Hip-muscle STRAIN when walking

[Nancy T]

What is wrong when you used to be able to walk briskly and easily (even at 50 lbs overweight) for an hour or more around your neighborhood, 4-5 days a week, and then....

a few years later you cannot walk two blocks continuously without extreme "strain" in your very upper leg muscles, at the side near the hip?

Walking continuously on level ground feels like walking uphill. (I don't get short of breath at all--it's just that those hip/upper leg muscles become so strained I have to slow WAY down or stop and rest a minute or two--in fact, I could not walk/run fast enough to get short of breath to save my life!!)

I can walk around all day at work as long as I'm walking a short ways, stopping, standing, walking again, etc. It's CONTINUOUS walking even for a minute or two that is the problem.

It's like those hip/upper leg muscles just have NO stamina whatsoever. What could be wrong??

I've had many years of minor undiagnosed neurological symptoms (MS was considered), and flu-like achiness in arms and legs but no rheumatological or neurological disease that they could find. (Not that they did exhaustive searches.)

Any ideas? The doctors don't seem to take this seriously and they just do those fast tests of muscle strength, no one seems to have really tested my hip muscles thoroughly.

Nancy T.

[Nancy T]

Hello Vivek. No, I don't know what is wrong still; the physical therapist also did not know. She gave me some exercises to do which I did not keep up with, but my main problem was being unable to go fast enough to get my heart rate up even a little during my neighborhood exercise walks. The therapist suggested I try walking sticks, so now I use two walking sticks (only when out for an exercise walk or otherwise having to walk long distances without stopping) and they help A LOT. I can walk faster and more easily with the sticks.

However, please note that my problem was not PAIN but STRAIN. I did not have hip pain. So your problem may be completely different than mine.

good luck to you!

[vivek_nirwani]

Hi, I have the same problem of joint/mascular hip pain when i walk or stand for some time.Are you able to solve your problem

Vivek

[JainMD]

Hi,
I feel nice and humble that I was some help to you.
I think the physiotherapy should help you a lot. A proper plan has to be in place with the physiotherapist before you start your PT sessions.
Keep me posted.
Bye.

[Nancy T]

Dear JainMD--yes, thank you, the discussion here was helpful to me.  I appreciate your input very much. I did not discuss the possibility of neuromuscular disease with him because I had neurological exams in the past that showed nothing, and I don't want to overwhelm a new doctor or have him think I'm a hypochondriac. I have found it's best to just state the problem, without mentioning theories or other symptoms, and let the doctor, PT, or other professional go from there. Unfortunately, I have had too much experience with doctors whose minds immediately jump to a single conclusion and stay there no matter what the real facts are. But this doctor seems to be different--he is actually listening to me and actually investigating something. So, we'll see what the PT says. Hopefully some particular muscle-strengthening exercises will do the trick!

Thanks again for your participation on this forum!

Nancy T.

[JainMD]

Hi,
How are you feeling? After a long time you have got back to us. So you have seen your doctor again and he is not sure what the problem is like.
I think it is understandable that there is problem with Musculo-Skeletal system and hence he has referred you to physiotherapist.
Did you discuss with him what we have discussed on this forum? Was the discussion here helpful to you?
Physiotherapy should help you.
Keep me posted.
Bye.

[Nancy T]

Saw my regular doctor again, and although he's not sure what is causing this walking problem, he referred me to a physical therapist. Hopefully she will be able to evaluate this thoroughly and give me some exercises that will help. I'm really happy that this doctor took me SERIOUSLY, after years of me complaining to other doctors who just brushed it off.

Nancy T.

[Nancy T]

Thank you very much! I appreciate your responses!

Nancy T.

[JainMD]

Hi.
The muscle you are talking about could be Vastus Lateralis or Ilio-tibial tract. If you feel that this is the muscle causing problem, you can start physiotherapy and get help in muscle strengthening.
I am not sure about your second post which is above mentioned.
Keep me informed regarding your meeting with specialist and any investigation if done.
Bye.

[Nancy T]

I should add that I have sometimes had trouble with muscle stamina in arms and jaw, but I had a blood test for myasthenia gravis in 2000 and it was negative, and I never have trouble breathing nor droopy eyelids, although I do have a strange eye problem--when I read LOOKING DOWN (such as reading something in my lap or on a table), after a couple of minutes I get vertical ghosting in both eyes (it doesn't go away when I cover one eye or the other). It is no problem reading on a computer straight ahead, only when looking down and reading continuously for a few minutes. I saw an opthalmologist and neuro-ophthalmologist and they had no idea what causes this. When I tip my head up/back to a certain angle, the ghosting abruptly disappears.

[Nancy T]

Thanks much for the reply, JainMD. (Are you a doctor?) I am actually 50 years old. I've had brain MRIs and also cervical and lumbar MRIs--I do have scoliosis in my lumbar spine (since childhood), but the spine specialist did not think this was the cause of my various symptoms.

A rheumatologist said "trochanteric bursitis" as the cause of this, but it doesn't sound right (and he hardly examined me, not my hips or walking at all). I don't have pain in the hip at all, only the feeling of stress/strain when walking nonstop for more than a short ways.

I just saw a new family practice doctor, and when I mentioned this walking strain to him, he frowned and wanted me to come back so he would have time to do a musculoskeletal exam, so perhaps I will learn something when I see him next. I have seen specialists but not actually a neuromuscular specialist, and always they have just told me pretty quickly that I have "too many symptoms" and they don't want to deal with me.

I have never had an EMG.

If I could ask one more question, do you know the name of the muscle that is on the outside of the leg where it meets the hips, and is most involved in walking? That's the one that seems to be problematical. Maybe I just need to do some certain stretches or strengthening, but I don't know how without knowing which muscle it is. I can't make head nor tail of the diagrams I've seen.

Thank you very much for the advice!

Nancy T.

[JainMD]

Hi Nancy,
I think you can have neuro-muscular pathology. What I mean to say by that you might be having primarily muscle disorder.
Muscular pathology can cause fatigue and tiredness in a previously normal individual child.
I think firstly you should consult a neuro-muscular specialist and get yourself imaging study.
Secondly get EMG study for involved muscle. If any pathology is found there then you can get further biopsy done for involved muscle.
Keep me informed if you have any queries.
Bye.