From the perspective of Deirdra Claiborne

Without the proper functioning of the hip, groin and sacrum, exercises (walking, running and other physical activities) are impaired. I happen to be a very physically active person who loves Pilates, yoga, biking, hiking, and light weight training. I recently found myself with acute groin, sacrum and hip pain after taking a Pilates class. I had difficulty walking and my right leg would become immobilized due to spasm.

I believe that I had a pre-existing hip and groin weakness, possibly from an old injury, but it had never bothered me. It is important to warm up with flexibility exercises prior to vigorous activities. Especially as we age, the body is less forgiving. The day that my hip and groin became strained, I had not warmed up and the weather was cold. I wanted to continue my activities as soon as possible, so I received acupuncture and herbs immediately to heal my condition. I stopped Pilates until the pain was gone. I always recommend healing a condition first before continuing with the exercise that is aggravating the strain. I was told and read that especially groin strains can take quite a bit of time to heal.

I received acupuncture treatments from my partner, Dr. Samuel Wang, 2-3 times per week. The needles were placed in the lumbar and sacral region, because usually this type of strain involves the lower back such as Lumbar 5 and Sacral 1. He connected the needles to an electrode acupuncture machine and added infrared. He also needled the groin region. I took Chinese herbs that had an anti-inflammatory component and put hot herbal packs on the groin and lower back region at night . During the day, I wore Chinese herbal patches that we sell in our clinic. I also received some deep tissue massage to the area of discomfort. I did light yoga and stretching. The symptoms that I had were difficulty walking up stairs, getting into cars, a stiff gait, and any movement that I had to flex my leg or rotate medially or laterally. The pain level was not that high when the leg was stationary, but when I tried to move it, I had some significant discomfort.

I am happy to say that I was healed after two weeks of treatment for the groin and sacral pain, I have resumed my regular exercise without any discomfort. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs expedited the healing process.