Iliopsoas Tendonitis
Injury sucks. There is nothing more regrettable, restrictive and frustrating than having been injured. This time, fortunately, I don’t have these strong feelings, because the pain I have is not severe. Yet, the prospect of full recovery from this pain seems to resemble this San Francisco summer weather: Foggy and not encouraging. Yes, this is frustrating.
My self-diagnosis of this pain is I have Iliopsoas tendonitis. This past Monday, I went to Psoas to see if they can figure out what’s been bothering me. My symptoms are:
- Groin pain when I run without sufficiently warmed up.
- Groin pain when I do crunches with my left leg bent.
- Groin pain when I sneeze.
The groin pain is identical in all these scenarios. Rodney checked the alignment but he had difficulties pin-pointing the cause of my pain. When he found soar spots in my lower back, he suggested the tightness in Quadratus lumborum was somehow connected to the pain in Longus. His massage gave me piercing pain as he tried to loosen the tightness in Quadratus. It was so painful that I instantly believed his diagnosis without any doubt. However, looking at the anatomy diagram now, it does not seem to coincide with the area I am feeling the pain. Longus is a muscle that goes down further deep in legs, but my pain is near the top anterior side of the Pelvis. So I searched what could be bothering me other than still potentially Quadratus and Longus.
From what I read, my symptoms are consistent with those of Iliopsoas tendonitis. It is basically inflammation of Iliacus and Psoas muscles. Psoas is the stretch of muscle that is right next to the spine. Iliacus is the muscle next to Psoas. The location of Iliacus seems consistent with the location of my pain.
Similar to other conditions that stem from muscle inflammation, there is no quick treatment for this. Suggested immediate treatment is R.I.C.E., as they say: Rest, Icing, Compression, and Elevation. Two to three weeks of rest is usually suggested but more rest may be necessary, depending on the condition. Once inflammation stops, stretching and strengthening can help prevent the same inflammation from happening. When running, it is advised not to run on the hill, up or down, as well as less speed training.
This causes a problem to my training for the upcoming races. First of all, I am doing the Pride Meet less than two days from today. Then, immediately after the track meet, I am starting the Half Marathon training for the Oct 2 race. Then, I am hoping to run a Full Marathon before the end of this year. So, there is not going to be any rest between now and the Full Marathon. Three weeks or more rest is very restrictive to my training. After the Full Marathon, I will take a break for a couple of weeks before the training for Boston should start. It will be holiday season, so it is a good time to take the break. Can this condition wait until then? Would I make it worse by doing the track meet, Half Marathon, and Full Marathon? The reason injury is regrettable is because I often feel that I should have know better than getting injured. ‘I told you so’ moment is just waiting to happen, or would it go away without me knowing? It is true that I had the same pain in the right side of the groin, but it did go away after a while. I shall see. If it starts to feel worse, I will compromise.
