Pain in upper right leg after swinging the club

[shaank0]

I have been plagued by this somewhat stabbing pain during or after i play a round of golf or hit some balls. its about 4 inches down from my hip bone and is like a stabbing radiating pain that goes down my thigh on the right side.

I am thinking about going to the doctor to see whats up but i thought i would ask here first, especially since i am going to walking this year.

[squaddie]

That pain is not normal. I've been playing for over a year and never had a pain like that in my legs, but my legs are in good condition from running and weight training. Seeing a doctor is best if you are already somewhat athletically inclined.

Perhaps you should warm up your legs and hips a bit before you swing. Spend a few minutes doing leg stretches for quads, thighs, calves and gluts. There are also a few hips stretches you can try, but search youtube for those. Get some blood flowing in the lower region by doing a few squats before swinging.

If a stretching and light calisthenics doesn't help eliminate the pain then go see a doctor.

[boogielicious]

It sounds like it's your ITB (Illiotibial Band) tendon, which runs down the side of your thigh from your hip, is tight or inflamed. If you see a doctor, they will send you to physical therapy, which will focus on flexibility. This is a very tough tendon to stretch as compared to the quad, hamstring etc., and takes a long time to loosen it up. The PT will show you stretches for the whole area including the IT band.

One of the best ways to stretch the ITB is to roll on it.

http://www.bostonrunningcenter.com/foamroller.cfm

You've probably seen those hard foam cylinders at fitness clubs about 8" in diameter and 2 - 3 feet long. What you do is lie on the roller on your side with the roller at mid thigh. Then gently roll so that the cylinder moves up to almost the hip bone, then roll back. Do this 20 times slowly per side then repeat. It is better if you start after warming up with walking or some other aerobic activity. The link below shows how to do it. Your ITB will be very tender to start. Your doc will also put you on an anti inflammatory like ibuprofen to help reduce inflammation.

http://www.northshoreathletics.com/qs/page/9739/4931/78

You may want to try this before seeing the doctor to see if it helps. You can lighten the weight on the roller by putting the foot of the top leg on the ground, which helps when you first start these.

Best of luck.

[woodzie264]

It sounds like it's your ITB (Illiotibial Band) tendon, which runs down the side of your thigh from your hip, is tight or inflamed. If you see a doctor, they will send you to physical therapy, which will focus on flexibility. This is a very tough tendon to stretch as compared to the quad, hamstring etc., and takes a long time to loosen it up. The PT will show you stretches for the whole area including the IT band.

diddo...a cortisone shot will help you out if the stretching and foam roller ex's (more for myofacial release and stretching) dont take care of it...

[Shanks A Million]

I had this when I started playing again about 2 years ago. A good soak in very hot water, some stretching, and time healed it. Surely, you should be cautious, so don't ignore it.

[Clambake]

Other replies have focused on the leg itself, but it could also be caused by a back problem. Last year I was feeling some occasional pain in my lower leg that felt a little like a sunburn, but it went away for awhile. Then I started getting a strong pain in my upper leg, a little below the hip at the start, but after a month or so it started radiating more through the upper leg.

After a few more months, the pain suddenly really started getting worse and hitting my leg very severely, so I eventually went in to the doctor. To make the long diagnosis short, it turned out I have a lesion in my thorasic spine which is hitting the nerves in the spinal cord causing the severe leg pain. I just underwent a laminectomy (back surgery where they have to remove a part of a vertebra) before the holidays to biopsy, and am awaiting pathology results for find out what the lesion actual is and how we're going to treat it. I had not felt any problems in my back, so I did not suspect that as a cause and hence kept playing (and practicing a lot) which probably aggravated the problem. In my case it might have been good to aggravate it prematurely, as it may have helped us find a problem which could have multiplied and gotten a lot worse over time.

I hope your problem isn't at all related to the back, but just wanted to point out that the source of leg pain can be far away from the leg, a a doctor appoitment is probably warranted.

[shaank0]

Thanks for all the input guys i really appreciate it.

[BonoVox]

Other replies have focused on the leg itself, but it could also be caused by a back problem. Last year I was feeling some occasional pain in my lower leg that felt a little like a sunburn, but it went away for awhile. Then I started getting a strong pain in my upper leg, a little below the hip at the start, but after a month or so it started radiating more through the upper leg.

Second that it could be back induced. I thought I was suffering from a hip injury that I had landed on as a teenager out riding quads. Turned out it was a herniated disk in my back. Soon pain ran down my leg. Just something to consider. I would have never thought in a 100 years the pain from my him was caused by a lower back issue.

[Shanks A Million]

Second that it could be back induced. I thought I was suffering from a hip injury that I had landed on as a teenager out riding quads. Turned out it was a herniated disk in my back. Soon pain ran down my leg. Just something to consider. I would have never thought in a 100 years the pain from my him was caused by a lower back issue.

Referred pain, many parts of the body can hurt when, in fact, they aren't the injured ones. The most common ones are "brain freeze", when the head hurts due to cold in the throat; pain in the left arm and shoulder during a heart attack, and jaw pain from coronary artery insufficiency.