep 20, 2019 1:53 am

Dresseur wrote:Heddy, I don't know about you, but I'm prone to cortisone flares- intense pain up to 48 hours after the shot. My PT said that for hip injections (other than bursitis) to expect improvement in the 2-3 week range since they put so much fluid in the joint and so many structures interact near the joint.


I'd never had a cortisone injection before, so no clue how my body would react (the orthos and neuros haven't exactly lined up to inject c4-c6). It was HOT, and very odd the first 48 hours. Better now, although I am well aware this is a temporary bandaid. The hip pain relief also really pointed out how irritated my lower back had become.

I can sit again (yay!) so flying to the UK in a few weeks won't be too miserable. And I'm using this time to stretch the IT band as much as possible, as well as continuing all the strengthening exercises I normally do.

A girl friend is a big believer in alternative medicine and claims there's a guy who can help, so I have an appointment after I return from the UK. We'll see ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby Imperini » Wed Oct 16, 2019 5:44 pm

I am late to the party but I wanted to thank both Dresseur and heddylamar for sharing your program and exercises. Seems like the theme is strengthening the weak areas so that the damaged areas don't suffer unnecessary stresses.

I've had hip pain now for about 17 years which gets worse when I ride, of course. I'm only in my mid-30s so go me! My pain is in the groin area but sometimes the whole hip area down to my knee and ankle hurts. The ankle is probably a separate pain because I twisted it as a kid and it's never been quite right after that so it was interesting to read that hip pain isn't supposed to refer that far because it only gets really angry when my hip is also really angry. Riding was always the worst and I would start a ride with a super hollow back and my legs wouldn't reach down as far as they could/should have. I would sort of work out of it for the middle part of the ride but would stiffen up in a different way during the cool down and dismounting was always extremely painful. Then I'd be pretty uncomfortable for the rest of the day and through the night without NSAIDS, and sometimes even with.

Had x-rays a few years back which showed some pretty good sized bone spurs on both hip joints and I felt a bit doomed that surgery would be the only option if I ever really wanted to be fixed. Didn't end up going that route, instead I just dealt with it with NSAIDS and built up an exercise program after going to a physiotherapist for a while. Still never got a whole lot better just better enough to live with.

The beginning of July this year I have no idea what I did but something went even more wrong than usual and I had to stop riding completely because it was so painful I just couldn't and I didn't really work out of it like my normal pain. So I started desperately looking for things I could try and I found Hanna somatics exercises (I got the book "Somatics: Reawakening The Mind's Control Of Movement, Flexibility, And Health") which I started doing because I figured I didn't really have anything to lose. Completely to my amazement and somewhat to my disbelief the previous regular pain is better than it's ever been. Whatever I did in July is still healing, so very slowly for my impatient self, but I think it is getting better so I'm pretty optimistic about my chances for riding comfortably for the first time in 17 years once it's all healed up.

Hoping the rest of you can heal up and get some good relief too, it's certainly a miserable thing to deal with.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby heddylamar » Thu Oct 24, 2019 2:24 am

Welp. Finally got a second opinion on the hip, and more imagery. It looks like I have a torn labrum too. Need to set up a MRI to confirm, but the tear showed clearly on ultrasound, and we couldn't manipulate it into more pain after injecting the joint.

Yay?

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby heddylamar » Sun Nov 10, 2019 4:33 am

heddylamar wrote:Welp. Finally got a second opinion on the hip, and more imagery. It looks like I have a torn labrum too. Need to set up a MRI to confirm, but the tear showed clearly on ultrasound, and we couldn't manipulate it into more pain after injecting the joint.

Yay?


Got the MRI results back. Hip is a whos-who of what all can go wrong with all the supporting tissue ... can it tear? And the bone? ... And, for a bonus, we discovered I have a nearly 5 cm ovarian cyst :|

Not sure where we go from here with the hip. Cyst takes priority — there's a history of ovarian cancer in my family. Fingers crossed.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby Chisamba » Sun Nov 10, 2019 6:39 pm

heddylamar wrote:
heddylamar wrote:Welp. Finally got a second opinion on the hip, and more imagery. It looks like I have a torn labrum too. Need to set up a MRI to confirm, but the tear showed clearly on ultrasound, and we couldn't manipulate it into more pain after injecting the joint.

