Running help or advice please?

Hi there,
My girlfriend took up running a few months ago and recently complains after a run that she gets a 'pounding' sensation in the back of her head. She runs for about an hour three times a week.

Does anybody else know of this or have any reasons/remedies. She hates to go to the doctor as she wont put surplus chemicals into her body.

I will be grateful for anything


CD

originally posted by: countingdown
Hi there,
My girlfriend took up running a few months ago and recently complains after a run that she gets a 'pounding' sensation in the back of her head. She runs for about an hour three times a week.

Does anybody else know of this or have any reasons/remedies. She hates to go to the doctor as she wont put surplus chemicals into her body.

I will be grateful for anything


CD

She should see a doctor. They can't force you to take medicine if you don't want to, and they may find a serious medical issue that needs to be addressed.
Another piece of advice: Tell your GF to stop running, it is hell on your joints.

a reply to: butcherguy


Thanks for that,
trouble is she likes running and she's so much more chilled when she runs (which is good for me) but if running is messing her up then I'll risk telling her.



CD

originally posted by: countingdown
a reply to: butcherguy

Thanks for that,
trouble is she likes running and she's so much more chilled when she runs (which is good for me) but if running is messing her up then I'll risk telling her.

CD

Does she like swimming? If so, many public schools offer adult swim times after school hours. Treading water is a lot easier on the joints and burns up calories.

a reply to: countingdown

Sounds Like Bad Blood Flow in the Brain. That Needs to Be Checked On.

Cut back on the Running and the Distance of the Run. She Could Be Pushing Herself Too Much and Causing More Damage. Sit a Few Runs Out and Try a Different Exercise Like Planking, Re-Direct the Blood Flow. As a MMA, i have had the same sensation from over exerting myself. I slowed down and started to focus pinpointing areas of my body for training. I can go ham again without any issues. I run, when i can with the TITIN Force weighted vest now and have no trouble.

Also, does she wear a headband when she runs? Stop wearing anything on her head.

Going to try to get her to swim once a week instead - thanks for that butcherguy

-SirKonstantin- am loooking for a weighted vest right now
she doesnt wear anything on her head, just wants to burn fat and get in shape

a reply to: countingdown

Planks!, Lots and Lots of Planking Both on the Hands and Elbows Will Burn the Fat and Tone Your Core. and your not gonna loose the breast fat that quickly.



Here is the Best Weighted Vest on the Market, I Love It! Its a Great Work Out, I Recommend the Color White & Know Your Build Size (They Have a Chart For Your Convenience)
TITIN

Best of Luck!

I've never heard of anyone getting a pounding sensation in the back of her head. I agree with most that she should seea doctor.

A couple of questions:

How old are her shoes?
What type of surface does she run on?
Does she heel strike or run heavy footed?
Does it happen with varying levels of intesity? (ie: jog vs sprint)
Does she eat anything before running?

Okay, so that's more than a couple. Seriously though, something like that should be looked at by a doctor.

I work in the fitness industry part time and I'll tell you that if she wants to burn fat and get in shape she should consider doing some weight training (especially high intensity interval training). Steady state cardio will only do so much. Also, diet comes into play which is why I ask if she eats beforehand.

Feel free to reach out to me if I can be of any help. There's also a lot of knowledgeable people here who can offer advice.

RS

a reply to: RomaSempre
Thanks for the input

How old are her shoes? What type of surface does she run on? Does she heel strike or run heavy footed? Does it happen with varying levels of intesity? (ie: jog vs sprint) Does she eat anything before running?

Shoes, two months old
mixed surface, some sand - some hard surface
she seems to run heavy footed
less intense = no sensation
eats an hour before running - calorie control diet

I do HIIT and have never had this myself

Thank you so much, I really appreciate your time

a reply to: SirKonstantin

think i just sold my gf on some planking too

Thank you

It could be a number of things. I am not sure that she should simply ignore something like that. Hopefully the issue is mundane and not serious. I think the first thing I would try is to see whether she is possibly tensing up her neck muscles from the stress of running. Try massaging the neck area and see if that alleviates the symptoms. This happens to me sometimes, although not directly in the back of the head, as I don't think there are any muscles there. But there are muscles that run up the skull a good ways...So it would just depend on where the pain is located. If it feels like it is in the portion of the head that is above the muscles, and the pain feels like it is internal rather than external, it should be checked out.

I would think a more serious concern would be a lack of blood flow caused by a blockage, which could cause pain. And if it is only happening when her blood pressure is raised, there might very well be some underlying cause, as opposed to just stress headaches. Out of the more serious possibilities there could be a tumor or an aneurysm. An MRI would help determine the cause. Does she have any other symptoms that accompany the headaches, such as numbness or tingling, distortion of vision, or dizziness? This would definitely indicate a serious problem and medical attention should be sought immediately. Something else to consider is if she ever gets these types of headaches when doing anything else. It has been established that exercise can trigger migraines in some people, but I don't know how common this is. If the cause of exercise headaches is neurological, which I think it is believed to be, then it probably happens at other times as well and not just when exercising. But that doesn't seem to be what you are describing I don't think.

