You’re only as strong as your weakest link, and although core strength reduces your chances of obtaining a personal injury, it may not be the area you need to focus on. You need to take a person method of injury prevention? This can be done by analysing your body with movement screen, or get a professional to perform one on you to find out where you stand weak. Weak links can be caused by poor technique, previous injury or muscle weakness and over time can manifest itself into a personal injury. This short article explores the hip to see what injuries can be caused by weakness there and how we can identify muscle imbalances of the hip.
Weakness at the hip can lead to injuries in the ankle or knee where almost 50% of injuries occur. The important thing injuries brought on by weakness in the hip are IT band friction syndrome, that is in which you obtain a pain on the outside of the knee. Hip weakness is also a element in patella femoral syndrome. These types of injuries are classified as an over-use or over-training injury however i think it is better to use the term running imbalance injury. This term helps to explain the unbalanced training regime which is carried out in running with no injury prevention strategy like strength training.
There are many factors that may predispose you to definitely acquiring a weak link in the hip, and for simplicity I’ve put them into 3 categories that are:
1. Structural predisposition to injuries. This is according to factors for example any structural changes that are caused by previous sessions, previous injuries, posture at the office (if you sit at a desk), leg length discrepancies (one leg being more than another), high arches and ageing.
2. Technique stress. This is determined by your running form (right leg crossing the midline of your body), running posture, and athletic shoes v barefoot running
3. Physical stress. This includes the environment (temperature), intensity, sleep, frequency of training, duration of training.
Many problems with running technique and poor posture come from muscle imbalances. This may lead to weakness at the hip. We all have muscle imbalances brought on by over used muscles shortening and becoming stronger and under worked muscles lengthening and achieving weaker during running. The weak muscle, which in this case is the hip, is normally a muscle responsible for stabilising the joint.
Let me explain why stabilisation is important. Think about your hip like a table with four legs. To provide the greatest stability you set the four legs around the edge of the table. However, should you put the four legs in the centre of the table, or near the centre of the table then it’s stabilisation decreases. If you put any type of force up for grabs the table collapses. This is why joint stabilisation is important because at some point an unstable joint can give way and cause injury.
The hip plays an important role during running. When you’re on one leg (right) throughout the swing phase of running (one leg on the ground) the hip muscles stop you from falling over to your opposite side (left) as they stabilise your pelvis. The word that hip bone is connected to the thigh bone is true, because the body works in a sequence of reactions. For example, if you use your hip muscles to maneuver your leg as far forward before you as possible, then your shoulders go back. Should you push your leg as long ago behind you as possible, your shoulders go forward, and when you push your foot out as far to the left as possible your shoulders visit the right and the other way around. The purpose I am making is it that what happens at one body part (like the hip) could affect on another part of the body (such as the ankle), as well as as much as the shoulder since the body is interconnected and works in sequence.
The importance of your hips as to the happens during running is it can control what happens in the knee which can possess a major impact on your running technique. For example, when the hip rotates inwards compared to knee rotates inwardly placing the knee within an unfavourable position, and placing great stress on your IT band, that will result in an injury. This unwanted deviation can be brought on by muscles that are too strong pulling your leg in this direction. To avoid this you need to stretch key muscles that are on the inside of the lower limb, stretch the IT bands, and strengthen your hip muscles. Runners that have been given exercises to strengthen the hip muscle have experienced home loan business pain after 6 weeks, so an injury prevention strategy is always to make certain this muscle does not get weak.
Gerald Smith from Core Performance Personal Training is a swimming teacher, running coach and Triathlon Personal trainer located in London. His sports background includes competing in boxing and rowing, therefore the step to becoming a sports specific fitness expert was natural for him. He’s worked as a swimming instructor for several years and also the combination of his academic qualifications, sports background and his knowledge of swimming has placed him in a unique position to work with Triathletes, improver level swimmers and clients seeking improved performance through strength training.