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Hello everyone! Haven’t posted much on this board, but been an active visitor ever since my shoulder surgery a year ago and I know there’s a lot of expertise among the members…so I’m turning to you…
So here I go, as briefly and at the same time accurately as possible…
Lately, while running, I’ve been experiencing pain in my lower back. Nothing new there, I’ve had lower back problems in the past. I have very tight hip flexors and addressing that by stretching and mobility work along with core work has helped. And so it did this time…but only on left side, right side of my lower back still hurts and gets “tight” during running. Also, it feels like the right side is doing all the work and the left just “comes along”…I can feel my right glute working, but not the left. I can’t seem to “drive” with my left leg, the heel just sort of “drops” to the ground.
Some other observations, I checked my running shoes and noticed that the right one’s heel is a bit more worn out than the left one’s. The difference would probably be more noticeable if the shoes weren’t so new. Both heels are wearing out from the outer sides.
All of the above would for my understanding mean that my right leg might be longer than my left? Either functionally or anatomically. But when I put my toes in line and start to squat down, my left knee seems more forward giving the appearance of that one being the longer leg. Squeezing my left glute and rotating my pelvic girdle to the right seems to correct this making my knees level. So that leads me to the obvious conclusion that my pelvic girdle might be rotated little to the right?? My right hip flexors also feel a little tighter than my left. But if it would be rotated to the right, wouldn’t that make the right leg the shorter one…or at least feeling shorter during the landing phase of gait cycle? Which is just the opposite to how I’m feeling…
I’m confused, could someone clear this for me a little…I’d really appreciate it!
You're confused because you are overthinking things.
You stated it simply in the beginning ... your hip flexors are tight and your left glute isn't working.
You can't really change a leg-length issue (yes you can add a heel lift, but that sometimes makes things worse not better in my clinical experience). And the leg length difference might not be structural, but rather adaptive (ie rotated innominate, overpronated on one side, etc).
So focus on that which you can change.
Might want to focus on core stability too as that can play a role if your innominate is the issue.
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You're confused because you are overthinking things.
Yeah...I tend to do just that, always have Thank you for answering anyway...
Probably still best to address the side to side difference somehow...like 2:1 ratio on stretches and activation between the two sides? Does that "pelvic girdle rotated to the left" -thing make any sense BTW? And be caused by the above mentioned reasons, i.e. tight right hip flexors and inhibited left glutes?
"Pelvic girdle rotated to the left" doesn't make much sense to me ... but non-medical terms often don't ...
I found this somewhere: "Rotation to the left/right: one iliac wing anterior to the other"...probably not a medical term either, but the "iliac wing anterior" -part makes it sound a lot better than my original one But that's exactly what I meant...couldn't that make one leg seem shorter than the other? Okey...I'm overthinking it again... I'll let it rest...thank you for your answers...and your patience
I used to have one leg longer than the other. It can be fixed by standing up nice and tall with good posture, head straight ahead, tummy in, shoulders back and down, tailbone horizontal (you can tell if your tailbone is more towards your left leg or more towards your right leg). When squatting down, same thing. Make sure the tailbone goes straight down (not out to the side). Go slow and slowly increase speed of your squat as you progress. Don't use any weight at first until your posture is 100% perfect. When you have good posture and can do it without weight going to one side, then start using weight. Make sure to look into a mirror if there is no one there to watch you. Make sure you have your chest up, stick your butt out letting your butt squat you down keeping it centered and then back up again. It takes a while to get out of bad habits, but you can do it. I also had a bad habit of duck feet, but took 2 weeks to fix my focusing on walking straight ahead. I told a guy in my body conditioning class about his duck feet, and he is defiantly improving his walking by a lot every time I see him in class.
If I can break bad posture habits, you can do it too. =). You have to try and think about it 24/7 making sure you are in the right position. I don't believe people when they say "you cannot fix one leg discrepancy" and blah bah blah. If your pelvis is twisted, it means you have your torso twisted one direction and pelvis twisted the other direction. If one leg is longer than the other, you have more weight on that leg. That's all it is. That's what I believe. a S shape of the spine (those who do not have straight spines) is exactly that (a twisted pelvis and torso). People can test by twisting their pelvis one way and torso the other way and feeling their spine or having someone else do it (or/and also more weight on one leg).
Also, think the way you sleep as well. I have a pillow now from cosco (the special ones) to fix my posture and the athletic trainer at my school even told me that my spine in my neck is a lot straighter now than it was before and posture looking good. I also use a between the knees thingy from bed bath and beyond to keep my spine in alignment. Good posture can be fixed by paying attention to it and feeling what good posture is. Lifting is good too to correct the imbalances that was created when you had bad posture. Don't believe those who say it can't. They just want your money and they don't know anything about the posture subject. Even some chiropractors want you to do useless exercises or wear a heal lift (big no no) and want you to keep coming back over and over and your not seeing any improvement. Some Physical Therapists do and say the same thing. Before even going to a PT or chiropractor, get tons of reviews and recomendations from your friends and people around you. When it comes to your body and especially your spine and monday, you have to take it very serious.
I am saying everything from experience. The last time I noticed one leg longer than the other was when I was not standing nice and tall and was not paying attention to it. I always make sure I stand up (or sit up) nice and tall, shin up, shoulders down and back, tailbone centered, toes straight ahead.
