Mystery upper left leg pain

[Deleted User]

Hi all,

I've recently been struggling with upper leg pains on my left leg and I’m determined to figure out the cause/solution and get back to training.

It all started about 5 weeks ago with a pain just below the left hip which I stupidly ignored and now it covers all the way down to just below the top of my left knee with the main points of pain now coming from just above my left knee cap and in the middle of my left thigh.

After 1 week from when it started, I took a few rest days in a row and the pain almost went completely away. I then made the big mistake of doing multiple days (5 in total) of running and gym classes in row, which involved the pain coming back worse day after day. I then took around 5 days off before going for a run with the pain coming back much worse the day after. Since then I haven’t run for a week and have avoided gym classes that involve any serious leg work. After 1 week of resting my legs this time, the pain has mostly gone but I can distinctively still feel it when walking just above my left knee cap.

The oddest point to note is that after 10 minutes of running or walking at a decent pace, the pain goes away and I can run without the problem being felt, it’s when I stop running, and especially the next day when the pain returns (and is generally worse than before). This makes it even harder to resist a run knowing it won’t feel as bad after 10 minutes in  .

Any advice on what’s wrong would be great. Now that I've rested for 1 week and the pain has almost subsided again, I am wondering when I should try to run again and how I can help aid heeling. My training hasn't changed much before this injury except for a slight increase in back to back running days.  

Kind Regards, Tim