Lumpy wrote: “I’ve taken lots of time off from training over the years, possibly too much time off LOL.”
Porkchop replies: I’m not suggesting that you take time off from training, just that doing something other than pushing heavy iron for a few days or weeks might give your body a break. There’s a lot of stuff you can do with bodyweight exercises, such as the ones Furey teaches.
Lumpy wrote: “As far as hip pain, it is a deep ‘agitation’ that travels partway down my thigh. It feels like it is originating at the ‘core’ (bone level) and it is in the front. It’s almost like a deep muscle ache combined with a slight ‘pulling’ feeling, originating where my thighs ‘insert’ with my hips.”
Porkchop replies: It sounds like you could have either osteoarthritis or tendonitis. This is really something that a doctor should look at, particularly if you’ve had it for a while. You probably need an x-ray of the hip in order to see if there is arthritis present – whether there is sclerosis (hardening of the bones around the joint which can be seen as whiter, i.e., denser, areas on an x-ray)and/or narrowing of the joint space. Do you have any restriction on the movement of your hip joint? But that particular pain might also be tendonitis, in which case there are some pretty effective physical therapies. I take it that you have had this for some time, which would probably rule out an infection in the joint. (My daughter once had a type of infection in her hip called toxic viral synovitis, where the virus got into the lining (synovium) of one of her hip tendons – it’s very painful, but is accompanied by a low-grade fever and only lasts a week or two.) The bottom line from me is that if it hurts enough to continue to complain about over a period of time, it’s worth a visit to the doctor to figure out what the problem is.
Lumpy wrote: “I first started noticing the hip problem after adding some running to my routine (which I’ve layed off of). I was weighing about 235 at the time.”
Porkchop responds: One thing that some people develop when they start running unaccustomed distances is “iliotibial band syndrome.” The “ITB” runs along the outside of the leg, though, so it doesn’t sound like what you’ve described. You might want to have that checked out anyway, though.
Lumpy wrote: “As far as the shoulder, I had some impingement on the left side and had ART treatment. Now I am noticing similar problems on the other side. I haven’t been keeping up with the prescribed rehab exercises, so I realize that I have created my own problems. The shoulders are what hurts during barbell military press.”
Porkchop responds: I had a shoulder impingement about 4 years ago. The orthopod went in and cut off the end of my collarbone and then cleaned out some arthritic spurs on the underside of the acromion. It’s good now, but if you can avoid going to those lengths by getting serious with your rehab exercises, I’d definitely recommend the exercises.