Hi,
I have a real deep bad pain along the front of my right thigh which although I know it is there does not worry me during the day but wakes me up at night with the pain and I have to get up and shake it and can then get back to sleep until it starts again so very interrupted sleep http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/frown.gif I have an elastic sleeve thing but it does not work and rubs of all type from Asprin to the heat ones. Does anyone else suffer with this? and if so can you tell me how to get rid of it P L E A S E. Have had it for a couple of years but the Doc. does not really know what it is either and suggested I have the radioactive stuff pumped into my bones to see if it is anything there but I do not want that and feel it is a tissure thing but it will not go away.

If the doc finds nothing to explain it then this could
very well be a muscular entrapment of the nerve to the
front of your thigh. The muscles that entrap the nerve
to this area are the obturator muscles. See if you can find
a good, experienced and knowledgeable massage therapist
or physiotherapist. Most will not know about this muscle
and its entrapment possibilities unless they have pursued
training beyond school.

I hope this is your problem because it is
relatively easy to fix by massaging that muscle.

best wishes,

------------------
~p

[This message has been edited by plymouth (edited 08-14-2003).]

Thank you Plymouth. I will look into that good advice. Sounds logical.

Your thigh pain is undoubtedly caused by an active "trigger point" in one of your thigh muscles. What I would suggest is going all over that entire area, inch by inch, deeply with your fingers until you locate a VERY tender spot (or there could be more than one) that is causing your pain. When you locate this (or these) you can do deep self massage on that area with your paired thumbs for short periods of time (no more than a minute) several times a day over a period of several days.

"Trigger points" are very small knots in the muscles of the body, which both shorten & weaken the muscle & cause pain sometimes in the immediate area, but often radiate pain to totally different areas.

For further reference, I suggest you check out Clair Davies' recent book on the subject of trigger point therapy self-treatment, particularly Chapter 9, "Hip,Thigh & Knee Pain". I myself woke up with a very sore, aching mid-thigh several weeks ago for some unknown reason that lingered on for several morning hours, but after referring to my copy of his book (I had misplaced it & was hunting frantically) & using his massage technique for only a few minutes, all pain went immediately away & as of today at least, has never returned. I personally most often use it to stop lower or mid backaches in their track, but that's another chapter.

Your situation sounds like something you can easily handle yourself & would not need professional intervention.

Littlelulu thank you for the trouble in responding to my sore thigh prob. I do try to massage it and as you say I do have a VERY sore spot right at the centre front of the thigh so I will give it many more minute at a time deep massages during the day and when it wakes me at night as I know exactly the point of pain so I will persevere with it Thank you again http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

I hope you get pain relief using this method. Mr. Davies' massage technique is somewht different from Bonnie Prudden's & probably acupressure's as I believe they both use the "press-hold for x number of minutes-release" on the trigger point knot itself.

Mr. Davies' technique is:

Use deep stroking massage, NOT static pressure.

Massage with short, repeated strokes in one direction only, & do the massage strokes slowly.

Aim at a pain level of "7" on a scale of "1 to 10" (I never said it was going to be FUN!)

Limit the massage to one minute per trigger point, but work it 6 to 12 times a day.

He says that acute muscle pain situations may take from 3 to 10 days to get relief (though immediate relief is not uncommon, as it was in my case) whereas chronic, long-standing ones may take as long as six weeks to clear up.

Thank you again Littlelulu. I was pressing hard for a minute right on the pain and have to admit it was making it even more sore http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/frown.gif but since reading your last post I am doing as you suggest and I think it will work http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif I will take the time and perservere as I really am desperate to be able to sleep at night. It does not worry me during the day as it is just an aware pain kind of thing but it is too bad to sleep and keeps waking me over and over.