If you sit a lot or have tight hip compressed hips, you might find that this hip mobility mobilization from Z-Health gives you more space in your hips and help get you out of pain of stiffness. I felt great after doing these the first time through, so they are spot on for me. The movement and rotations make it easier for you to find your tough spots and work on those carefully.
Showing posts with label Hip Flexor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hip Flexor. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Mobility Workout of the Day: Tight IT Band and Hip Flexor Fix for Runners
Kelly Starrett of www.sanfranciscocrossfit.com has a blog called MobilityWod (Mobility Workout of the Day). I was checking it out last summer and lost track of it (it is now listed on my blog list to the left). Today I was browsing through the Competitor network and saw an article by T. J. Murphy: Burning Runner: The Road to Injury Free Running Starts Now that referenced the blog and checked it out again. It is worth a good look and might be something to add to your daily practice.
I particularly liked the January 11 Mobility exercise. It was just what I needed. It is the tight IT Band- Hip flexor Fix for Runners seen here:
The only interesting thing the previous PT (not where I am going now at Athletes Treating Athletes) I saw was the traditional hip flexor stretch with a twist. He had me angle my leg out into internal rotation so as to stretch the hip flexor. This video show a similar stretch, but with more background information and a longer stretch with props.
He uses this to clean up the junk and tightness around the hip capsule, just where I have been tight all week (which has been a minor disappointment). It feels good to do this one!
Physical Therapy had been going great. I have been in 5 times now. Last week, I finally got into double digits for running mileage for the first time since mid November. I know 12 miles is not much, but I am being conservative. My left leg is straightening out and a lot of my muscle pain and tightness is disappearing. I even got out on the roads for two 3.5 mile runs on Friday and Saturday. While my leg pains are disappearing, it is very clear that my SI joint is now flaring up (or the source of all this non-sense). I could have run further on those two days, except that I could feel that SI joint every step. The good news was that my muscles and other pains did not return after both runs. I thought things were going good, but after PT on Monday, I tried running on the treadmill and the SI joint forced me to stop at one mile. I have had my old imbalances back since them and haven't run since.
So the goal is to find out what is up with the SI joint. The interesting thing is this is the same place I started having my back problems with, back in the 1980's, so maybe as I fix everything else the source of all the pain is returning. Today I had a checkup with the physiatrist and he suggests getting a cortizone shot in the SI joint and then having someone do joint manipulations on that joint. So that will be the next step in the process. Hopefully I get fixed up at PT tomorrow, because I am itching to return to the Feels Good Farm Snowshoe race I did two years ago. It was quite a challenge back then plus my hips were very off in that race. If my hips are fine I plan to run it this year even though it is 5 miles (in the snow-up and down hills) and the longest I have run since mid November is 3.5 miles. It could be a good birthday challenge. If I don't feel good I will give myself a present of not running it, but I hope to be there at this years race.
Besides the PT, I feel really good about two other things I am doing. I continue with the slow-carb diet (almost at three weeks now). Each day is easy and I am basically eating the same things. I start the day with 2-3 eggs and a bowl of spinach ( I know, yumm!!). Lunch is some grilled chicken, spinach, lentils, and mixed veggies (broccoli and cauliflower in particular). Dinner is a nice piece of steak, beans, and more veggies. I am full all day long and not eating any sugar, bread, pasta, rice, or ice cream and cookies. Saturdays are my day to eat whatever I want, but there was hardly any good junk left in the house last week to eat!
The physical therapy has left my left hip joint working so much better. In the past, if I tried 25 kettlebell swings, I might be sore the next day. I started about 10 days ago trying them again. I started with 75 and felt good as my hip doesn't' jam up after and am constantly increasing the amount I do. Now I do sets of 100. I did 400 swings a couple days ago. I think I need to get a heavier bell. I am using a 35 pounder and would like to get a 50 pounder.
Kelly Starrett's new book:
I particularly liked the January 11 Mobility exercise. It was just what I needed. It is the tight IT Band- Hip flexor Fix for Runners seen here:
The only interesting thing the previous PT (not where I am going now at Athletes Treating Athletes) I saw was the traditional hip flexor stretch with a twist. He had me angle my leg out into internal rotation so as to stretch the hip flexor. This video show a similar stretch, but with more background information and a longer stretch with props.
He uses this to clean up the junk and tightness around the hip capsule, just where I have been tight all week (which has been a minor disappointment). It feels good to do this one!
