Hi guys, Kris from Custom Fitness here, your Amarillo personal trainer. Today we’re going to be talking about what is causing your hip pain. If you have any questions about today’s blog, please give us a call at 806-322-3188.
I had a client in not too long ago that had an interesting issue. I love it whenever interesting things come up because the challenge is always fun to me. I’m just a research junkie, so I like researching things and figuring them out, and my brain probably sees things a little differently than some people. The problem she was having was some hip pain, and it felt like a chronic issue. For her, it had been going on for a few months but she hadn’t said anything about it; she just was pushing through like we all do, right? We just think, “Oh, I’m just getting old. My joints aren’t working as well. It’s just what I have to deal with.” So we just don’t say anything to anybody. But the moment that we do, lo and behold, we might just find the answer.
So, she comes in complaining of hip pain; it’s been keeping her up at night, she can’t sleep. So we talk about pillows … Are you elevating your knee? Are you doing these things? I know she’s been exercising three times a week. I know that she’s been stretching, doing yoga regularly, and things like that. So I’m trying to think through those things. I have her stand for me, because we all know … If you’ve been watching my videos very long at all, you know that posture’s the foundation of a lot of aches and pains. So I have her stand for me.
Posture Is Key
And as she’s standing I notice that her toes are forward, but her knees are pointing in toward each other. Which means that her hips are crashing in towards each other. I have her perform a squat and in her squat the knees come together on it. So we’re having these issues here that, while she has been doing certain exercises, maybe she hasn’t been focusing on the form quite so much on those, or maybe something’s happened to her that pain is just causing things to get worse through form.
We go through these basic steps, but she was probably most surprised by the one thing that I asked her to do for homework. So then we talked about the foundations of how to squat again, how to move again, and how to stand properly. Now during the standing, I asked her to keep her toes forward and to rotate her knees over her toes. So basically, what she was doing was rotating her femur forward instead of into this position she was moving it forward.
Now I asked her to do that three to five times a day as she was standing in line at the grocery store, standing cooking dinner, brushing her teeth in the morning, etc. Just whenever she could find that she was standing to really work on that rotation. Now she didn’t move her feet so she rotated, as she turned her thighs the feet did not turn out to the side; they stayed forward. It was just a matter of putting that kneecap right on top of the direction of her toes.
She worked on that for about 10 days before I saw her again, and she came back in just beaming. Her hips weren’t hurting anymore. And she couldn’t figure out what was so great about that one thing that would cause her hips to not move anymore … or not hurt anymore. And, again, if you know me, education’s kind of a big thing. So I sat down and talked with her about it.
Let’s Take A Look Inside The Hip
The thing is that our body was not meant to hold us and support us in this inward rotation … it’s called medical rotation here … We’re not meant to be held in that position. We have a lot of musculature through the hip, inside and outside, so when we think of the hip we think of this fleshy part around us, right? The thing is that through the hip you have, basically in the pelvis, a great big hole where the femur head sits. A lot of musculature is going in and out and through around that pelvis and through that hole connecting the bones, because it’s how we move. We have to be able to lift our leg, turn our leg, and do all those things.
As we do that, those muscles are all involved. Although, whenever you turn the knees towards each other it’s a lot like other issues that we have; it causes undue stress on those soft tissues. Whether it’s a muscle, tendon, or ligament, it’s causing undue stress on it to where it’s either stretching it at a constant tension all the time or it’s not allowing it to stretch at all. So then things become short, things become too long, everything’s not working the way it’s supposed to.
So by rotating out for those hips, she was able to start to reset that. Now at first she felt pretty sore from it within the first few days, just trying to do that, and it felt a little frustrating ’cause it was really taking a lot of thought to hold those thighs there. But as she got better and better at it, it became just part of how she was standing. Now it’s been a few weeks and she is doing great, not having any hip pain! I just thought that it might be something that you might be struggling with or somebody that you know, having some issues like that, and you might want some help with that.
If you are wanting the accountability and help with creating an action plan to see results, or are wanting someone to help create a workout plan to push you to your greatest potential, then that’s what we’re here for. We work with our clients not just on fitness, but also nutrition. What we do is, we will ensure that you are supported throughout every aspect of your health and wellness journey, and that includes making those eating changes. We have an entire team of dedicated professionals to help you with your health and fitness goals. To get your consultation set up, give us a call at 806-322-3188 or email us at info@customfitness.biz At Custom Fitness, we are YOUR personal trainers in Amarillo, Texas.
Have a great day!