Do something for me and stand up nice and tall. First focus on your pelvis (legs stay straight the whole time). Twist your pelvis from one side to the other. Right side, center, left side. Now pretend you are busting a move by poking your right hip out, then center again (tailbone centered) and then left hip out, then back center again feeling the difference in where your weight goes when you do that. Now do the same with your torso.
Do something for me and stand up nice and tall. First focus on your pelvis (legs stay straight the whole time). Twist your pelvis from one side to the other. Right side, center, left side. Now pretend you are busting a move by poking your right hip out, then center again (tailbone centered) and then left hip out, then back center again feeling the difference in where your weight goes when you do that. Now do the same with your torso.
That's so wicked Moon!!
I bet you are busting a move all the time because your straight now Moon! Im lucky Im not croked but its wicked cool that your not croked neither no more!!!
Been quite busy lately and haven't visited this board for couple of weeks... But I MUST thank you Mon for your thorough answer
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mon
Also, think the way you sleep as well.
This actually occured to me just the other day. I had my right shoulder operated about a year ago and haven't really slept on my right side since, only left side, and my sleeping position while side lying is such that it would probably "encourage" my pelvic girdle to rotate as I described (or tried to describe)...
I did have more to write here, but I'm already running late from my dentist's appointment. Have to continue later...if I survive Thanks for your response(s) once more...
yeah the way you sleep can effect your posture. You are not standing up with the inside of your legs touching each other. There is some space in between your legs. That should happen when your sleeping too having space between your legs. Your legs are not supposed to cross over one another making your pelvis twist. Get a good size pillow according to the regular width between your standing legs or a between the knees special pillow (can be from bed bath and beyond or any bed place) even better to keep you in alignment throughout the night. Without the support, it causes your pelvis to be twisted, which results in a short leg on one side.
Make sure you also pay attention to the way your head is at night and the pillow you use. Some people sleep with their face slightly or even totally not in align with your belly button. your chin is supposed to be in align. If not, that can also effect your spine alignment. You want your spine straight at night. You are in one position for about 6-8 hours at night (approx) and your muscles can easily get stiff and stay that way until you realize it and change the way you sleep. Adjust your body positioning according to your chin position. If you have your face and eye in the pillow somewhat for example, then you need to move your body position in align. If your neck is a little twisted, you may end up with one shoulder longer than the other just like the pelvis.
I also sleep on my left side by the way because I play softball and I throw right handed. When I first changed from stomach sleeping (the worse ever is stomach sleeping) to side sleeping, I was sleeping on my right side and my right arm would be sore and stiff when I throw. seeing the chiropractor got rid of that stiffness and he did not have to do it again because eversince, I have been sleeping on my left side and I have had no throwing arm problems. I don't care about my left arm because thats my glove arm. It does not throw.
Hello everyone! Haven’t posted much on this board, but been an active visitor ever since my shoulder surgery a year ago and I know there’s a lot of expertise among the members…so I’m turning to you…
So here I go, as briefly and at the same time accurately as possible…
Lately, while running, I’ve been experiencing pain in my lower back. Nothing new there, I’ve had lower back problems in the past. I have very tight hip flexors and addressing that by stretching and mobility work along with core work has helped. And so it did this time…but only on left side, right side of my lower back still hurts and gets “tight” during running. Also, it feels like the right side is doing all the work and the left just “comes along”…I can feel my right glute working, but not the left. I can’t seem to “drive” with my left leg, the heel just sort of “drops” to the ground.
Some other observations, I checked my running shoes and noticed that the right one’s heel is a bit more worn out than the left one’s. The difference would probably be more noticeable if the shoes weren’t so new. Both heels are wearing out from the outer sides.
All of the above would for my understanding mean that my right leg might be longer than my left? Either functionally or anatomically. But when I put my toes in line and start to squat down, my left knee seems more forward giving the appearance of that one being the longer leg. Squeezing my left glute and rotating my pelvic girdle to the right seems to correct this making my knees level. So that leads me to the obvious conclusion that my pelvic girdle might be rotated little to the right?? My right hip flexors also feel a little tighter than my left. But if it would be rotated to the right, wouldn’t that make the right leg the shorter one…or at least feeling shorter during the landing phase of gait cycle? Which is just the opposite to how I’m feeling…
I’m confused, could someone clear this for me a little…I’d really appreciate it!
Left...just noticed that in my previous post I said right but that's incorrect... I mean I think it's left, isn't that the side in which wristwatch is worn? Just kidding, it's the left shoulder which was operated and that's the side I haven't selpt in since...
I actually just yesterday thought of one possibly useful exercise to this, namely, birddogs...if you'd be so kind as to correct me if I'm waaayyy off here
Here's my logic: if pelvis is rotated, for example as in my case, towards right, I'd understand that the lumbar spine rotates with it to some degree and thoracic spine must then compensate for this by twisting to the opposite side (to stay in balance). Wouldn't it make sense to strengthen the muscles which counteract this rotation throughout the spine and pelvis...and wouldn't birddogs simulate pretty much similar "twisting" forces to spine and pelvis? In this case (pelvis rotated to right), when on all 4s, extending right hand and left leg off the ground...wouldn't this strengthen and activate the muscles opposing the aforementioned rotation and, therefore, possibly at least aid in correcting the malalignments in the pelvis and spine?
I hope I was able to describe that at least somewhat comprehensibly? English isn't my native language and physical therapy not my area of expertise...
Functional short leg
Thank you for answering anyway...
Just kidding, it's the left shoulder which was operated and that's the side I haven't selpt in since...
English isn't my native language and physical therapy not my area of expertise...
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