I think the most important thing is to determine exactly what is causing them. IE is it muscular or vascular? Could be simply muscle spasms. Another possibility is simply a lack of oxygen. If she is in bad shape physically then this is definitely possible. Learning how to breathe properly when running could help this. I did both distance running and sprinting in high school, although during different years since the training is different for each, and then did a heck of a lot of running in the military, and I have seen weird things happen to people. I have seen people pass out, get headaches, and I've thrown up on a number of occasions, I've gotten dizzy, etc...So it is definitely possible that there is not a serious issue, but I would not want to take that risk.

One of the most important things is knowing your body and knowing when something is not right. I have been feeling "off" for a couple of months, and then it started burning when I urinated recently. They couldn't find any trace of an infection in my urine, and no STD's or anything like that, and ultimately ruled I had a prostate infection. But I just knew that something was not right, even when I wasn't having symptoms. And even having been on antibiotics for a while I still don't feel "right," although it is hard to explain exactly why, so I know that there are only a handful of possibilities: either there is something major wrong that is not an infection, the bacteria is immune to the Cipro I'm taking, or it will just take months to clear up this particular infection.

My point is that she might have an idea as to whether she has been feeling different. She might not have even connected it to the headaches if that is the case. The best advice I can give is to have her checked out, granted it is not obviously a muscle or anything like that. Pushing on the affected area and kind of moving your fingers around might tell you more about whether it is a muscle as well. It may or may not be difficult to determine whether the pain originates inside or outside the skull, but the former has much more potential for being serious. I hope it is just from stress and not anything more serious. Good luck.

Does she have any intake of caffeine, also calorie restriction is completely pointless even for a completely sedentary woman 3000 kals is an absolute minimum someone trying to build up their running base 4500+, 80% of which should be coming from good whole carbohydrates preferably fruits. Stay away from HIIT until you have spent at least 10-15 years building up your running/fitness it just burns out your adrenals and gives relatively little back, after you have put several years in start adding in some short sprints at the end of a run. Yes as someone said before cycling is better for your joints but in the long term once you have built your bones/muscles from running your joints will be stronger from running not impaired. Also any posture problems, ie sitting allot (which we are all guilty of these days) can cause a hunched over posture which can be exaggerated whilst running and may cause a pain in the neck/traps area.

Hey Hey ... great news
The pain is muscle pain from a neck injury and poor posture working at a vdu
Two doses of muscle rub from the doctor released a nerve and (fingers crossed) no pain last night.

She is also practicing a better running tecnique and some yoga time each morning

Thanks for all your help and support guys - greatly appreciated



CD

The cheapest and most effective (unless you get some free samples of the muscle rub) that works for me is:

1. Buy 2 ibuprofen (Advil) or naproxen (aleve) gel caps. Make sure you get the GEL CAPS - It makes it a whole lot easier. If it' is late at night, a tablet will work also. But crushing a coated tablet and trying to seperate the coat can be a bit frustrating.

Anyways, bust open the GEL CAPS with something.

2. Get some castor oil or any other oil from your kitchen. It just needs to be edible.

Mix the LIQUID DRUG FROM THE GEL CAP and ANY EDIBLE OIL from the kitchen.

If you are not using the optional step 4, any regular lotion that you use will work also.

3. Rub for a few minutes.

(Optional) 4. Make a 50-50 solution of DMSO (99.999% pure - look up on amazon or e-bay. They sell ODORLESS DMSO). You will have to pre-make this 50% DMSO solution. Don't make this on the go.

MIXING WATER AND DMSO IS AN EXOTHERMIC REACTION (GIVES OFF MASSIVE HEAT).

Make this before hand. I bought some dark glass amber bottles from Amazon. They come with a glass dropper. I put a few drops on and rub it in. DMSO will really make sure the above concoction goes deep into the tissue.

WARNING

DMSO will transport things across the skin into your blood stream. Make sure you clean really good before you apply DMSO. From what I researched a long time ago, the upper limit for DMSO to send it in to the blood stream is 1000 daltons. I can't find that source again. But the point is be careful.

For example, if it is on my knee and I'm wearing pants, I would roll them up to make sure none of the dye is in contact.

I personally have bought castile soap. Look it up on Amazon or your Whole Foods. There is one brand with thousands of reviews. Use that. I wouldn't want residue from other body washes, lotions or anything going into my body. Finally, you can also put a saran wrap on top of it. I haven't done this myself yet but I will the next time I use it.

Hope this helps,

Fullset

TL; DR: NSAID gel caps + any lotion/edible oil + 50% DMSO (edible oil if using DMSO).