United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

...is it possible that my daughter runs in a way (compensating for her injury) that might be hurting her hip?
She first complained of pain after running in P.E. and she says that running makes the pain worse. She is 13 and admittedly doesn't like P.E. She had x-rays taken and everything looks normal. MRI in January. Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.

I am not sure how your daughter's injury is, or how her arm rests. I have the complaint that my hip on the same side as my injury arm bothers me as well. It helps if i put my arm in a sling pull the strap tight, so i can have it supported against my good arm vs my neck and the injured arm more at the side. (if this makes any sense at all, i can maybe try to reexplain if it doesn't). I'm sure that for me it's an out of sync muscle balance.

I wish i could say i was found a clear solution, but stretching helps, standing in as best a position possible (why if i am going to exercise use sling). You can have her do a few strengthening exercises on the nondominant side to get the weaker muscles stronger.

So sorry to hear about your daughter's injury! Many blessing to her, you and your family!


by the way, you may also want to post this on the OBPI board, as there might be some people/parents with kids her same age that can provide insight as to what they have done, if they are having the same issue. You can sometimes find different answers and perspectives to the same question.

I have hip pain on my side of injury many times when I am running and even just walking. Mine did not occur until recently though (about 16 months post injury). I personally think mine has a lot to do with how I sleep and compensate for making sure my arm is comfortable at night and so my other muscles are twisted, contorted and what not the rest of the time --- so when I get up they are tight and uncomfortable thus making running and walking not that pleasant until I can stretch and re-pop my joints.

If all the xrays are ok, I would wait to see what the MRI says and then maybe check with a physical therapist to also have her evaluated. A PT could check out to see if she is maybe just having problems unrelated to the BPI but still needing to change some type of form.

since my injury about 2 months ago the knee on the same side as my injury has been hurting. xrays showed no problems except some age related stuff and the dr suggested it was due to compensation for not having the arm to help some movements and also due to the weight the limp arm adds to the injured side. hopefully the problem will resolve it self going forward. maybe something similar is the issue with your daughter. I wish you both the best. doug

my injury was almost 6 months ago. i had to put up rails on my steps because my balance was off. i think if i was to run, i would have problems trying to balance myself. i would think that would make my hip hurt. and i would not have an abnormal hip x-ray. just a thought. i hope everything is o.k. with her and i wish you the best for you and her

Hi racheljara,

I'm a pretty avid distance runner who was injured during a run. After recovering from the trauma, I re-learned how to run with a bpi injury using one of Dan's slings, which holds your arm in a very secure position, no moving or bouncing around. I had the benefit of years of distance training, and I never noticed an major injuries on the affected side as a result from running. However, it sounds like a compensation injury. I am not a PT, but I know that running requires a lot of muscle coordination outside of your quads/hams, including hip flexors, glutes, and core strength. If your daughter was already weak in one of those areas, the bpi injury may be aggravating this. And if she is new to running, some overall strengthening might be in order, if she's up for it of course. I would talk to her PCP about a PT eval if they can rule out a fracture type injury.

Best,
MW

Hi,

I also am a very avid runner (Swimmer and cyclist). Often pain like this is caused by muscle imbalances and week core strength. You might consider taking her to a PT that specialized is Sports. Weak core strength will cause additional compensation and w/o the arm to help balance the problem gets worse.

Good Luck,
Joel

I'm not sure the specialist you'd see for this (physiatrist?), but I'd have her legs checked to make sure they are the same length. Leg length discrepancies can cause hip issues, and it's not unheard of for the legs to be different lengths, even without BPI. I think BPI can tend to increase the chance of differences, because of how kids compensate their balance, etc. For instance, my son would/could only run a circle in one direction when he was younger!

Kate