Bad Hips

[XiaoJieFu]

Hi everyone,

when I do various kicks (front kicks, crescent stretch kicks, side kicks, roundhouse), my hip joint occasionally "pops" or "catches". I'm not sure what it is, but it makes a small sound and I can feel it. It's very uncomfortable.

I have good hip flexibility, I can almost do my middle splits. Does anyone know what this is?

Cheers,

XJF

[tug]

It's called "gettin old" dude.

But seriously, I went through a stretch of a couple months where mine would stiffen up rather painfully, and I would have to force the pop to relieve the pain. I don't know for sure if that's safe or not, but now they do it all the time without the pain.

I tend to think it's similar to cracking one's knuckles.

TuG.

[wall]

This is a very non-scientific explanation and I'm sure others here will greatly improve on it, however here it goes (the info is from my own small research on the topic caused by my own "hip popping" sounds).

The hip joint has various tendons running inside grooves, and as you do certain movements (such as kicks at wide ranges of motion) they can move about and slide in and out of the grooves, producing a clonking or popping sound and a catching or moving sensation. It is quite normal and not dangerous in the short nor long term.

The sound and sensation can also be a sign of other potentially far more serious problems (ostheoarthritis, minor hip dislocations, etc) but in most cases it should just be the above.

Wall

[Chief Fox]

Well I'm not a doctor so take this for what it's worth.

You have a tendon that stretches from your pelvic bone/hip, down the side of your thigh to the side of your knee. It's called your IT Band.

Everybody's bones are shaped slightly differently.

Some of the kicks you mention are very circular in movement. This would cause that tendon to move across your hip to a certain extent. Now because your hip might have a strange or irregular shape, that tendon could be getting hung up and then "popping" back into place.

Ok, I just thought maybe I should look this up so I don't give you bad info. And I'm totally right on!

So here's a link.
http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/otherhip/a/snappinghip.htm

[XiaoJieFu]

Thanks for the info, Fox & Wall.

@ Tug: I'm 19. ;)

[tug]

Thanks for the info, Fox & Wall.

@ Tug: I'm 19. ;)

Didn't even think of that until after I posted.

D'oh :p

[bodhitree]

I'm no doctor, but I think heavy squats (breaking parallel of course) would be the best remedy.

[Chief Fox]

I'm no doctor, but I think heavy squats (breaking parallel of course) would be the best remedy.
It's funny, but I find that squats will cure most any leg knee, joint problem. (for me)

Squats = The Super Exercise!

[fa_jing]

I've heard alot about the snapping tendon thing at the hips, but with mine it is definitely different. Mine is more like the cracking of knuckles or a chiropractic adjustment. The hip joint will feel out of place then certain stretches, rolling out of bed a certain way etc will cause a pop and the flexibility is then improved.

[Becca]

Unless you start to feel sharp pains, I wouldn't worry about it. You may have just reached your upper limit of flexability in the hips. Now the hard work of keeping your stretch there and making gains much more slowly begins. :cool:

ps: squats really do help everything if you do them correctly.:D

[cjurakpt]

to XJF:
sounds like Chief Fox hit the nail on the head with the snapping hip dx. - I also experience the snap / clunk when I do certain movements - it's very specific and very reproduceable, which is a strong indicator for the tendon snapping; for me, the trick has been simply avoiding the movement in question, although if I do co-contraction with certain muscle groups, I ca minimize the effect, although it's not a very functional m.o.

to fa jing:
where do you feel the popping? based on your description of a) how the hip feels before the "event", b) the nature of the "event" itself (the chiro adjustment-like aspect) and c) the improved flexibility after, it might actually be a self-induced "adjutment" of the pubic symphasis - the THEORY s that if the pubes are out of alignment, doing certain types of manuevers will correct them: usually, it's by having the person lie on their back, knees up and together, then they try to push the knees out to the side against your resistance; this is repeated with the knees separated; then you switch and have them press the knees towards each other from the knees-sparated position - this can be done incombination with a head lift; the idea is that by a combo of isometrics of the abductors and adductors of the hip, you "pull" the pubes back into alignment (I think it's a bit more complex than that, but that's the party line); end result is that, often, on the third part, you will hear an audible click / pop in the pubic region, and afterwards hip mobility is increased, back pain goes away, even headaches can stop (this happened once to a patient with chronic migraines who's pubes I adjusted and she was pain free for the first time in years for a long time thereafter); anyway, the popping often feels localised in the inner thigh / groin region and can be self induced in different ways;

experientially there's nothing wrong with what is happening, except that if it keeps happening the implication is that the pubic stuff is secondary, a compensation for a more promary restriction elsewhere (if it was primary, it wouldn't keep recurring), such as the hip, the sacroiliac, pelvic floor, or elsewhere further removed

for both of you, I'd go see a good manually oriented therapist to help you figure out what's up, and maybe help you a bit

[lunghushan]

Somebody said you might be reaching the limits of your flexibility. That's probably wise advice, and you probably want to be careful, because otherwise you could be looking at hip surgery later on.