Yay?


Got the MRI results back. Hip is a whos-who of what all can go wrong with all the supporting tissue ... can it tear? And the bone? ... And, for a bonus, we discovered I have a nearly 5 cm ovarian cyst :|

Not sure where we go from here with the hip. Cyst takes priority — there's a history of ovarian cancer in my family. Fingers crossed.


gosh Heddy, jingles that there is no problem with the cyst, and are they talking hip replacement?

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby heddylamar » Tue Nov 12, 2019 5:53 pm

Chisamba wrote:gosh Heddy, jingles that there is no problem with the cyst, and are they talking hip replacement?


I'm not sure yet re: hip. Hope to hear back soon from the ortho with a plan of action. As for the cyst, I have an appointment with my PCP tomorrow to find out next steps. I'm a "don't worry until you have to" type person ... so until someone indicates it's anything but benign, that's how I'm treating it!

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby heddylamar » Thu Nov 21, 2019 7:56 pm

I FINALLY have answers!!!!!

PCP is not at all concerned re: cyst. The radiologist who read my MRI is well-known locally for noting everything, and she read his complete report and laughed — I was cycling. But she does plan to run a CA 125 at my annual appointment in January since I have a family history of ovarian cancer.

As far as the hip, we're starting with non-invasive stem cell injections and will resort to surgery if that doesn't work. Fingers crossed!

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby musical comedy » Sat Dec 07, 2019 3:14 pm

This is a wonderful hip tuitorial video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlCvKEOZtpo

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby ironbessflint » Wed Dec 18, 2019 2:57 pm

heddy - fingers crossed more conservative methods work for you, but if not, I've had multiple surgeries for cam/pincer impingements, torn labrums, and a whole mess of other things. My hips will always be a bit of a mess, but on the whole I'd call it very successful and I'm happy to chat more if you'd like!

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby KathyK » Tue Feb 11, 2020 4:05 am

musical comedy wrote:Dresseur posted an in-depth report on her health on the progress thread. I can certainly relate to it, and had intended to write a report on my own groin issue.

I strained my right groin decades ago. It was when I was first starting up/down lessons and stood in 2point too long. Because I didn't own a horse then, and wasn't consistently riding, the strain healed somewhat.

When I started riding consistently again, I would have groin or hip pain off and on. Sometimes it had to do with a saddle that wasn't right, and sometimes the horse would throw me around and cause it. Not to mention that when I have fallen off (many times) over the years, it is always falling to the right.

I always felt nqr in right right leg in the saddle, and I knew my right leg was much weaker than the left.

About two years ago I took 5 months off riding (I wrote about it here) do to persistent UTI issues. When I returned to riding again, my groin hurt like hell, I overdid it, and the groin pain became more pronounced.

When not riding, the pain was often non existent except when I moved a certain way, I would get a sharp painful jab like I trapped a nerve. It resolved as quickly as it came.

When I starting riding the new mare about a year ago the groin pain became worse and started to travel down the leg to the knee and also sometimes on the lateral part of the calf. Often the pain was so bad I had to shorten my ride and I would hobble around a bit when I dismounted. Shortly after the ride, the pain would go away except I would get this sharp pain twinges from time to time if I moved a certain way.

My biggest concern was my knee. I was worried that my knee was getting torqued due to tight abductors or something and that it might cause a soft tissue injury in my knee. So, I went to physical therapy before I saw a doctor. I went 3x a week to therapy for a month. It helped a little, as did getting a new saddle.

I made an appointment with an orthopedic doctor to check out my knee just in case. This doctor specializes in sports medicine and knees, although all docs in this practice are general orthopedic guys.

What was found was that my knees on xrays were great. My right hip has 50% loss of cartilage! So, this explains my groin and knee pain, according to the doctor (referred pain). I don't agree 100% because I had the groin pain when I was young and I doubt I had an arthrtic hip then. What it does explain is why I have trouble with my right aids when riding. My horse doesn't come through on the right rein because my hip is locked. This ties into what I wrote on a thread on the training forum about my lightbulb moment.

