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/othe...nappinghip.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

[bodhitree]

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

[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