Some kicks really push the hips to their limit, IMHO. Like we used to do a 'hurricane kick', which was double windmill kicks, and a lot of fellow students felt hip pain after that, especially if they pushed it before they were stretched out enough.

[cjurakpt]

Somebody said you might be reaching the limits of your flexibility. That's probably wise advice, and you probably want to be careful, because otherwise you could be looking at hip surgery later on.

what is the evidenced based basis for this statement and what exactly would be the structure(s) in question requiring surgical intervention?

let me save you the trouble of having to answer: vague prophetics regarding the eventual need for surgery are alarmist and without basis; aggressively working at or past the "limits" of one's flexibility is not advocated and can certainly lead to muscle injury, but hip surgery would not be something to worry about in most cases, unless it was needed to address an acute trauma (e.g. - an avulsion tear), which is not a common occurrence; probably the most common need for hip surgery is a total hip replacement (THR), but there is no existing evidence correlating flexibility or lack thereof and the need for THR

bottom line, as I say to everyone, go find a good manualy oriented practitioner (osteo, PT, chiro, tui na, whatever) and have them work with you before you get injured, so that when / if you do, they already know what you were like beforehand and are acquainted with you in general;

[lunghushan]

Yeah, you should always talk to a qualified physician. I've met more people injured in martial arts training by far than fights.

Let's just say that my sifu had to retire early from his job because he could no longer do his job and required hip surgery. I have no proof that was caused by the kicks, but it is highly suspect. Is that good enough for you? I guess not.

You know, it's kindof obvious that most of you don't like differing opinions, and instead would rather attack the speaker.

You might as well get your own blogs instead of posting on a forum.

[leroyjnsn]

It's funny, but I find that squats will cure most any leg knee, joint problem. (for me)

Squats = The Super Exercise!

I can agree fox. I was shot in my leg and that was the main therapy.

[cjurakpt]

Yeah, you should always talk to a qualified physician. I've met more people injured in martial arts training by far than fights.

I agree completely; it's funny, you train to supposedly not get hurt, and then you end up getting hurt...


Let's just say that my sifu had to retire early from his job because he could no longer do his job and required hip surgery. I have no proof that was caused by the kicks, but it is highly suspect. Is that good enough for you? I guess not.

you're right - it's not - that is, if it is "highly suspect", then one ought to be able to describe the mechanism of the trauma, the affected structures, etc.; also, the tye of surgery would have to match the etiology - so if you want to say that if someone has poor flexibility that they need to be careful about muscle strains when they kick at the limits of their range, I have nothing to say; but to make the leap to surgery, I just don't see the evidence; now, if you said that the leg that got the surgery was not the one that he was kicking with primarilly, I would be more inclined to draw a relationship; but that's because the involved hip would have been on the primary weight bearing leg, which would be the one subjected to increased compressive loading and closed-chain torquing, so subsequent deterioration from that isn't that much of a stretch; but that's not a flexibility issue per se, since increasing his flexibility would not change the weight-bearing status of that leg necessarilly


You know, it's kindof obvious that most of you don't like differing opinions, and instead would rather attack the speaker.

I have absolutely no problem with differeing opinions; I do have a problem with opinions not based on reasoned evidence


You might as well get your own blogs instead of posting on a forum.

we could all say the same for you...

[GeneChing]

Our latest ezine offering: Everyday, in Every Way, Look to Your Health (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=1283) by Sandra Balint

[mawali]

Hi everyone,

when I do various kicks (front kicks, crescent stretch kicks, side kicks, roundhouse), my hip joint occasionally "pops" or "catches". I'm not sure what it is, but it makes a small sound and I can feel it. It's very uncomfortable.

I have good hip flexibility, I can almost do my middle splits. Does anyone know what this is?

Cheers,

XJF
The flexibiloity is evident as you stated but what about the strength of other parts of lower body (psoas, quadriceps, etc) Falls in elderly involving the hip is life threatening so do some google-fu as one step for your benefit. p.s. don't know your age