I'm sure glad you wrote all of this out -- saved me from doing it. I have the exact same symptoms, except it's my left leg that's weak and painful. Well, more painful than my right leg which also hurts but less so than the left one. And my right leg is still pretty strong. I'm fearful that this will put an end to my riding.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby heddylamar » Fri Feb 14, 2020 2:41 am

I had the second PRP procedure today, so I'm back on crutches. The ortho was encouraged by my feedback, but we won't have any real idea if it's worked for a while yet.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby Chisamba » Fri Feb 14, 2020 9:44 am

heddylamar wrote:I had the second PRP procedure today, so I'm back on crutches. The ortho was encouraged by my feedback, but we won't have any real idea if it's worked for a while yet.

Wishing you well

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby heddylamar » Fri Feb 14, 2020 3:31 pm

Chisamba wrote:
heddylamar wrote:I had the second PRP procedure today, so I'm back on crutches. The ortho was encouraged by my feedback, but we won't have any real idea if it's worked for a while yet.

Wishing you well


Thanks! I'm really hoping it works and I can avoid surgery or the more $$$$ stem cell procedure.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby KathyK » Sun Mar 15, 2020 1:16 pm

musical comedy wrote:This is a wonderful hip tuitorial video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlCvKEOZtpo

I agree -- a very clear explanation of the hip joint.

I had x-rays last week, ordered by my chiropractor, and have been diagnosed with "moderate to severe" osteoarthritis in my left hip. Chiro is smart enough to have said, "Time to see an ortho person." We shall see what the next step is.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby KathyK » Sat May 02, 2020 1:36 pm

Update! I had a virtual appointment with the ortho's PA. I've had mixed experiences with PAs, mostly not happy experiences, but this man was great. He listened to me, took my concerns seriously, and answered my questions. Long story short, I'm a candidate for a hip replacement when I'm ready. I like that I have some control over it.

In the meantime, he prescribed meloxicam, an NSAID. I am allergic to aspirin and had been advised to avoid NSAIDs. I was concerned about taking it. He felt the risk was there but not high, probably hives and/or a rash at worst, and said if I wanted to try it to keep the Benadryl close. I was at the point where I couldn't walk comfortably, much less ride, so I decided to try it. One day later, I was, I would say, 80% better and now, nine days later, I'm 95% good. No hives, no rashes! :D But I did figure out pretty quickly not to drink my usual small glass of wine with dinner while taking this med. The next morning it was bombs away, and away, and away! :o It's a good thing I had bought toilet paper in preparation for the preparation for my (postponed) mid-March colonoscopy. (I tried to use preparation more times in that sentence. I actually thought of a way, but decided against it. :lol: )

I'm to take the meloxicam for 30 days and then "as needed." He also advised PT to strengthen my core. I've been doing that anyhow, so I'm hopeful that we're on the right track and I can put off a hip replacement for awhile.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby heddylamar » Sun May 03, 2020 9:18 pm

That's great news, KathyK! My mom had a hip replacement several years ago, and it's been great. Recovery wasn't bad, and she's much happier in the saddle than she had been for years.

I'm hoping I didn't re-damage my hip on Friday. I spent a few hours weeding the front yard (all those tight bends the ortho said to avoid ...) and it's been low-level throbbing since then.

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby heddylamar » Fri May 08, 2020 10:24 pm

I saw the ortho in person today, and had more imaging — no new damage to the labrum. In fact, no more evidence of damage at all, woohoo!! The PRP worked!! However, I did likely pull/strain the sartorius ... but no visible tear ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Not a zillion steps back as I feared. I'll take it!

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby KathyK » Sat May 09, 2020 12:30 am

Excellent, heddylamar! Now stop weeding and do what your ortho says. :D

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Re: Groin/Hip/Knee - (spinoff from Dresseur's post)

Postby heddylamar » Mon Jun 08, 2020 10:46 pm

I've started running again!!!!!!


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