Uneven hips

[tossedup]

I was talking to a friend of mine who happens to be a chiro and I was telling him about how I can workout for a good month straight then will throw my back out. He said that my hips were uneven and was causing the muscle spasms in my lower left side of my back. He told me he could fix it for me but his office is a ways from my house. Is there anything I can do at home to even out my hips?

[Lisa~]

I hope you'll go see him, or find a chiropractor closer to you.

I'm originally from B'ham. Where are you located? Who's the chiropractor and how far are we taking about? Or maybe Dave knows a competent chiropractor closer to you.

[tossedup]

Hey Lisa I am out by Gardendale. The chiro is in Trussville. I was hoping there was something I could do at home for free. I am getting an inversion table soon that has helped in the past when I used one for the same problem.

[UConnJulie]

"Uneven hips" can come from a variety of issues ... true leg length differences, rotated innominates, even an imbalance in the feet where one foot pronates or supinates more than the other (as a few examples). There is no blanket fix for this as the actual cause needs to be evaluated, then treated according to your specifics. Sorry!

[tossedup]

I thought so. If I had to guess its that my left hip is roataing outward a little. My left hamstring is a good bit tighter than my right also. I have some imbalances to work on obviously. I have been doing lunges, single leg deadlifts and toy soilders to strech my hamstrings but I tend to slack off on the streches once I start to feel better. I need to make my magnificent mobilty a twice daily routine everyday. I really think it would do wonders for me.

[tbrim20]

Like Julie said, there are a few issues that can lead to this and you would have to be assessed properly to determine what approach to take.

However, in the majority of cases "even hips" will be due to muscle imbalances. True leg length differences are very uncommon and most likely, any true difference is going to be negligible. Many times people are diagnosed with true leg differences when they in fact have muscle imbalances.

Good news is, you are on the right track.

Uneven hips is usually caused by an imbalance between your right and left hip complex. There are many muscles that can contribute to anterior pelvic tilt(usually, but not always, tight hip flexors). There are many muscles that can contribute to posterior pelvic tilt(hamstrings, lower abdominals, etc). If these muscles become imbalanced as far as the right and left side of your body, one side of your pelvis will tilt more in relation to the other side. When one side tilts either anteriorly or posteriorly more than the other, the result is uneven hips.

When your hips are uneven due to these muscle imbalances and you engage in functional movement involving your hips, such as a squat, you are going to put further stress/torque on your pelvis as you engage these hip muscles. In other words, as you flex at the hip, the tight muscle(s) is going to put more relative force on one side making your hips more uneven. The result of this torque is your lumbar spine rotating in the transverse plane(right or left) as your pelvis torques. Couple transverse spinal rotation with a heavy load and the result is an injured lumbar spine.

The key here is to figure out what your imbalances are and fix them. You can go to a chiropractor and they may be able to relieve you of the pain, but in most cases, this is not a permanent fix and you will continue to working out in the same manner and will continue to injure yourself until you address the source of the problem.

You will sooner or later have to get rid of your muscle imbalances. This is going to involve stretching/lengthening the tight muscles and strengthening/shortening the weak muscles. Muscles can be tight or they can be taut. This is why you need to be assessed to see if your hamstring is really tight, or if it is taut because your hip flexors are so tight. Without an actual assessment, there could possibly be other contributing issues as well.

I would strongly urge you to get an assessment by a qualified practitioner and go from there. This can lead to serious injury.

[Lisa~]

Originally Posted by tbrim20

The key here is to figure out what your imbalances are and fix them. You can go to a chiropractor and they may be able to relieve you of the pain, but in most cases, this is not a permanent fix and you will continue to working out in the same manner and will continue to injure yourself until you address the source of the problem.

I would strongly urge you to get an assessment by a qualified practitioner and go from there.

Great post and I agree. I hope you'll see the chiropractor and begin a program to address any imbalances. A good chiropractor should be able to help you determine what those imbalances are. A good trainer should be able to assist you in creating a program to address them.

[trainerty]

I have a recurring uneven hip position from an ugly deadlifting injury. I like what has been posted so far. Chiros....I'm wary of those folks. I've seen bad ones and good ones. A chiro who helps a NFL team out is one of the bad ones....they make me nervous.

Also, I doubt if many can claim to have perfect hip alignment. I would credit Paul Chek with the method of really stretching the "hiked" side before, during and after workouts (not max or power training). Of course you need to brace really good posture (Chek would say activate TVA....McGill would say brace the ab complex....whatever floats your boat).

3D training as mentioned is great. I would push more for unilateral work. Doing a squat will show you the problem...I have my doubts on how well a bilateral squat can fix it.

Good luck

[tbrim20]

Originally Posted by Lisa~

Great post and I agree. I hope you'll see the chiropractor and begin a program to address any imbalances. A good chiropractor should be able to help you determine what those imbalances are. A good trainer should be able to assist you in creating a program to address them.

I have to disagree with you there.

