Weak hips (1)

I have been having a lot of pain and issues with my glut (right where hamstring meets the glut). Today I saw a PT that told me I am incredibly weak in my hip joints. He had me lying on my side and he put pressure on the outside of my leg (near ankle) and had me push against his hand (as if to open my legs). I could not believe how weak I was! I was shocked.

He said that because I have spent so many years running and cycling in a forward motion, I have developed very weak hip joints even though my hip flexors are very strong.

Has anybody else ever had similar injuries or issues?

If so, how did you correct this? I need to deal with this before it puts me completely out of action.

Thanks

Ton of info out there…I am working through the same issue, which led to ITBS. If you haven’t gotten there yet, do the exercises now and avoid it completely.

http://www.intelligent-triathlon-training.com/glute-exercises.html

More hip exercises from tigerchik:
Abduction (moving the leg laterally away from the body) - stand with a foot on a stair, or a pillow (to make yourself less stable), or this can be done in the pool standing against the wall. Lift leg to the side. Also can be done laying down.
Extension: like your hips go into when you flutter kick - leg goes behind body. Get on all fours, tighten glute to “kick” (controlled motion) the leg upward, knee bent at 90*.

Combining the two: on all fours, abduct knee (like a dog would lift a leg to pee on a fire hydrant), then extend back, then bring knee back to ground. I HATE these. But they’re good.

“Monster walks”: Get a resistance band and tie it around your feet so you have some room to move but you also have to work to abduct your hips. Squat down - stay low - walk BACKWARD and walk laterally, so you step diagonally behind you. You should feel it in your glutes after awhile. Another “hurt so good” one.

Hip hikes: stand on a stair with one leg. The other foot hangs over the edge (you should be facing the railing). Drop the “hanging” foot and hip – use other glute/ hip to lift the dropped one up, rotate it upward past normal. Will start to burn in the glute you’re standing on.

Leg lifts: laying down on your side, but rotate your foot outward a bit.

Bent leg lifts: as above, but bend knees and keep ankles together. Use a resistance band between your knees. It helps to lay with your back to a foam roller (which you’ll need someone else to hold) for this one - hard to do on your own.

Final one: do this for 60-80 seconds; when you get good, close your eyes. Stand on one foot, the other foot just off the ground. Squat down a bit. Shift weight to heel. Hold it.

I also do leg raise lying with my back flat against the wall. Put a towel behind your calf and hold it against the wall with your leg. Raise and hold for 5 secs. Repeat 15-25 times, 3 sets. Add ankle weights as you progress. Make sure you keep you butt against the wall and your toes @ 90* and pointing forward.

I have been having a lot of pain and issues with my glut (right where hamstring meets the glut). Today I saw a PT that told me I am incredibly weak in my hip joints. He had me lying on my side and he put pressure on the outside of my leg (near ankle) and had me push against his hand (as if to open my legs). I could not believe how weak I was! I was shocked.

He said that because I have spent so many years running and cycling in a forward motion, I have developed very weak hip joints even though my hip flexors are very strong.

Has anybody else ever had similar injuries or issues?

If so, how did you correct this? I need to deal with this before it puts me completely out of action.

Thanks

Sounds like you have weak hip abductors. As your PT said, this is very common. I just overcame the same weakness. Did your PT not prescribe any exercises? Your PT should be easily be able to get you on the right track.

If not, you might just want to google “hip abductor exercises” or something like that. Here is a link I found from runners world…

http://footloose.runnersworld.com/2009/04/to-prevent-leg-injuries-look-to-the-hips-not-the-feet.html

Keep in mind, I’m not a doctor so it’s just my best guess.

Hope that helps,

clamshells and reverse clamshells
lunges
bridges
marching bridges

I do all of those to help with mine, and have found them to be very effective.

It wasn’t a full consultation. The PT only had 15mins to spend with me, and quickly told me the problem. Im going to go back for some treatment, but wanted to get other peoples advice on their experiences. Thanks

Ton of info out there…I am working through the same issue, which led to ITBS. If you haven’t gotten there yet, do the exercises now and avoid it completely.

http://www.intelligent-triathlon-training.com/glute-exercises.html

More hip exercises from tigerchik:
Abduction (moving the leg laterally away from the body) - stand with a foot on a stair, or a pillow (to make yourself less stable), or this can be done in the pool standing against the wall. Lift leg to the side. Also can be done laying down.
Extension: like your hips go into when you flutter kick - leg goes behind body. Get on all fours, tighten glute to “kick” (controlled motion) the leg upward, knee bent at 90*.

Combining the two: on all fours, abduct knee (like a dog would lift a leg to pee on a fire hydrant), then extend back, then bring knee back to ground. I HATE these. But they’re good.

“Monster walks”: Get a resistance band and tie it around your feet so you have some room to move but you also have to work to abduct your hips. Squat down - stay low - walk BACKWARD and walk laterally, so you step diagonally behind you. You should feel it in your glutes after awhile. Another “hurt so good” one.

Hip hikes: stand on a stair with one leg. The other foot hangs over the edge (you should be facing the railing). Drop the “hanging” foot and hip – use other glute/ hip to lift the dropped one up, rotate it upward past normal. Will start to burn in the glute you’re standing on.

Leg lifts: laying down on your side, but rotate your foot outward a bit.

Bent leg lifts: as above, but bend knees and keep ankles together. Use a resistance band between your knees. It helps to lay with your back to a foam roller (which you’ll need someone else to hold) for this one - hard to do on your own.

