I’ve been having IT Band issues causing knee pain and tight hip flexor issues since my foray into increasing the amount that I run in my life. I’ve basically battled with the pain since last summer’s half marathon training. I’ve been to see a chiropractor/acupuncturist and a physiotherapist several times to treat the pain. I’ve been doing strengthening exercises for my side glutes, which we discovered are weaker than my main glutes due to all my heavy lifting and not focusing on secondary muscles as much. Since I’m still struggling with pain management and now have some added foot problems into the mix I’m not a happy camper.

Last week I went to see a podiatrist for…wait for it… a yummy ingrown toenail and other foot pain under my right bottom toe and under all my toes on my left foot. The podiatrist claimed he can solve all my ITB problems based on looking at my feet and legs and diagnosed me as a pronator. I’ve been running in neutral shoes for two years and since I didn’t really like him to be honest (I got a bad creeper vibe from him) I wanted to seek out a second opinion. He also diagnosed my running gait while I was seated with my legs slightly elevated. He didn’t even have me stand or walk so something seemed fishy. I decided to have my running gait analyzed by an athletic centre.

I made an appointment with The Urban Athlete and went in Weds morning for a video analysis. Laura my physiotherapist was awesome. She did a thorough interview about my pain symptoms, what I run in (took a look at my shoes), how long I’ve been running, etc and then video taped me running.

We discovered three problems I need to work on. I like diagnosis and problem solving.

1. I have a very very sore sprained big right toe. I have an inflamed tendon or muscle around a sesamoid bone in the ball of my right foot that we found by slowly feeling around until I yelped in pain at the sorest spot. I am going back for more acupuncture and rubbing pain rub on my toe/foot at night to reduce the swelling as well as ice in the evening when I’m home. Technically I need to be out of heels at work as well and hold off on the running for a bit more. Does waiting until Saturday count?

2. I apparently have a heel strike. I have no idea if I do this all the time or just on a treadmill while being video taped but at least I have something to focus on when I’m running outside. 😉

This video from Runner’s World is pretty great to understand the kind of efficiency I need to achieve to one; run better and two; avoid pain.

3. My hips don’t stay straight when I run. This could be due to a weak core & the weak side glutes combined. So I have strengthening exercises and my homework is to do them three times a week. I hate homework! But I’ll do it….

Have you ever had your gait analyzed?