A good trainer should be able to assess the problems and create a program to address the problems. Why pay double? This is common sense stuff.

How many trainers do you know that actually assess their clients before working with them? I rarely ever see this in gyms and health clubs. Sounds like an accident waiting to happen... But I'm sure the chiro's and physical therapists don't mind since it keeps a constant stream of clients through their doors.

[tossedup]

Thanks for all of the feedback everybody. I have an MRI in the next day or two to make sure I haven't slipped a disc and will be going to PT from there. I have to get this back/hip thing under control. It really disrupts my quality of life. I will let you all know how everything goes as soon as I find out.

[UConnJulie]

Great plan ... keep us updated!

[Q.]

I don't know this for a fact but I think I may have a similar problem. If I lie on my back, my right foot rotates out to the side on its own. When I was in 6th grade, my pediatrician commented to my mother on the sidelines that I had a "congenital hip deformity" at a football game that his son and I were playing in. I never paid much attention to that off-handed comment. However, I have had a life long problem with my right hip "actiing up" at times but I've always just worked around it. I just saw a physical therapist last week about this but I was feeling great that day so she couldn't help much. I had seen a chiro with a good local reputation but all he ever did was adjust me, never said anything about unevenness... so maybe it's not true. Still, I do have a lot of right side tightness that comes and goes. I used to think was lumbar problems but now think it might be hip.

[UConnJulie]

Might be worth having an x-ray to rule out any congenital problems, and to get a baseline now while you are relatively asymptomatic. There are many things that can cause toeing out, not just a congenital dysplasia.

[tbrim20]

Originally Posted by Q.

I don't know this for a fact but I think I may have a similar problem. If I lie on my back, my right foot rotates out to the side on its own. When I was in 6th grade, my pediatrician commented to my mother on the sidelines that I had a "congenital hip deformity" at a football game that his son and I were playing in. I never paid much attention to that off-handed comment. However, I have had a life long problem with my right hip "actiing up" at times but I've always just worked around it. I just saw a physical therapist last week about this but I was feeling great that day so she couldn't help much. I had seen a chiro with a good local reputation but all he ever did was adjust me, never said anything about unevenness... so maybe it's not true. Still, I do have a lot of right side tightness that comes and goes. I used to think was lumbar problems but now think it might be hip.

If a pediatrician can accurately assess a congenital hip deformity from the sideline of a football game through all of your clothes/pads then he is by far the best pediatrician I have ever heard of and should be teaching this assessment to all practitioners. I personally would not hold any stock in this assessment.

If you have been to a Phys Therapist and Chiro and neither have recognized a congenital hip deformity, then I'd say you are pretty safe.

If you take a look at my post above that explains how one's hips become uneven, it is usually a hip flexor/hamstring imbalance. You are showing signs of tight external hip rotators which doesn't necessarily relate to pelvic tilt. The cause of this could be many things(tightness, trigger points, muscle imbalances) but nonetheless, it can easily cause issues with lifting.

You might want to find a good Neuromuscular Therapist that can do some trigger point work on your hip(I bet you have plenty if this has been a long time problem) and that can assess your hip complex to tell you which muscles need work(TFL, piriformis, posterior glute med, glute max, etc).

It probably wouldn't hurt to do some myofascial release on your hip either for the time being. And stretch those external rotators before working out or you will continue to make it worse.

[SpacecityPaula]

When I sent in my pictures for HELL, Leigh noticed the imbalance in my hips and has added mobility work to my workouts. There's already a nice difference in how I stand just with a few mobility exercises added to the overall program.

[Q.]

Originally Posted by tbrim20

If a pediatrician can accurately assess a congenital hip deformity from the sideline of a football game through all of your clothes/pads then he is by far the best pediatrician I have ever heard of and should be teaching this assessment to all practitioners. I personally would not hold any stock in this assessment.

If you have been to a Phys Therapist and Chiro and neither have recognized a congenital hip deformity, then I'd say you are pretty safe.

If you take a look at my post above that explains how one's hips become uneven, it is usually a hip flexor/hamstring imbalance. You are showing signs of tight external hip rotators which doesn't necessarily relate to pelvic tilt. The cause of this could be many things(tightness, trigger points, muscle imbalances) but nonetheless, it can easily cause issues with lifting.

You might want to find a good Neuromuscular Therapist that can do some trigger point work on your hip(I bet you have plenty if this has been a long time problem) and that can assess your hip complex to tell you which muscles need work(TFL, piriformis, posterior glute med, glute max, etc).

It probably wouldn't hurt to do some myofascial release on your hip either for the time being. And stretch those external rotators before working out or you will continue to make it worse.

WOW, a relatively new member with some great stuff to add! Thanks! No, in the 40+ years since, I haven't paid much attention to that comment but I have just recently considered that what I thought were lower back problems may be hip problems. Even Bill H told me that most back problems start at the hip. I've not stopped finding ways to work out, however... just work around whatever hurts at the moment.

And thanks to you, UCJ!

[UConnJulie]

No problem Q!