Physical Therapy had been going great. I have been in 5 times now. Last week, I finally got into double digits for running mileage for the first time since mid November. I know 12 miles is not much, but I am being conservative. My left leg is straightening out and a lot of my muscle pain and tightness is disappearing. I even got out on the roads for two 3.5 mile runs on Friday and Saturday. While my leg pains are disappearing, it is very clear that my SI joint is now flaring up (or the source of all this non-sense). I could have run further on those two days, except that I could feel that SI joint every step. The good news was that my muscles and other pains did not return after both runs. I thought things were going good, but after PT on Monday, I tried running on the treadmill and the SI joint forced me to stop at one mile. I have had my old imbalances back since them and haven't run since.
So the goal is to find out what is up with the SI joint. The interesting thing is this is the same place I started having my back problems with, back in the 1980's, so maybe as I fix everything else the source of all the pain is returning. Today I had a checkup with the physiatrist and he suggests getting a cortizone shot in the SI joint and then having someone do joint manipulations on that joint. So that will be the next step in the process. Hopefully I get fixed up at PT tomorrow, because I am itching to return to the Feels Good Farm Snowshoe race I did two years ago. It was quite a challenge back then plus my hips were very off in that race. If my hips are fine I plan to run it this year even though it is 5 miles (in the snow-up and down hills) and the longest I have run since mid November is 3.5 miles. It could be a good birthday challenge. If I don't feel good I will give myself a present of not running it, but I hope to be there at this years race.
Besides the PT, I feel really good about two other things I am doing. I continue with the slow-carb diet (almost at three weeks now). Each day is easy and I am basically eating the same things. I start the day with 2-3 eggs and a bowl of spinach ( I know, yumm!!). Lunch is some grilled chicken, spinach, lentils, and mixed veggies (broccoli and cauliflower in particular). Dinner is a nice piece of steak, beans, and more veggies. I am full all day long and not eating any sugar, bread, pasta, rice, or ice cream and cookies. Saturdays are my day to eat whatever I want, but there was hardly any good junk left in the house last week to eat!
The physical therapy has left my left hip joint working so much better. In the past, if I tried 25 kettlebell swings, I might be sore the next day. I started about 10 days ago trying them again. I started with 75 and felt good as my hip doesn't' jam up after and am constantly increasing the amount I do. Now I do sets of 100. I did 400 swings a couple days ago. I think I need to get a heavier bell. I am using a 35 pounder and would like to get a 50 pounder.
Kelly Starrett's new book:
Monday, May 19, 2008
Stretching the Hip Flexors (Psoas)
Today's run went pretty well. My hips felt very well balanced (compared to normal) and I enjoyed the run because of it. I have changed a lot of things (even in the past week) so here are things that could be helping.
#1 My body is adjusting to using the sof sole inserts. They don't bother my feet - in fact my feet feel more solid and strong in them, but the changing of angles during footstrike and I think a lessening of pronation has changed the angles of legs, knees, hips, back and how they relate to each other. Whether this is good in the long run has yet to be seen. It could just replace one pattern of disfunction with another.
#2 I have been doing the "indigenous squat" for a couple of days. I think this is loosening up things in the hips and back. My hips felt more "in the socket" (I know that is not what is happening - but they seemed to be moving more in sync with each other. I also noticed that my lower back was tight, not in the muscles but more near the surface. I think this is the fascia that may be adjusting to changes in movement and balance as I readjust things.
#3 I noticed the other day that while doing the "FlowFit" DVD that my quads were tight. Today when running they felt like they were working better. Maybe I am strengthening and loosening them a bit.
#4 Maybe I just had a good day of running and it will all fall apart again tomorrow. Today I did use a pair of lightweight Saucony Kilkenny Shoes. I always enjoy running in minimalistic shoes the most. I have only done a few runs in these but they are similar in weight and profile to the Puma H-Streets that I like. They are a bit tighter around the forefoot however. I have also continued doing the Z-Health Neural Warmup before running.
#5 I did a some overhead lunges yesterday. I like the explanation on this site.
Hip Flexor Stretching
I like the reasoning on LaurensFitness.com for doing overhead lunges. Lauren writes:
This is possibly the best exercise you can do for opening up your hip flexors. It is basically a normal lunge, but you hold a medicine ball, or a light plate above your head. Out stretch your arms, keep them straight, directly above your head, and complete the lunges. You have something that is called fascia; it’s basically a sheath that runs over your muscles. Your fascia is a big issue in hip flexor tightness, and often when that is loosened, the muscle is too. Holding something above your head whilst lunging stretches this fascia out, and you get the added hip flexor stretch.
I know the fascia is an important and overlooked part of what holds a body and its workings together. Rolfing works on the fascia system. I had never heard that doing an overhead stretch can help the fascia of the hips and if so that is an extremely tight area on my body and if I can ease the tightness of the fascia maybe the hips will loosen up too! There are some other good stretches for the hip flexors on Lauren's website.
