I’ve been having a new pain lately. My right hamstring, up to and including my right glute, has been stiff and unhappy. I’ve been foam rolling and that helps, but I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of it. How on earth do I expect to build my mileage if my one side won’t cooperate?
So, I’ve been going down a laundry list of questions to figure it out:
- Have I increased my mileage? Yes, a bit, but not on any one run. I’ve just added one short run to my week.
- Have I been cross training? Yes, a little biking, a little elliptical, nothing major.
- Have I been doing speedwork? Bwahaahaa. I think my speed is at an all time slow.
- Shoes? Same as always.
- Hills? Same as always.
None of these seemed likely culprits. And then it hit me.
Sitting.
Sitting is the cause of my pain. I’ve increased my work hours by quite a bit. And I don’t sit at a desk or on an office chair.
I sit at our dining room table, which just happens to be a really old Ikea set with hard, flat, unforgiving seats. To make things even better for my body (not), I often sit sideways with my legs crossed.
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner. And it’s not like I figured it out because I’m smart. Oh, no, I had to wait until I experienced searing pain from my glute as I got up after way too long sitting in front of a power point presentation.
Yep, that’s me. Not injured by running. Instead, I’ve been brought down by a dining room chair.
(And yes, I am going to stop sitting here and figure out a better solution.)
I have a feeling that we are in the same boat, I started working more from home and the dining room table and began to have problems with my Hamstrings and glutes also. I figured it out and have gone back to using my desk and work chair and things are slowly getting back to normal.
The things that you worry about when it happening though is amazing :-). Now I just sit at the table for meals and leave the laptop on the desk 90% of the time.
Good luck and I hope that this is the answer to most of our running problems in those areas.
Girl, I sit in an office for up to 9 hours sometimes and my hamstrings and glutes scream at me! Not to mention I literally feel like my muscles are softening… In addition to foam rolling, I do yoga which really helps. I’ve also been thinking about switching my office chair to an exercise ball so I can at least try to keep my muscles somewhat engaged. (I haven’t made the plunge yet because everyone at work already think I’m a health freak…) Good luck figuring out what works!
I have been having recurring neck problems for years now, and the last time it happened I finally realized–it wasn’t from crazy amounts of burpees or pushups or crunches, it was from sitting and typing!
I moved my computer to a level that I can stand at (I put it on a bar top), and I’ve had zero problems. I’ve basically quit sitting altogether except for meals and driving. Our bodies weren’t made to be in that position for such long periods of time, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot more people’s bodily aches and pains also come from it. Standing desks for everyone, I say! 😛
I hope your problem goes away quickly now that you have an answer!
Stand-up desk? Try sitting on an exercise ball? Buy a “task chair” (aka secretarial chair) at Staples or Office Depot or Target?
And there you have it. Get off your ass! All kidding aside, I try to get up and move around once an hour and when possible, I take a break in the afternoon and take a 20 minute walk.
I hope that is the problem and it is easy to fix!
sadly i know exactly what you mean. when my back was hurt sitting made it worse. my glute still aches from time to time so i have to remember to get up and move. we just weren’t made for sitting down all day!
I bet it’s that chair that Clint Eastwood was using!
I’ve heard that sitting can be a killer.
I’ve had similar issues since I moved from an office job (where I’d walk to meetings) to work-from-home.
Recently I put a printer stand on my desk. I prop my laptop on that for standing-while-working breaks a couple of times a day. It seems to be helping.
Good luck!