7 months ago, Stuart an 18 kilometer-a-day runner came to Elite Myotherapy with a pain in his left gluteal region that was inhibiting his running.
Stuart’s pain began almost five years ago after performing a dead-lift exercise at the gym with pain referring to the outside of his lower leg. His pain was worse during running and when sitting for extended periods (which unfortunately was a big part of his work!)
We set some goals and made a plan with Stuart of being pain free by 1st May so that he was able to enjoy running pain-free with his wife. Once we reached this date, it was quoted that “it was the best his body has felt in the last six years”.
Initially we performed a long-winded assessment of Stuart’s body including the pelvis, the sacroiliac joints and even his shoulder joint. We found that two of the big contributors were his opposite side shoulder and opposite side groin affecting his sacroiliac joint (SIJ).
Sounds strange, right? However for our SIJ to function correctly, we need to be able to correctly activate muscles that insert around the pelvis, including the latissimus dorsi, which attaches to the shoulder.
Throughout our sessions, we aimed to release his overactive and tight muscles and activate and strengthen his underutilised muscles, which helped stabilize his pelvis whilst running.
A big note to take away from this case study is that we should look outside the box and locate the source of the pain, rather than treating the site of the pain.
Happy running, guys!
Contact one of our highly qualified health practitioners today.
Chris Calabrese – Elite Myotherapist