3 min read

Myodetox

Posted on Apr 11, 2024

This Running Workout Is Designed To Build Endurance

We all want to run and get outside, but we must take the proper steps to prepare our body to run and help avoid any future pain and injuries.

Running related hip pain can come from a variety of sources. Some common causes are a decrease in hip extension, reduced ability to maintain proper alignment, and decreased load and force absorption in the foot/ankle/knee.

If you’re a beginner, you want to find a consistent schedule before trying to increase your weekly mileage. Instead of adding more miles to your runs, try to increase the number of days you run while sticking to the same amount of miles. You don’t need to improve your mileage or speed every week, and you want to keep your distance generally the same for two-three weeks to allow your body to adjust.

Incorporating a regular strength training and mobility program into your weekly schedule is an effective way to not only improve how you feel during your runs, but a great way to keep you running in the long term. Progressively strengthening your body will allow you to run further, run longer, and run faster comfortably. Additionally, the right strength training can even improve your mobility.

Without the proper preparation, you may experience hip pain while you’re running, which feels like pinching or burning in the front of the hip, or a dull ache in the side or upper posterior hip.

Additionally, the right strength training can even improve your mobility. Here are a few moves to try.

Split Stance Isometrics

Start position One foot forward, one foot back, and keeping your head over your hips.

End position Drop down into a lunge position. Shift your weight forward and allow your front knee to travel over your toes while keeping that front heel down.

You should feel a stretch in your Achilles’ tendon and in the front of your hips. Hold this position for 30 seconds on each side.

Complete 4 reps on each side.

Raised Front Foot Split Squat

Start position in a similar position to the split stance position, place a book or yoga block under your front foot with your toes over the edge.

Keep your head over your hips, shift your weight forward onto your front foot.

End position Drop down into a lunge. Keep the weight forward as you rise back up.

You should feel a stretch in your glutes, inner thigh and hamstrings of your front leg.

Complete 10 reps on each side

Wall Bridges

Start position Lay on your back with your feet against a wall and knees/hips at a 90 degree angle. Flatten your back against the floor and dig your heels downard (you should feel a lot of tension in your hamstrings).

End position Keep this position and then drive your hips up to the ceiling without arching your back.

You should feel this in your hamstrings and glutes. Your quads should be relaxed.

Complete 10 reps

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3 min read

Janny Chan

Posted on Mar 9, 2023

Education

Test Your Hip Mobility

How tight are your hips?
Test your hip mobility with these simple exercises.

Stiff hips may be an early indicator of arthritis.
Here’s what you need to know.

It’s estimated that roughly 10% of the population experiences some form of hip pain, increasing as we age. Hip stiffness is often the first sign of impending hip pain.

Understanding the characteristics of tight hips and what you can do to help is the key to preventing pain.

5 Ways To Test Your Hip Mobility

Here are a few movements you can do to test your hip mobility.

These movements are best reviewed with a physical therapist, chiropractor, or massage therapist. Doing the tests yourself will give you an indication of your hip’s mobility and stiffness.

Squat Test: sink into a squat, and attempt to shift side-to-side. You may find one hip feeling more tension than the other.

Internal Rotation: lay on your back, bring your knees to a 90 degree angle, and rotate the feet outwards. This is the internal rotation of the hip. Compare range and feel side-to-side.

External Rotation: lay on your back, and bring one knee to a 90 degree angle. Keeping the thigh still, rotate your foot inwards. This is the external rotation of the hip. Compare range and feel side-to-side.

Flexion: lay on your back, with your legs flat. Bring one knee towards your chest. This is flexion of the hip. Compare range and feel side-to-side.

Extension: lay on your stomach, legs flat on the ground. Keep your knees straight, bring one leg off the ground. This is a hip extension. Compare range and feel side-to-side.

3 Common Reasons For Hip Stiffness

The hip is a highly mobile joint that relies on cartilage, bone, muscles, and nerves to work together. Each one of those components may contribute to feeling stiff in the hip.

Nerves: the ability to rotate the hip, and move it into adduction and abduction is limited by the mobility of the major nerves of the hip and thigh. Issues with major nerves of the hip build up over time due to movement, postural habits and/or a lack of mobility.