Final one: do this for 60-80 seconds; when you get good, close your eyes. Stand on one foot, the other foot just off the ground. Squat down a bit. Shift weight to heel. Hold it.

I also do leg raise lying with my back flat against the wall. Put a towel behind your calf and hold it against the wall with your leg. Raise and hold for 5 secs. Repeat 15-25 times, 3 sets. Add ankle weights as you progress. Make sure you keep you butt against the wall and your toes @ 90* and pointing forward.

great exercises here. The hip hikes work really well as long as you do it right. Make sure you really engage your glute…it should really start to burn. Work up to 100+ hikes at a time, holding at the top for a 3 count. Another good modification is to hike your hip and hold it for 20 to 30 seconds. Once it becomes too “easy”, add ankle weights or a stretch band to add resistance.

Another good one for the glutes are reverse panks. Lay on your back with your feet flat on the floor (knees bent and pointing up). Pull your hips up off the floor into the plan position, really engaging your glutes to tuck your butt…you should really feel it. To make this harder, keep one leg straight and off the ground, so you are only using the one side to support yourself…don’t let your “free” hip drop.

I am sure he will give you the excercies at full consult but … where the hams meet the glute area could also be piraformis, glute med or glute min that is causing the pain. Weak hips could be the issue causing it though. So glute strength and hip strength may be the way to go. Don’t forget the glutes. Recent research indicates 95% of all run injuries are caused by weak glutes (I don’t have the source for that fact though)

All of those exercises were given to me by a PT for the exact same thing. The only thing that bothered me a lot were the clamshells.

Those hip hikes will BURN. You can place your hand on the side of your hip and feel the glute medius tighten to make sure you are engaging the area properly. I have noticed a HUGE difference in my run times since healing up and getting stronger though.

Running on trails helped with the lateral strengthening as well.

I’m laughing because I was recently hit with some minor IT Band pain at the knee… after seeing the ortho doc to verify it was nothing in the bone/joint, I sought out a PT who specializes in sports injuries and ART.
I too was diagnosed with having the “foward” runner weak glute medius and hip.

In addition to the hip exercises, my PT has me balancing on one foot while standing on the Bosu ball with my eyes closed. Apparently you can rewire your brain to help keep your leg from collapsing inward when fatigued by doing this. Also, ART (active release therapy) is the shit! It hurts like hell, but oh so good. It’s as close to magic as I have found.

As a side note… for those in eastern Kansas or KC, Dr Rob at Peak Performance in Lawrence Kansas is THE BEST. He’s all about sports injuries (he himself is high level Tennis competitor). I have nothing to say but awesome stuff about him and his practice. He really knows his stuff and takes plenty of time to talk to you, listen to your concerns and do anything possible to get you pain free. He’s got all the pictures of himself with a bunch of pro athletes he has treated. He really knows his stuff and isn’t expensive if he’s not in network with your health insurance. I wish all Dr’s were as good as this guy. I’m not affiliated, just a very happy patient.

Weakness in the hips is fairly common with lower leg dysfunction. Can easily lead to a which came first the chicken or the egg conversation.

I have seen many individuals with ITBand problems as well as patello-femoral pain with very weak hip abductors (deeper glute muscles) as well as weak hip extensors.

To the original poster: keep in mind the abductors or the hip function to stabilize the hip and are not a very strong/primary mover of the hip; rather they act to maintain hip/pelvic stability while running. So you are most likely going to appear to be weak with muscle testing of the abductors of the hip compared to the large flexor and extensor groups. Hip Abductors need to work consistently over long periods of time rather than put out a large maximal effort.

Thanks for everyone’s comments. I have a race this weekend, so taking things very easy the past 3 days (eg NOTHING) so I can try and run. Next week I will get into the therapy and strengthening.

Does anyone know a great sports PT in NYC?

Would love to hear of someone who has had a good experience with someone who understands endurance athletes.

Thanks

You’ve already received a lot of good advice from other folks in the thread. I was diagnosed with weak hips after I developed a stress fracture in my femoral neck. The main reason was that everything we seem to do as triathletes is straight ahead: run on the road, ride, and swim freestyle. It also affected my balance.

I’ve done most of the exercises discussed, but I also try to do a little more breast stroke in the pool as well as more lateral movements while running drills (i.e. http://www.ehow.co.uk/video_4460171__karaoke_-track-field-drill.html) to increase my lateral strength. Cross country skiing (skate style), and sports such as ultimate, soccer and basketball which require a lot of cutting can help. I also stand on one leg a lot while I’m waiting around.

Good luck.

-- Scott

You’ve already received a lot of good advice from other folks in the thread. I was diagnosed with weak hips after I developed a stress fracture in my femoral neck. The main reason was that everything we seem to do as triathletes is straight ahead: run on the road, ride, and swim freestyle. It also affected my balance.

I’ve done most of the exercises discussed, but I also try to do a little more breast stroke in the pool as well as more lateral movements while running drills (i.e. http://www.ehow.co.uk/...ack-field-drill.html) to increase my lateral strength. Cross country skiing (skate style), and sports such as ultimate, soccer and basketball which require a lot of cutting can help. I also stand on one leg a lot while I’m waiting around.

Good luck.

-- Scott

This. I look like a stork while I am cooking dinner, brushing my teeth, waiting in line somewhere. I am pretty sure people think I am nuts, but I don’t care.
Standing on one leg and throwing a ball with the kids back and forth is good too. Makes me keep balance AND entertains the children. Win.