Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett › Forums › General › Hip Retroversion?

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    • 08/26/2014 at 10:33 am #70840
      AvatarSal Biasi
      Participant

      I’m 54,  been doing cross fit for just under a year.  Doing MWODs too and seen improvements in lots of areas, but not in my squat.   Keeping my knees out is a breeze but getting my feet even shoulder width apart seems impossible. The squat position that felt best, and also my strongest, is heels close together, feet pointed out, knees pointed out.  Weird, I know, but that was what felt “right”.  

      In the back of my mind  was this sense that it was my bones that were the limiting factor. That lead me to start looking online and I learned about hip retroversion.  I think I am in that small percentage of folks that are built that way.  Here is why…

      Sitting at the end of a table, hips and knees at 90 degrees, I have MAYBE 5 degrees of internal rotation.  That is being generous, and it hurts to get that much.  However, I have about 90 degrees of external rotation.  Apparently the way to check if that is due to soft tissue or bone anatomy is Craig’s test.  When prone, knee flexed at 90 degrees, the hip is rotated until the greater trochanter is most prominent or parallel to the table.  Normal is 8-15 degree of internal rotation. When I do it I’m at about 40 degrees of external rotation!  It’s about the same for both legs.
      Questions:
      1)  Am I correct in concluding I have retroverted hips?  Could it be anything else?
      2) If so, should I even be working on improving IR, or will that set up impingement?
      3) What position should I be in for squats, lunges, cleaned, etc
      Thanks!
    • 08/26/2014 at 10:55 am #74288
      AvatarAnonymous
      Guest

      Have you seen anyone to confirm this?
      I would start there.
      Identifying exactly what is going on and how to start addressing the situation is key.
      If it is a structural thing then technique on some exercises may need to be adjusted to work within your given situation.
      Mobility limitations could be a contributing factor. Working with you mobility up/down stream of the issue will help you achieve the most optimal positioning within your situation.

    • 08/26/2014 at 11:14 am #75160
      AvatarNathan Richer
      Participant

      here is something i found on the internet that may help:

    • 08/26/2014 at 11:41 am #75161
      AvatarSal Biasi
      Participant

      Wow, thanks for the quick replies!  I appreciate that.

      Kaitlin, My CrossFit gym owner is a Chiro and I an going to see him later this week.  I’m pretty confident he will get the similar results on IR, ER and Craig’s test, but want to confirm that.  I don’t expect tons of people have experience with hip retroversion AND CrossFit, so I wanted to touch base with you guys for sure.  I really want to avoid modifying my technique is some way that causes other problems to pop-up.  As far as up and down stream goes, I’m assuming knee and ankle for downstream.  Anything upstream,  in particular, I should be considering?

      David,  Thanks for the link.  I had seen this and it one of the thing that got me to look further into retroversion.
    • 08/26/2014 at 3:02 pm #75162
      AvatarAnonymous
      Guest

      Always start with the spine first.
      This is the foundation and the foundation to get the most from your hip.
      If spinal mechanics are not correct the big engines of the hip and shoulder are impacted.
      It becomes even more important to have things dialed so you are getting the most out of what is available given your situation. Your body can buffer somethings for a time, but feeding slack to the system is going to help.

    • 06/07/2015 at 3:55 am #76038
      AvatarEeshan Kuic
      Participant

      Tim,

      Did you ever get any answers about your squat? Your first post sounds exactly like my husband! I have been doing a lot of research for him on how to improve his squats. Please let me know if anything worked for you.

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