Muscles: your muscles and tendons are the most common sources of hip stiffness. Many office workers and athletes may complain of “hip flexor” stiffness or “glute stiffness”. The stiffness here may coincide with weak muscles, decreased range of motion in certain directions, and pain with use.

What starts off as stiffness and a pinch can become a chronic issue if not appropriately addressed. Hip pain can often feel like a pulling, cramping, or sharp pains at the front, back, and side of the hip. These will often be aggravated by general movements like sit-to-stands, side-to-side movements, running, or even walking.

Joint: cartilage damage (e.g. labrum of the hips) or surface degeneration of the articulating bones, “wear-and-tear” at the hip joint leads to significant reductions in the range of motion..

With joint issues, hip stiffness and pain are often felt deep in the groin. This pain is not palpable, meaning massage (or any other similar intervention) brings no temporary relief. There may be clicking, locking, or a feeling of “catching” at the hip. Athletic movements and stair climbing get more and more difficult.

Those with arthritis feel stiffness in the morning, continuing with aggravation and groin pain throughout the day, making a simple walk very difficult.

What Can I Do About My Hip Stiffness?

Regardless of the causes of your hip stiffness, understanding which movements are restricted or painful and what activities are limited is important to know moving forward. Thankfully, movement and exercise routines deliver amazing outcomes for hip stiffness.

Physical therapy can guide your hip mobility, and start creating movement goals. Along with massage therapy and chiropractic treatment, manual therapy techniques such as joint mobilizations and myofascial techniques provide relief for hip stiffness.

Want To Have FutureProof Hips?

Book a session with me! I’ll assess your movements and set you up on a FutureProof plan to increase your mobility, reduce pain and prevent injury.

Book your session today

3 min read

The Gluteus Medius Stretch Is Key To A Stronger Butt

Posted on Jul 27, 2017

Education

The Gluteus Medius Stretch Is Key To A Stronger Butt

If you’re not texting on your phone, you’re sitting at your desk hunched over and working away on your laptop. To avoid any pain, a good gluteus medius stretch is necessary for a stronger butt.

If you’re feeling hip pain, it’s probably because you’re not activating your glute muscles enough. Though you may not feel any pain now, the mid-day walk to grab lunch will eventually catch up to your hips.

To get a better idea how your butt is related to your hip pain, allow us to explain.

This important group of muscles do this as their major actions:
Medius: abducts the hip (hip to the side)
Maximus: extends the hip (pulls the thigh behind you)
Minimus:abducts the hip (hip to the side)

These important muscles are often weak and underworked. So many of our jobs require us to sit for prolonged periods of time that it gets difficult to fix hip pain. The lack of mobility causes our gluten to “turn off” or stop firing as effectively. Once our glutes stop firing, we start developing imbalances within the hip which can lead to aches and eventual hip pain.

When building strong glute muscles, you can expect to see some of these things happen along the way:

Alleviate back pain: Learning to contract your glutes in a multitude of ranges can alleviate a lot of the mechanical back pain you are currently experiencing. Your glutes work to stabilize the pelvis and keep the hip joint centered. When they’re strong, your lower back doesn’t need to compensate and take excessive mechanical stress.

Increase performance: If you want to maximize your athletic potential, squatting should be a top priority. Stronger glutes will improve your speed, agility, and jumping skills, and quick side-to-side movements. Every time you take a step, your glute max stabilizes your pelvis, making transitions into movements safe on your pelvic joints and ultimately your back.

Abolish knee pain: A strong glute medius keeps the pelvis stable and prevents swaying from side to side. When your pelvis isn’t stable, it puts a lot of excessive pressure on your knees and ankles. When your glutes are strong, it helps to maintain proper alignment of the knee, hip and ankle. This natural alignment keeps your knee from hurting by tracking the knee cap properly.

Try out these 3 gluteus medius stretch movement techniques and see if you can hold the positions for 1 minute each with total control.

This will give you a good indicator of how well your glutes are doing.

Kick Backs

Single Leg Bridges

Side Clamp