Treating Migrating Muscle Pain in the Hip, Knee, and Shin

Let’s talk about this recent five star review! This client was experiencing migrating muscle pain in the right hip, knee, and shin. The pain would move up and down, vary in intensity, and show up in one way or another every day for 5 months. 

Typically when a client comes in and says this thing has been going on for 5 months, the first question is…what happened five months ago? In this case, a 10 hour drive, followed by two days of steep hiking, capped off with another 10 hour drive home. That’s a recipe for discomfort in the very least. 

As massage therapists, we don’t have direct access to imaging such as X-Rays and MRI’s. But what we DO have is the opportunity to see how much we can reduce someone’s pain level.  So in this case, I made no promises. Often times a client gets better with treatment, rest, and time. Consequently, no imaging is required. Sometimes after treatment (and almost always by the third session) an outside referral is deemed necessary. In this case of migrating muscle pain, you’ll see that exact scenario play out.

We treated this client by applying a specific mix of myofascial and neuromuscular releases covering the musculature of the right hip down to the foot. When you have migrating muscle pain, it is important to treat each are in the first session to see if you can get the pain to isolate to one spot by the time you see them for a follow up. Sessions were only 30 minutes long. Each week we evaluated the progress made from the week before to see where we stood. 

After three sessions, the client had full range of motion, a 90% reduction in pain, and the migrating symptoms had stopped completely. This third session tends to be a critical evaluation point in a client’s progress. This is where we have enough data to determine if a client is on the path to a full recovery with massage only, or if we need to bring in other experts to evaluate. 

For this client, the knee pain had become isolated and the other areas no longer hurt. While the knee pain was greatly reduced, it was still nagging and would creep up to the hip after exertion. The client could catch that symptom in time to quickly eliminate it, but this is a sign of a possible underlying structural issue. 

I advised the client to seek out imaging. We have referral partners who can do this or you can use whoever you know, like, and trust. This client had a specialist already lined up. After getting some pictures taken, it was discovered she had a complex tear in the knee which would require surgical repair. 

At this point, the pain was drastically reduced and we parted ways for her to get the surgery she needed. Afterwards, we connected her to a local physical therapist who could provide the rehabilitation she needs for a full recovery. 

We love referring clients to our professional relationships in the Clearwater and Dunedin area. In the world of corrective bodywork, it’s important to know where our work ends and someone else’s begins. In this case, it felt great to help where we could and then transition the client to their next step in the healing process. You can also read more about when we refer clients here: https://massagealchemist.com/blog/when-we-refer/

If you have migrating muscle pain that is hard to pinpoint the root cause, feel free to reach out! We offer consultation and referral services to clients who need help with their neuromuscular issues.