I am a 14 year old girl in grade 10 and I have been running cross country since September. Three weeks prior to today, I ran my first meet. The next day, at practice, I felt a strange pain in my leg after our recovery run and it felt as if something had dislocated. The pain seemed to be in a muscle in my leg that stretched from my pelvic bone down to my knee, beside my inner thigh on my right leg. I got scared I would injure it further, so I rested it a week until my next meet, all the while I iced it and I tried to stretch it out but nothing at all seemed to help. The day of my second meet, the pain was really bad and I was so nervous that I wouldn't be able to even complete the race as it was a 5k. When the race started, I felt the pain momentarily but after a while I didn't feel anything at all. When the race ended, pain shot yo my leg right as I crossed the finish line. I still went to practice the next day as we had LOSSA which is the regional race for cross country, the week after. After the practice, I felt the pain a lot. I iced it the entire week and rested it and took hot baths and wrapped it and used muscle relief rubs like myoflex, but nothing at all helped. Now, my race is tomorrow and I tried to run today, but the pain was so excruciating that I could only take a few steps before stopping. It hurts to walk, to jump and definitely to run. My race is tomorrow and I have to go to it because it is my regional race. I was wondering if you had any at all suggestions of what I could do to get momentary relief? Or even if you know what the problem is and what is causing this? Thank you so much for your time!

- Humna Wasim

Yes, I have ideas, because I have struggled with that exact pain myself my whole adult life, but I'm not going to say. There are too many other possibilities, and you are only 14! You should be telling your COACH and your PARENTS, not searching online. You should have told them all, when this started. Please don't say things like 'I have to go.' You don't.

No, you should not run tomorrow. Please tell us what your parents say tonight, and what happens next.

PS: Ice is for swelling, at the beginning, heat is for pain. Moist heat or baths. Ice was probably making it worse.

Thanks a lot for the response. I told my coach in the morning and he encouraged me to continue stretching it out & using a leg roller. He told me before the race to try my best but if I had to stop, then I should stop. I was near the lead for the first two kilometres, but the pain was so bad so I simply went to the sidelines and stopped. I didn't finish the race and I'm going to th hospital tomorrow. I ran my best and although I was really dissapointed about getting injured, I'm glad I didn't force myself to finish the race. Thanks again so much for your response, I will rest my leg for however long I need to as my season is now done and there's always next year :)