So I have lots of stuff to add to my arsenal and to continue to work with.
Here is another stretch I have not tried that I saw today on the Slowtwitch forums today. It is posted by someone from New Hampshire (yeah!)named "chief". I'll give it a try some day as it sounds like a killer so heed chief's warning to go slow.
The world’s greatest hip-flexor stretch.
WARNING: DO THIS SLOWLY
Start on your hands and knees with your feet against the wall. Slide your right foot straight up the wall, toes pointed to the sky, while letting your right knee slide back against the wall. Place your left foot flat on the floor for leverage and lean your torso back toward the wall. Your torso should be close to vertical (maybe not the first couple of times). Your left ankle, knee, and hip should be at 90 °. This is where it starts to get uncomfortable. During the entire stretch suck your bellybutton toward your spine. Slowly reach for the sky with your right hand and hold the stretch for 20 – 30 seconds. After this, switch hands and reach for the sky with your left hand and hold for 20 – 30 seconds. Finally, place your right hand on your right hip and allow your hips and left knee to move forward, all the while keeping your torso vertical, hold for 20 – 30 seconds. Repeat for opposite side.
#1 My body is adjusting to using the sof sole inserts. They don't bother my feet - in fact my feet feel more solid and strong in them, but the changing of angles during footstrike and I think a lessening of pronation has changed the angles of legs, knees, hips, back and how they relate to each other. Whether this is good in the long run has yet to be seen. It could just replace one pattern of disfunction with another.
#2 I have been doing the "indigenous squat" for a couple of days. I think this is loosening up things in the hips and back. My hips felt more "in the socket" (I know that is not what is happening - but they seemed to be moving more in sync with each other. I also noticed that my lower back was tight, not in the muscles but more near the surface. I think this is the fascia that may be adjusting to changes in movement and balance as I readjust things.
#3 I noticed the other day that while doing the "FlowFit" DVD that my quads were tight. Today when running they felt like they were working better. Maybe I am strengthening and loosening them a bit.
#4 Maybe I just had a good day of running and it will all fall apart again tomorrow. Today I did use a pair of lightweight Saucony Kilkenny Shoes. I always enjoy running in minimalistic shoes the most. I have only done a few runs in these but they are similar in weight and profile to the Puma H-Streets that I like. They are a bit tighter around the forefoot however. I have also continued doing the Z-Health Neural Warmup before running.
#5 I did a some overhead lunges yesterday. I like the explanation on this site.
Hip Flexor Stretching
I like the reasoning on LaurensFitness.com for doing overhead lunges. Lauren writes:
This is possibly the best exercise you can do for opening up your hip flexors. It is basically a normal lunge, but you hold a medicine ball, or a light plate above your head. Out stretch your arms, keep them straight, directly above your head, and complete the lunges. You have something that is called fascia; it’s basically a sheath that runs over your muscles. Your fascia is a big issue in hip flexor tightness, and often when that is loosened, the muscle is too. Holding something above your head whilst lunging stretches this fascia out, and you get the added hip flexor stretch.
I know the fascia is an important and overlooked part of what holds a body and its workings together. Rolfing works on the fascia system. I had never heard that doing an overhead stretch can help the fascia of the hips and if so that is an extremely tight area on my body and if I can ease the tightness of the fascia maybe the hips will loosen up too! There are some other good stretches for the hip flexors on Lauren's website.
So I have lots of stuff to add to my arsenal and to continue to work with.
Here is another stretch I have not tried that I saw today on the Slowtwitch forums today. It is posted by someone from New Hampshire (yeah!)named "chief". I'll give it a try some day as it sounds like a killer so heed chief's warning to go slow.
The world’s greatest hip-flexor stretch.
WARNING: DO THIS SLOWLY
Start on your hands and knees with your feet against the wall. Slide your right foot straight up the wall, toes pointed to the sky, while letting your right knee slide back against the wall. Place your left foot flat on the floor for leverage and lean your torso back toward the wall. Your torso should be close to vertical (maybe not the first couple of times). Your left ankle, knee, and hip should be at 90 °. This is where it starts to get uncomfortable. During the entire stretch suck your bellybutton toward your spine. Slowly reach for the sky with your right hand and hold the stretch for 20 – 30 seconds. After this, switch hands and reach for the sky with your left hand and hold for 20 – 30 seconds. Finally, place your right hand on your right hip and allow your hips and left knee to move forward, all the while keeping your torso vertical, hold for 20 – 30 seconds. Repeat for opposite side.
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