Stabbing pain - inner thigh

Larry

Barefooters
Sep 13, 2012
591
1,796
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Hi Docs,

This one has me baffled, so I'd like to throw it out there and see if anybody has any ideas. I went for my normal run yesterday (Sunday) and returned with no problems, feeling fine. I spent the afternoon visiting friends and had no problems.

Late in the evening, whenever I walked up or down my small set of three steps in my house, I started to feel a spot about half way down between the groin and the side of the knee in the middle of the inner thigh (a little closer to the knee than the groin) that felt like there was a sharp needle sticking into it - at first I thought it must have been something sharp on the inside seam of my pants jabbing me, but there was nothing there.

This morning I woke up feeling OK, but after a short time it came back, with a vengeance. I can walk along fine for some distance, but then a random step will result in a stabbing pain to my inner thigh. It is very painful - probably a 9 out of 10 when it hits suddenly. It only happens when I have weight on the leg, and it seems to be more prevalent if I'm changing direction or walking around a corner. If I walk gingerly in a straight line I can generally avoid any pain.

Does anybody have any ideas for this one?
 
Update: It's now Thursday, and although things seem to be easing, I'm still getting the occasional sharp pain if I walk around or shift my weight while standing still. I visited a friend who does remedial massage last night and he found some tightness in the abductors and some trigger points in my sartorius muscle, which I was thinking was the culprit after reading through my trigger point book. The trigger point itself is more around to the front of the thigh (maybe 1/2 to 2/3rds of the way down), and the spot where it flares is more to the inner thigh, maybe 3/4 of the way down. He seemed to think it wasn't a muscle tear, because you can press anywhere around the spot and there is no pain. The massage seems to have eased things a little, but not eliminated it. He's not really sure what the deal is, but he's working through the symptoms for starters.
 
Wow, that is a tough one. It sounds like a muscle pull in the adductor toward the knee, but you did not seem to have any symptoms of one. During the run, did you perhaps step in something that jarred your leg, perhaps causing a pull? Since there does not seem to be a history of that from your story, while a pull is possible, the nature of a barefoot style stride is that it is shorter, so you are less likely to see severe over and under striding but it can occur nevertheless. My suggestion is to give this about 2-4 weeks and see if the sensation lessens or goes away. You may need to take a couple of weeks off from running if it is a pull since you will fill pain with hills and any jarring
 
@El Yuca Descalzo - It is called "The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook" by Clair Davies and Amber Davies. I have found it very useful for managing small niggles in the past.

@Dr William - Thanks for the comments. I definitely didn't have any sort of event/trauma that I can remember - it was hours after my run and I think I spent the hour before the first time I felt the pain ironing, which is what makes it seem so strange.

A day and a half after the massage, and I haven't had a 'hit' of pain from it yet today (it is now lunch time). I do have a lingering 'not perfect' feeling that it could go if I try something silly, but that could be mental as much as physical. I'm going to give it a few more days before trying to do anything, and do a bit of self-massage on my sartorius and abductors to help things along.
 
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