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A couple of years ago, during a Jefferson Curl, I felt the femur heads of both hips slightly sub dislocating. It felt as the heads were forced toward the front. I stopped Jefferson curls and after a while, the discomfort went away. A year ago, I went through a period of intense stretching of the legs, using Stretching & Flexibility, especially the Hamstrings and Hip flexors (with partner variations). One night, before going to sleep, I did a relaxed pike in the bed, and again my hips sub-dislocated, exiting a little out of the sockets and going back. I stopped stretching and after a while, the discomfort went away. During the convalescence, the hips were loudly popping every time I made a Deadlift move (same kind of sound of when you crack your knuckles, with no pain, but with a distinct feeling of movement in the joint and a bit of discomfort). Even when picking up something from the floor, on the ascendendt phase, at around 90° of flexion of the femur in the hip, there was the popping. A week ago I had a popping with light pain, during a proper deadlift. A 85% of 1RM weight. I was fatigued as it was the 5th set, and I was generally on the verge of overtraining (I since started a deload period). I would like to understand the mechanics of this, could it be a Hip Flexors weakness? Any test I can do to narrow down the cause? if I do a pike with feet apart, shoulder width or more, no popping if I do a pike with feet pointing out (externally rotating the hip), no popping if I do a pike with knee in maximal extension (actually hyperextension, for me), no popping, it only happens when the knee are flexed little, as in a deadlift When I try to pike, it feels like the Hamstrings are pulling forward the head of the femur, kind of causing a joint distraction. I made a sketch showing the direction I feel the head of the femur going. Also the discomfort, slight pain I feel, is in the front region of the hip capsule. If, during the ascent of the deadlift, I consciously contract the glutei, the popping is greatly reduced or eliminated I tried light foam rolling of the area below the iliac crest, where the quads attach, the tensor FL, and immediately afterward, the pain/popping was greatly reduced or eliminated. Any thought/suggestion is greatly appreciated.

I wonder if anyone else has information this - I'm trying to work out the main restrictions on backbending at my hip. E.g. in a total backbend, such as a bridge (gymnastic) I have very little backbend at the hip, and if I could improve this, my total backbend would improve a lot. 1. If my knee is bent strongly, then I have very little backbend at the hip joint. This suggests a rectus femoris limitation. This is shown for instance if I do a lunge (one foot in front, the back knee on the ground, with the back lower leg upright against a wall), and then try to drop the hips forward - I have very little movement (and the front of the hip joint hurts like hell - sorry, I mean there is a strong sensation). 2. In a forward split (where there is a backbend at the hip joint of the leg going back) I can lift my back foot using the hamstring, and then pull it closer to my torso with my hand. The fact that I can use the hamstring to lift the back foot (and can then pull it quite a bit further), suggests the rectus femoris is not the limitation when my foot is on the floor. However, after lifting the back foor to its limit and then putting it down, the hip joint definitely feels looser. So stretching the rectus femoris (which is not limiting the movement) frees up the hip joint. The only thing I can think, is that either (1) there is a connective tissue tightness across the front of the hip joint, or (2) if muscles are involved, there is a fascial adhesion somehow from the rectus femoris onto the iliopsoas (maybe the same sheet of fascia crosses both muscles). If it is the first possibility, then I just have to stretch the front of the hip joint with a fascial-directed regime (long held stretches), if the latter, working on iliopsoas and rectus femoris with muscle-directed stretches would help too. I wonder, has anyone else faced this issue, do you find the same thing (limitiations not fitting with the anatomy of the muscles), and what exercises have you tried? Thanks a lot, Jim.

