Hip pain after cycling

[relaxathon]

Does anyone have experience of hip pain following cycling? I feel it mainly in the outer side of my left hip, occasionally it also affects my groin and / or left buttock. I never feel it as I am actually cycling, only afterwards and it is worst when I am in bed. I have been very careful with bike set-up etc. My doctor thought it was bursitis and referred me to a physio who has got me stretching my I T band. This has been going on since July and no improvement. Any ideas?

[Crystal Tips]

I was waiting on other more useful replies before responding, but it's very quiet out there.....

I have a similar problem, but what aggravates more than cycling is walking. Unfortunately I dont have a diagnosis or solution to suggest as afetr lots of physios, othopaedic doctors etc no-one has been able to tell me what is wrong.

However, I have found that stopping activity fo a few months actually made it worse - my body got used to doing less and less, so while a short lay off may do some good, dont leave it too long.

The only other thing which has helped is lots & lots of stretching - every day - and I am now doing pilates - but it's too early to know if that will help.

Best of luck with fixing your problem, I really would like to know how you get on.

[Wendy]

Sore where you'd keep your wallet if you kept it in your left back pocket?  Sounds like piriformis stretching might help.  It's a common place to get pain from skating, as that makes much use of this area.

Try this search...

disclaimer - I am not an expert, and internet advice is usually not good stuff to follow when your body/life is what you're betting on.

p.s. have you recently increased the distance and/or intensity of your cycling?

[tonyh]

Mentioning this just in case it's relevant:

I had a spell of hip pain which turned out to be due to a problem in my back.

[relaxathon]

Thanks Crystal Tips, I also found it gets worse with no activity, however the most I have been off my bike is two weeks. I tried a short run which actually seemed to help - strange.

[relaxathon]

Sore where you'd keep your wallet if you kept it in your left back pocket?  Sounds like piriformis stretching might help.  It's a common place to get pain from skating, as that makes much use of this area.

Try this search...

disclaimer - I am not an expert, and internet advice is usually not good stuff to follow when your body/life is what you're betting on.

p.s. have you recently increased the distance and/or intensity of your cycling?

It is sometimes where my wallet would go - if I had one! I have actually reduced my distance recently mainly due to the bad weather and yes, stretching does help a bit. Thanks for the advice.

[relaxathon]

Mentioning this just in case it's relevant:

I had a spell of hip pain which turned out to be due to a problem in my back.

Was the pain in the outer or inner part of the hip? What did you do to cure the back problem?

[tonyh]

Mentioning this just in case it's relevant:

I had a spell of hip pain which turned out to be due to a problem in my back.

Was the pain in the outer or inner part of the hip? What did you do to cure the back problem?

Mainly in the outer part, wallet area.

The "cure" has been 20 years of  twice 5 minutes a day, exercises from brilliant Physio (who recommended Robin McKenzie's book). The exercises seemed absurdly gentle, especially at first (just as well, I was quite scared). (They are much gentler than much of that piriformis stretching). But mobility has increased a LOT, and the danger of getting a spell of acute pain (eg after doing something incautious) has been much less. And the hip pain didn't come back.

Again, I don't know if this is relevant at all, but all the best with your problem anyway!

Tony

[Wendy]

I'd be quite nervous of doing any kind of stretching not-gently, too afraid of injury which could be an income stopper for me.

[Biggsy]

As a victim/patient of hip injury/surgery, I've been told that pain on the outer side of the hip is probably not to do with the bones and the joint itself, but pain near the groin area may be.

Perhaps now it's time you should be referred to a specialist doctor by your GP, Relaxathon, if the physio isn't helping enough.