Q: I have been suffering from thigh pain since last month. This type of pain I have already experienced six years ago and after necessary treatment I felt fine. As far as I know doctor had advised me for exercises. In that way I became ok. At present I have not taken the doctors advice here and am exercising just like before. But my pain in right thigh is the same even after exercise. I work in an office. Kindly let me know what type of treatment I should take?

A:Six years is a long time to say it could be the same problem. Lie down on your back and try and raise your affected leg straight at the hip joint, keeping the knee straight. If you can do this without much pain and can raise the leg up to 90 degrees, then you need to take rest and warm baths till your pain subsides and then go for graded exercises as below: 1. ISOMETERICS: Stand up, lock your injured knee straight; tense thigh muscles. 2. KNEE STRAIGHTENING: Support upper leg of the injured thigh on bench, in hands or on fit leg. Sit with bag containing 2 kg. hooked over ankle of injured leg. (Use bags of sand or sugar). Raise and straighten leg. Hold 10 seconds. Repeat as needed. 3. SLOW STEP-UPS: Step up and back onto a low bench or step, alternating feet. 4. SQUATS: Squat down slowly, but make sure knees never bend below 90 degrees. 5. BIKE ROUTINE: Use high gear, low pedal rate. Continue till muscles ache. Rest 5-10 minutes. Repeat as fitness allows. You can also go to a nearby physiotherapy clinic for ultrasound treatment if you find the pain too much. Please start the exercises only if your pain has subsided with warm baths or ultrasound treatment. If you cannot raise your leg up as mentioned above, I suggest you go for an X-ray of the hip and pelvis and consult your doctor. In that case too do not worry, you will probably be back to your routine in a short time.