So after a few years of GST and ST it became apparent that my hip problem was just a bit more than stiffness and inflexibility from too many years of being a typical Westernized adult. So after being examined by a consultant physician in musculoskeletal sport and exercise medicine and an x-ray it was found that "moderate to severe degenerative changes are noted at bot hips (LT>RT) with reduction of the supero-lateral joint space, articular scleorsis and sub-cortical cyst formation. There is a CAM deformity of the left femoral head neck junction. There is mild osteitis pubis The SI joints are well maintained" A bit over my head but that I have arthritis in my hip which is why my ROM is poor. Through ST and being sensible over the last few years its not so bad and have made some progress, but I fear that I will never become particularly flexible. I have attended a couple of workshops in London over the past couple of years and have spoken to Kit and Olivia about this and both have been extremely helpful but it's only now that it is confirmed that my hip issue is actually arthritis. So my question is this, has anyone had experience either personally or through helping someone with it to rehab or even get more flexible ? I'm not looking to get extremely flexible but tying my laces is uncomfortable and sitting cross legged is not possible either. So if I could get back to that point I would be very happy. John

Many of you will have seen (and maybe marvelled at) videos of Kino from Kino Yoga. Here's an interesting article, for those interested in overworking themselves, commercialisation, narcissism, and a few other things. https://yogainternational.com/article/view/kinos-hip-reflections-on-extreme-practice-and-injury-in-asana (hope you can see it; you may have to set up a - free - account). Jim.

Hi, I've been doing the floor piriformis stretch from the daily 5 as detailed in , and unsurprisingly one side is much more flexible than the other.However, I'm confused over which side of my body is the real culprit and hence which side to repeat twice. When I stretch my right hip, I'm able to put my left leg flat on the floor as in the video and place my right ankle on my thigh while keeping both sit bones on the floor. I can't do the same with the opposite side without putting my right foot way out in front of me with its knee off the floor, or alternatively having the right leg fully straight in front of me flat on the ground. Is this a restriction in something to do with getting my right leg on the floor (maybe even nothing to do with the piriformis), or is it as simple as repeating the difficult side ('left hip') twice? The more I think about it, the more confused I get!

Hello, all; first, I'd like to express my gratitude for being confirmed as a forum member. The open and collaborative approach here is refreshing and exciting! I hope, in time, I'll be able to contribute. In fact, with luck, this very post will help other people out. But today, I'm here as a seeker. For a couple of months, I've been dreaming of achieving the pistol squat, but I notice some mild - but problematic - dysfunctions and asymmetries which hold me back. The first problem is the strange behavior of my ankles. In a kneeling, weight-bearing lunge, I can easily touch my knee to a wall that is 12 or 13 cm from my toes; I can reach even further if I am performing the test standing, thereby creating more torque. As I understand, this is considered acceptable, if not good. When I squat, however, my ankle position becomes quite restricted. I can do a full squat with my heels on the floor, if I lean forward between my legs a bit or reach forward, but I cannot push my knees over my toes. I suspect this is due to my weight pulling my knees back as my center of gravity gets closer to the ground. I have attached a picture to demonstrate my position. The first asymmetry is this: from a deep squat, or a close-stance squat, or even from sitting, I can quite easily lift myself into the bottom position of the pistol squat on my left. This is difficult or sometimes impossible on my right; when I do manage on my right, my left leg tracks clockwise across my body for some reason. In addition, stretching my calves is extremely difficult and requires great force (the common technique of wrapping a towel around the foot and pulling is useless for me), and stretching on my right feels different (I can feel the usual gastroc stretch in my left calf; doing it on my right, I feel little in the calf). The second asymmetry is in the hip. I can quite easily sit with my butt square on the ground and my left foot flat, and bring my left leg flush to my body. My knee comes up just above my clavicle and makes a very convenient chin rest. Bringing my right leg into a similar position requires I pull with my arms, and is not easy. This definitely makes it hard to get my center of gravity far enough forward for a pistol squat. I am hoping that there are some stretches, mobilizations, and exercises that will help me gain the necessary ranges-of-motion. However, I understand that not every problem can be solved over an internet forum. I apologize for asking so much, so soon! Thank you in advance for the assistance.