Hip Shift

[Gens24]

Hey,

I had a random question for you regarding my back giving out on me and putting me in to level 10 pain.  A couple months ago I was playing hockey, and of course my back went out.  This puts me in to a major hip shift that you can see in the picture I attached.  Obviously hockey involves a lot of squatting and twisting.  I am trying to pin point the weakness or inflexibility to avoid this so I can resume playing hockey recreationally as I enjoy it and want to stay fit.  Any information you might be able to provide or point me in the right direction would be appreciated.  When it happens I get stuck in a squat position and am not able to straighten.  It then takes weeks of chiropractic and pain treatment to get back to walking and sitting:).  I am new to the stretch therapy program, but have had great success with mobility already helping me to sit comfortably which is a blessing! Thanks so much!  Please know that I am standing “straight” in the pic and am in an extreme amount of pain 😅
A few notes as well.  I had a right hip labrum repaired about 5 years ago, along with a L4-L5 herniated disc among other hockey injuries:) 

[Kit_L]

Matt, welcome to the Forums.

I have had that exact problem myself many times, one time for a whole six months when I was living in Japan. No one, no practitioners anyway could help me, and for that severe time I mention in Japan it was six months of hell. I needed to crawl to the toilet in the morning for example because I couldn't stand up.

It was this experience which led to the book Overcome neck & back pain in fact. Questions to ask yourself are these: when my back goes out does it go out the same way each time? When my back is not sore, do I have most of my weight on one leg most of the time when I'm standing around? Have I had to take up trousers on one side and not the other? And when my back is not sore and I look at myself in the mirror, as you are doing above, is one hip higher than the other, but simply less pronounced?

If you can get back to me here with answers to those questions, I will be able to comment further.

[Nathan]

Welcome to the forums!

Just a quick note to let you know I've moved this to a more appropriate section of the forums. As for your issue, it looks like Kit is on the case, so you're in good hands!

[Gens24]

Thank you for switching it as I want sure where to post;). Thanks Kit for getting back to me.  It does seem to go out the same way shifting me to the left and extreme back pain down my right side.  I would say I lean on my right side more, but shift back and forth exchanging weight when I am feeling no pain with standing.  I have had to take up my trousers on the left side first and then swing my right leg in, but I am doing better with both legs recently.  I just looked in the mirror and noticed that my left hip is slightly higher than the right.  Again, thanks for taking time to reply and I have also had no luck with physicians.  Chiropractic care has got me walking again but never really pain free which is my goal.  So far with the stretch therapy I have already increased my flexibility and am hopeful that I can turn a corner with sticking to really stretching the correct way!  Thx 😊 

[Kit_L]

@Gens24: I will bet the cost of a consultation that you have an actual leg length difference, and the asymmetry around the sacrum that this causes (one hip being higher than the other in the vertical load-bearing position) and that this symmetry has been the root cause of all of your problems with back pain.

Although the pain of back pain is experienced in a particular set of muscles, quadratus lumborum, the root cause of that massive hip shift that you are presently experiencing is that one hip flexor, psoas in fact, on the side that the spine is bending to is in severe spasm. In the case of the back pain episode I described above, this spasm lasted for six months. The only solution is to stretch your hip flexors massively once you're able to do this. All of our most important hip flexor exercises are available on YouTube. Just go to my channel and look up "hip flexors".

The one exercise that changed my propensity for low back pain forever though was the partner hip flexor. It will take some time to loosen this, especially as your body looks pretty strong to me, but nothing will give your lower back area the feeling of freedom of movement than to really loosen these. Plan for the long haul, though; it took me two years. The problem I had though has never come back, so if my experience and the experience of many others is anything to go by, this will be your experience too. 

I will also add that the solo hip flexor stretches and the partner ones can both be done when you're in pain, providing you do it the way I demonstrate, which holds the lower back in a particular position against extension. As no doubt you'll know,  extension is usually the most painful movement to experience at these times.

Years ago I used to use a heel lift in the era when my back was particularly fragile. I've written about this in Overcome neck an&d back pain. I now believe though that more walking done in bare feet, where you have to walk with slightly bent knees (because it's too painful to walk the way people normally do, striking with the heel), and this changes your movement patterns as well. 

[Gens24]

Thanks for the response!  I actually was watching your hip flexor videos today;).  Luckily I am past the intense pain so I can stretch, and have been sticking to 2 or 3 of you stretching videos per day.  I believe you are spot in with your assessment and interestingly enough all of my major tightness has been in my left hip, the one I was shifted towards.  I was so focused on the right side because of the shooting pain that I have neglected the left side all together. The seated side lateral bend is super intense but feels amazing afterwards.  I can see now why a sport like hockey being that it uses hip flexors non stop would be the cause of this spasm.  I can’t imagine having that for 6 months and when I read that I got a little nauseous 😅. I may try the heel lift and see if I can convince my wife to help me with the partner stretch :) I attached a picture of my leg length difference when I was laying down for you to see.  I appreciate you taking the time to reply and pointing me in the right direction!  I have already noticed a huge amount of progress in just a few days, and also learning my body which sounds weird but I guess I was clueless when it came to stretching correctly;). Thx again! 

[Kit_L]

@Gens24: most likely, your wife will not be heavy enough to do the full job, but she will get you started. And for sure the partner version with any weight is a long way further down the road than the solo version (though the wall-quad hip flexor done solo is pretty intense, once you can relax enough). I worked on the partner version once a week for about two years as I mentioned, and I always chose the heaviest guy in the room who weighed about 120 kg. 

Once your back has settled down, try the standing leg-length test with a book; there are many reasons why the lying test can be misleading.

[Pat (pogo69)]

44 minutes ago, Kit_L said:

though the wall-quad hip flexor done solo is pretty intense, once you can relax enough

I have found this the only way to achieve any kind of appreciable stretch sensation in the hip-flexor, solo.

My partner and I have been intending to begin regular once weekly partner stretching sessions, but we haven't got there yet.  In the mean-time, I do find the solo wall stretch beneficial.  But much more so, if I remember - once or twice a week - to include some CR intervals.  With added CR, I find it much easier to both elicit a stretch, and specifically target the hip-flexors.

[Gens24]

Thanks y’all!  Having a direction to go in is really helping me!  I have a lot to learn but I am appreciate of your feed back!  Thx again and I will follow up with results;) 👊🏻

[CharlieG]

This is absolute gold (along with many other threads in these forums) - thank you