Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett › Forums › General › Left hip popping while walking

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    • 06/14/2013 at 7:22 am #70263
      AvatarJohn Lee
      Participant

      This is happening for the past 2 years. 

      My problems: 
      1. Tight hip flexors, right foot rectus femoris really tight compared to left one (when I sit and put my soles together in front of me, my left leg is closer to the ground than my right leg and if I push my right leg closer to the ground to open my hips it feels tight and it hurts in my knee more than in my hip)
      2. Lower back pain from overextension and squatting with an exaggerated arch in my lombars causing my butt to tuck when I get near and over parallel.
      3. Left hip popping continuously popping (where the greater trochanter is) when I walk.
      4. Some sort of bone genetics maybe (did an xray, doctor said he doesn’t see anything… because the xray was done while lying). When I stand my greater trochanter pops out in an exaggerated way, especially on my left leg (I am guessing this is because my right hip flexor is tighter + spinal fault and my right leg is lifted a bit OR something wrong with my left leg and left hip flexor is too elongated or something). 
      I’ve put a picture of my legs/hips in this post.
      I live in the UK. State physiotherapists only focus only people with serious injuries and on making them live normal again. I lift therefore a classic physio doesn’t help me at all (did 3 months of therapy for my left hip, for nothing, it didn’t help). Private sports physios and medics are too expensive. I’m a student and I can’t afford them. That’s why I am hoping that following the advice of Kelly and the mobwod videos related to my problems will help me be “normal” again in the following months.
      I thank you all in advance for you answers and hope that you can help me with my problems, at least with some links to some videos (including the pro ones as I am a pro member) that could help me.
    • 06/15/2013 at 3:06 am #72194
      AvatarMartin Repcek
      Participant

      I’m not qualified to tell you what is or isn’t wrong with you, but I can tell you what helped with my hip dysfunction. You’ll have to decide if any of this applies to you. I have a few different things going on with my right leg. Apparently nothing has moved correctly for probably 20+ years with everything from my pelvis to my big toe having a problem. The simplified version is my right foot was externally rotated, valgus knee, and occasional hip pain. I was seeing a physical therapist for a while and although he was doing all the right things I wasn’t seeing much for results. 

      I got this crazy idea that if hundreds of thousands (most likely millions) of movement cycles in a bad position caused or re-inforced my dysfunction it was going to take hundreds of thousands of cycles in a good position to fix it. One of the things I started doing is the elliptical machine at the gym. Ellipticals with long strides work best (I like LifeFitness). I usually do this barefoot or wearing my Vibrams. My objective is to keep the heels of both feet planted at all times, feet pointed straight, knees tracking over middle to outer toes. Seems simple, but if you have tightness in your hip or ankles you are going to have to work through some restrictions. When I first started doing this I couldn’t for the life of me keep both feet planted. My right hip was so tight that the lack of range of motion caused my left foot to lift off the platform. It hurt so bad I thought for sure I was causing bone damage. After about 5 minutes I managed to get loosened up enough that I could keep both feet on the platform.
      After about 3 or 4 elliptical workouts (30-60 minutes each) I had regained most hip range of motion and my elliptical workout no longer caused hip pain. My physical therapist told me my right glute medius is extremely weak. When I’m really focusing on keeping correct form I feel the glute medius on the weak side really firing. As a result of my elliptical workouts my foot points straight when I run, knee is less pre-disposed to go valgus, and the hip popping doesn’t happen as often. This is still a work in progress and thankfully I’m still seeing progress. Wish fixing the ankle ROM was as easy. 
    • 06/15/2013 at 12:55 pm #72200
      AvatarKay Heil
      Participant

      I have a similar problem. I want to share more but I wanted to provide you with a link that may help you get a perspective. http://anthonymychal.com/2011/11/how-to-cure-snapping-hip-syndrome-2/

      I know it has something to do with the posas tendon sliding over the head of the femur. posting video helps with movmemnt assesment. this stuff is hard to talk about in writing imo.  If you find anything else out there let me know. My hip pop is pretty loud. I have a video I will share later. I think a lot has to do with not having good internal rotation of the hip.
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