Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett › Forums › General › Unbalanced Squat Mechanics

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    • 02/05/2015 at 12:39 am #71263
      AvatarRhonda Starr
      Participant

      Hi everyone.

      Here’s the tl;dr version:
      -injured back 2 years ago
      -about 2 to 3 months after back injury I had returned to training and had a sudden pain (felt like my right leg was being torn off) that persisted until physical therapy was done and has reoccurred to a lesser extent periodically since then
      -I had one glorious day pain free a little while ago but was ending another bout of therapy and did an exercise there that set my back and right hip off and I’ve been dealing with my current movement problem since then

      Current issue:
      When performing an air squat motion my butt immediately shifts laterally to the right. When I force myself to stay centered/balanced during the descending part of the squat I get pain in the front of my right hip and it feels almost like a point on my femur slightly distal to the hip socket is touching the anterior portion of my pelvic bone. This all combined is leading to pain and stiffness throughout my lower back and gluten along with feeling like my right hip is higher than my left just walking around as well as in the squat.

      I’ll be seeing my ortho doc on Friday and will take it from there but I’ve had problems before with docs not taking my desire to return to a very active lifestyle seriously and trying to get me to rest and PT it away. Just wanted to see if anyone here has experienced something similar or had any ideas from other experience (docs, therapists, etc).

      Thanks,

      James

    • 02/07/2015 at 9:42 pm #75757
      AvatarJesse Bieman
      Participant

      A little background…  The hip flexors while they aid in moving the leg are also the strongest support muscle for the hip.  They are so powerful that they can literally wreck havoc in the lower back.  That referred pain is actually indicitive of a pelvic tilt.  Mine is in left hip, and my left lower back gives me trouble, which is tied to my lower ribs.  Kind of interesting.  Anyways ur hip flexor is so tight that its tilting ur pelvis.  Sounds bad but its treatable.

      I do two things and for the most part my lower back gives me no problems.  I do them before I goto bed at night.  On the affected side put that foot on a chair, lean back and put that sides elbow into the crook of the hip where the hipflexor joins the hip and dig at it with your elbow.  Work it from the inside out.  If you feel your femur start to move stop and back off.  If it thunks out of place then your gonna be sore for a few days.  Next with that same foot up on a chair bend down and try to get that sides shoulder down to ur knee.  I like to set a 45lb plate next to the chair and use that to pull down on.   You also need to couch stretch and be able to hold a squat for 10 mins.  But get ur scar tissue and pelvis straightened out first.

      That alone will not stop the pelvic dysfunction.  You will have to throw some money at this.  I spent about 500 dollars in deep tissue massages.  I went to a really strong masseuse and told them i wanted them to work on my scar tissue in the lower back.  They use deep tissue massage and you will be sore for about a week, tip them well, its hard work.  It took 3 sessions before my back was good.  You also need the masseuse to release your psoas.  Next thing is you will need to find a good chiropractor to set ur hips till ur muscles settle down.  Once you get ur hip range of motion good, and ur hip flexor settled down and your pelvis centered you will be good. 

      Now, if messing around with this your back and hip will snap, crack, pop, and creak.  that is all fine.  thunks are bad.  thunks mean u need to get to a chiropractor.  Good news is this is about a 3 week process and with minimal maintenance you will be pain free.

      EDIT:  just fyi, im not a doctor or a therapist or anything, just someone who has delt with a lot of back pain in my life.

    • 02/10/2015 at 9:11 pm #75770
      AvatarRhonda Starr
      Participant

      Thanks. That’s the first time I’ve seen somebody spell out their process in detail for getting back to functional. I’m due for an mri tomorrow and then a few weeks of physical therapy. I will see if I can get a recommendation from them as to a chiro and massage therapist In my area. Luckily the PT I go to is extremely concerned with pelvic tilts and shifts. He does some chiropractic maneuvers to realign. Might swing by a sporting goods store for a rumble roller and see what I can do on my own in the meantime.

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