The pelvis or the hips are the foundation of the body. Your hips are the engine that drives your locomotor system: your legs. Your hips will determine how you move: how fast, how symmetrically, how smoothly. When one hip is in a different position than the other hip (elevated, rotated, tilted, twisted, or shifted) or one hip is functioning differently than the other hip (more/less stable, stronger/weaker, tighter/more mobile) this causes your legs to move differently.
A small misalignment in how your hips are positioned or function can cause injuries and pain throughout your body.
Take running for example: if your right hip is less stable than your left hip, this might cause you to:
These changes in gait can cause stress, strain, compression, and shear on muscles, joints, bones, and other tissues up and down your entire body leading to injury and pain. You could end up with a stress fracture in your left foot, plantar fasciitis in your right foot, meniscus tear in your right knee, lower back pain, degenerative disc disease in your lumbar spine, shoulder or neck tightness, or many other problems.
Hip imbalances will lead to problems whether you are running, or playing golf, tennis, soccer, or baseball, or gardening or vacuuming, or sitting at your desk at work, or driving your car.
- spend more time on your left (more stable) leg then the right leg during the stance phase of gait
- get less hip flexion and extension of your right hip than your left hip
- rotate your left shoulder forward to help with right hip flexion
- collapse your right knee inward during the stance phase of gait because of instability of the hip
- over-pronate your right foot and ankle during stance phase
- lean your torso to the right during right leg stance phase
These changes in gait can cause stress, strain, compression, and shear on muscles, joints, bones, and other tissues up and down your entire body leading to injury and pain. You could end up with a stress fracture in your left foot, plantar fasciitis in your right foot, meniscus tear in your right knee, lower back pain, degenerative disc disease in your lumbar spine, shoulder or neck tightness, or many other problems.
Hip imbalances will lead to problems whether you are running, or playing golf, tennis, soccer, or baseball, or gardening or vacuuming, or sitting at your desk at work, or driving your car.
Your hips are also the foundation or base of support for the upper body and torso. Your spine connects to your hips through your SI joints where your ilium connects to your sacrum. If your hips are imbalanced in any way (elevated, rotated, tilted, twisted, or shifted) it will cause compensation and imbalance in the spine and upper body. If your hips are unstable (often seen as swayback posture, a wide stance, or constant shifting) they are not acting as a strong base of support for your upper body and will force your upper body to overwork often leading to back, neck, or shoulder tightness and pain.
This video talks about hip misalignment and demonstrates posture exercises that are designed to help correct hip alignment. These exercises are obviously generic and won't work for everyone. If you want personalized help and posture exercises for your specific imbalances and symptoms, contact me today.
This video talks about hip misalignment and demonstrates posture exercises that are designed to help correct hip alignment. These exercises are obviously generic and won't work for everyone. If you want personalized help and posture exercises for your specific imbalances and symptoms, contact me today.
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