I can't remember exactly when the pain in my left hip started. I guess sometime over the winter. It started to feel tighter than normal after runs, but it wasn't really painful.

I tried to stretch a little more to loosen things up and then would just go on with life.



Over the last couple of weeks that hip tightness has intensified pretty badly. My hip would be super stiff any time I got in and out of my car or stood up from sitting in my chair at work. Walking to and from work was starting to get pretty painful.

Running never actually hurt, but the stiffness hit in the hours or days after a run.



Last week, I decided it was time to call in the professionals to help fix this.

That's how I found myself in a physical therapy office yesterday. After answering some initial questions, my PT spent some time evaluating my hip to figure out exactly what was causing the problem.

He also recorded me running on the treadmill, and he was able to pinpoint exactly which muscle was causing my form to deteriorate. As a result, a tiny muscle in my hip was overcompensating to try to correct my form.



Meet the tensor fascia latae, or TFL. That tiny muscle is strained probably from months and months (or years and years) of trying to do the work of a bigger muscle that wasn't doing its job.

So we are going to fix that.

The plan is no running for the next two weeks and lots of rest. (Though I had already stopped running last week, as evidenced by the plunge in my FitBit numbers). Then PT two times per week for the next two or three weeks, then we'll drop down to once per week depending on progress.

My PT is confident that I'll be good to go to start marathon training next month.

So that's where things stand now. We'll see how PT goes.