What is a Tensor Fasciae Latae and Why does Mine Hurt?
I recently had the dubious pleasure of discovering a new muscle in my body. The muscle is called the Tensor Fasciae Latae. This lovely little muscle is located in the hip area. If you haven’t discovered yours, count yourself lucky.
How I discovered My Tensor Fasciae Latae
I started running again. I decided to get up from the computer and get out running. I had been sedentary for the last couple of months so I thought it was time to get things back on track so I went for a 1 mile run followed by a 1 mile walk. I felt great. I came home and stretched and all was right with the world, or at least I thought all was right with the world.
As the day wore on I noticed some pain around the hip area. It hurt when I walked, moved in certain ways and it also hurt to the touch. For a quick moment, I wondered if this was the beginning signs of osteoporosis and the need for hip replacement surgery (I’m not really a hypochondriac, but my brother just had his hip replaced so the thought was on my mind). Then I thought about it for a moment, since it was painful to the touch; that meant muscle pain…whew!
Because of my advancing years, I decided to rest a day before the next run. I ran the same distance and later in the day the pain was even worse. Not being one to give in, I rested another day and ran a third time. This time the pain was so bad, there was no way that one day of rest would be enough for me to run again.
Calling it Quits
I decided to call it quits until I got in chiropractic adjustment. I assumed that I was out of alignment thus causing my lop sided hip pain. I explained the problem to my chiropractor and he basically gave me a stretching exercise, told me to stop being a wuss and get out there and run. So after he adjusted me, I went running the next day.
Excruciating Hip Pain
That running advice was bad advice. The pain was so bad that I had to pull out the ibuprofen (I don’t like taking medicine). I assumed the muscle was inflamed so along with the ibuprofen I ate anti-inflammatory foods and walked around with ice in my hip pocket, 20 minutes on, and 20 minutes off. I did that for the remainder of the day.
Time to Find the Root of the Problem
I decided to find out what was causing the problem and address it head on. That’s when I discovered that the offending muscle is called the Tensor Fasciae Latae (TFL). It’s a neat little muscle located just on the outside of the hip. The muscle engages when you put one foot in front of the other. Here’s a better explanation of what the Tensor Fasciae Late muscle does and how it works.
After finding out what the TFL does and how it works, I found this article that explained why mine hurt so bad and how I caused it to hurt. One of the causes is an increase in mileage or physical activity. So I guess when you go from sitting on your rear end to running a mile that’s a marked increase in physical activity. Other contributing factors can include (but are not limited to) a leg imbalance, sedentary lifestyle, being out of shape, uneven muscle development or just plain old getting older. What ever the reason, my TFL is a little pissed off.
Fixing the Problem
From what I’ve read, the first thing to do is to stop the acute pain (that’s a no brainer). No one likes to be in pain.
Once the pain has subsided, stretching the muscle is a good idea. There are a few stretching exercises that I came across that seem to target the Tensor Fasciae Latae muscle. It involves standing straight and crossing the leg of the non affected hip over the leg of the affected hip (balance yourself first), then lean to the side of the non affected hip. This helps to stretch the FTL. I’ve been doing this several times a day (even though I’m still in the pain stage).
It appears that the next step is to condition and strengthen the appropriate muscles. I’m still a little fuzzy on how to do this. I’m looking at a few sites that have interesting exercises to help rectify my FTL problem.
In the meanwhile I’ve taken to biking instead. I’m still working on reducing the inflammation and pain (peddling doesn’t seem to bother the TFL) in preparation for the next step.
If anyone has sound advice on how to recover from an angry TFL, I’d love to hear it.
Category: Aging, Body Parts, Fitness, Injuries, Running, Tensor Fasciae Latae
I found this article very interesting. I started to develop pain when I was 11 years old and I am now 65. I participated in many sports and my leg would lock which does not seem to be the same for the people who have written to you. I would go into traction to stretch the muscle until it relaxed enough and then the pain would eventually subside. When I was 18 I had an orthopedic specialist examine me for the military physical and I was given a physical exemption. A few years ago I decided to visit an orthopedic doctor and I was given a handicap license plate for life, so perhaps my condition is not quite the same as everyone else. I have found that rest has been the best solution to avoid pain. The stretching exercises make sense to me as long as they are done slowly and stopped at the first sign of pain. I was also told I could not cause any damage to my legs participating in sports as long as I could tolerate the pain. I was given morphine for the pain at age 11 and by the time I was 15 I refused to take pain pills. There does appear to be a direct correlation between athletic activity and the pain for everyone. Good luck to everyone who wrote.
Hi all,
I recently started running regularly after about 10 years off (not including sporadic elliptical workouts). The first couple of weeks went very well, but my thigh muscles were always quite sore since I was doing a lot of uphill running and I wasn’t taking days off. I figured I should stretch more and started doing some yoga exercises geared toward runners. As soon as I started this, I experienced the TFL pain you are describing in both hips (equal pain, started at the same time in both). I have also come very close to twisting my ankle multiple times since I started the yoga exercises (this is not uncommon for me, but it is happening much more often now).
It does certainly seem as if the additional stretching caused the problem when combined with running. I feel as if the tenseness in those muscles held my hips/knees/ankles together (if that makes sense) – after stretching them, there is too much flexibility, allowing the joints to move out of place or move abnormally. Of course with running, the movement is repetitive so this would eventually aggravate the muscles surrounding that area. Between work and school, I have spent 8-12 hours per day in front of a computer for many years and definitely agree that the body will “rebel” when we make drastic changes to the way we move our bodies.
This is new to me so I will experiment with different combinations of stretches, running, and rest to see what works. It could just be a reaction to something new that goes away with time. Just thought I’d throw my experience into the mix here and see if anyone has any tips for me. Oh, also, I am 26 so I don’t think age is a factor. I still have arches & use arch support, and as far as I know my legs are the same length, although my feet are slightly different sizes.
I’m sure others have posted something similar to what I’m about to say but I just want to share that there is hope!
I have been battling this issue for the past year and a half. The pain where the TFL and it band come together at the crest of my hip was so painful – walking up and down stairs even hurt!
I went through all of the channels – orthopedic – PT etc. and in the end they all shrugged their shoulders when I wasn’t better. The Ortho’s advice was to administer injections. That is not the answer!
So I recently threw my back out and my primary care sent me to a SPORTS Chiroprator. His insight is amazing and he has an amazing medical massage therapist on staff! They have given me hope! I have strengthening exercises for my gluteus and stretches for my IT band with rolling on foam roller. The massage therapist gets into my fibers to wake them up and try to promote blood flow throughout my it band – very painful but I’m really starting to see results! The pain is subsiding
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The treatment will probably take 6 months to a year but I now have the tools to continue strengthening and stretching my ailments.
The dr. Who I see is Dr. Lukosus in Naperville, Il. Check him out and see if you can find someone comparable to him in your area. On a side note, he recently spoke at a conference in Denver on this topic!
So best of luck to all suffers! Know there are many others in your situation but it will get better