Let me start off by saying I have the privilege to assess and treat many avid runners on a weekly basis.  Some of them are triathletes and others just dedicated runners.  While the age and experience level varies, I see more female runners in all.

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Recently, a woman in her mid thirties came in for PT after being referred by a physician’s assistant (PA) with a working diagnosis of hip flexor tendinitis.  She had developed pain running in the past few weeks.  It was now at a level preventing her from running despite using NSAIDS to reduce inflammation.

Specifically, she complained of increased pain with figure 4 sitting, difficulty and pain getting up from a chair, and increased pain with running.  Her pain level at the eval was 2/10 but went as high as 9/10 with running. Lots of things can cause pain in the hip joint.

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Summary of clinical findings:

  • Poor single leg stance on the involved hip with mild pain
  • No leg length discrepancy
  • Subtle antalgic gait
  • AROM for hip and L-spine are within normal limits
  • No pain with quad or hip flexor stretching
  • Manual muscle testing reveals 5/5 strength for hip flexion (SLR and seated), abduction and adduction
  • Pain with FABER  testing
  • Positive hip impingement sign
  • Pain with deep squat


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