Weekend & Amazing Foam Rolling

This past weekend brought beautiful weather, and we went to an outdoor beer festival in the East Bay with friends. It's getting into the SF beer time of year...you know Kevin and I love trying new craft beers, and we are pumped for the upcoming SF Beer Week events starting with the opening gala on February 7.

I was pleasantly surprised with the Winter Brewfest in Concord. They had many more brewers than I expected, especially at the fairly cheap unlimited tastings ticket price. My Untappd feed has the whole list of beers I tried, but my favorite was The Pupil, an IPA by Societe Brewing.

An outdoor festival in January? Still seems crazy.

Drinking beer, having fun.

Now to the 'workout' part of the post. I'm still not running due to the groin/inner thigh thing, but I had my first PT appointment today after what felt like a long wait. It's my fault it took a while; I wanted to go to the person who specializes in running and gait analysis, so I had to wait a week longer to get in. After today though, I'm glad I did. She was awesome and I felt like she really understood my concerns and what I'm feeling in my leg.

The initial impression from PT is that I have an overuse injury in the adductor muscles, likely related to my hip flexors being incredibly tight. All I know is that it still hurts to lift my left leg and that it tightens up like crazy after I run or walk a lot. She watched me run for a couple of minutes on a treadmill and said my legs weren't extending back enough, again due to tight hip flexors. Basically I'm somehow compensating for hip flexor inflexibility with my adductors, worse in my left leg but also in my right.

She sent me off with a few stretches and an amazing foam rolling tip for inner thighs that I've somehow never figured out on my own. I decided I need to immediately share this on the blog for anyone else who hasn't figured this out yet. (Am I the only one?) Even after just a short time spent with the foam roller after work, my left leg feels somewhat better.

So what is this amazing foam rolling revelation? Lay the foam roller on the floor parallel to your body and straddle it. Roll to one side, leaving the leg being rolled bent over the foam roller. Moving side to side from this position lets you get all the way into the inner thigh and groin areas to roll the muscle. After what I've been dealing with, it feels absolutely divine (aka it hurts so good.) I was pretty surprised at how much the entire length of my inner thigh hurt.

Seriously, I did not know the cat was there when we took this photo. Way to photobomb buddy.

The other PT homework is focused on hip flexor stretches, adductor stretches, and one-leg bridges. She wants everything to calm down before I try running again, but we'll re-evaluate when I see her on Friday. She thinks I'll be able to start running again next week. Fingers crossed!

Comments

  1. I had so many helpful, proper comments to make and then your cat photobombed the picture and I couldn't stop laughing. Awesome photo!!!

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    1. Yep, same here -- the cat photobomb had me in fits of laughter. So funny!!

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    2. Yes! I couldn't believe Kev didn't see him when he took it, I was cracking up when I uploaded the photo. Gotta love cats.

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  2. a) OMG soooo excited for SF Beer Week.

    b) Wow, you *totally* have exactly what I had last summer (um, except I managed to push it so far that I actually *tore* my super-tight-already-strained hip flexor at mile 22 of a marathon. Do not recommend). Mine also caused adductor issues and I've also had to do months of working on the posterior chain & really extending my stride backward. Definitely recommend the stretch/roll/stretch/roll/wash/rinse/repeat program -- it has made a big difference!

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    1. Tore it, oh no! That's good perspective though - I also want to run through it, but I'm doing decently with not doing so (except for Tink half.) I'll be working on stride a lot too with the PT. Thanks for the info!

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  3. Ah, I wish I had known about Winter Brewfest! Dang it. I need to start foam rolling again. stat. I've done that move before, but never know if it's working. I'll have to give it a try again. Hope everything goes well with the PT this weekend! That cat in the box kills me.

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    1. Well I have to say - I know the move is working for me right now! Probably because that muscle is stupid tight. :) Do you know SF beer week is coming up? Many great events in South Bay too! We'll be hitting up Original Gravity a lot.

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  4. What a fun day! You look super cute in those aviators, too. Cat photobomb cracked me up.

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  5. Ooo, this was interesting to me as my PT also said I don't extend back far enough when I run due to tight hip flexors. Thanks for the info! I hope you are better soon . . . and enjoy lots of beer in the meantime!

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  6. My cat used to photo bomb me a lot, especially when I used the camera timer with the sound features on. It is crazy how tight the inner thigh muscles get, isn't it? I get sports massages once a month or so and that part is always surprisingly sore.

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    1. Oh gosh yes, I can't believe how tight they STILL are after a few days of rolling. I have massage tomorrow, I need to stay with it like you do.

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  7. You cat is cracking me up in the photo! I forgot my foam roller when I moved to Denver, so I need to get a new one ASAP. Looks like you had a fun weekend!

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    1. Ooooo yes get a new foam roller! Mine got crushed in the move to California so I had to get a new one too.

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  8. The beer fest sounds like so much fun! Horray for beer week coming up!! I'm going to have to try that foam rolling technique. I have had some tightness on my inner thigh near my knee sometimes following running or cycling, and maybe this would help. Thanks for the tip!

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    1. You're welcome! I was hoping posting it would help at least a few people like it's helping me. :)

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