Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett Forums General My Left Hip is Impinged. Should I stop deadlifting? Re: My Left Hip is Impinged. Should I stop deadlifting?

#75814
AvatarKatie Hemphill
Participant

Hey Baldr,

I would definitely recommend avoiding painful ranges of motion. Pulling off the blocks, as David said, is one way you can reduce range so that you can still train.
The posterior hip capsule mob is a good place to start, but since you’re noticing only temporary relief that restriction isn’t the complete picture. What’s likely happening is that your femur is sitting and moving a bit forward in the hip socket. This can happen if you’ve spent a lot of time mobilizing into extension without really needing to. (Any background in dance?) Part of this might involve the capsule restriction, as you’ve discovered, but can also be a motor control problem involving your psoas and deep butt muscles.
Here’s something to try, as a general movement fix (hopefully it will help you out):
1) Prepare for the movement that causes you pain (just do a Romanian Deadlift without a bar or anything)
2) Before you move, concentrate on trying to pull your left thigh very slightly into your hip (nothing should move). This is a very fine and obscure feeling, and may take a lot of tinkering.
3) Maintain that feeling as you slowly attempt your hip hinge. Did it improve your pain?
If you do succeed in doing this, you’ll have to practice hard to integrate it into your normal movements. It’s going to take a tremendous amount of focus at first during every rep. Practice the hell out of it while warming up for those block deadlifts, and try to apply it while working with weight too. Slowly increase your range of motion as you are able to pain-free, and only try to load deeper positions when you are very confident (add weight very slowly).
Now go get hinging!
There may be more to this, but hopefully this will offer you some relief. Remember, there should be no pain.