3 min read

Janny Chan

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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

2 min read

Myodetox

Posted on

How to Treat a Pinched Nerve in Your Neck


Cervical Radiculopathy Explained


Have you ever had numbness or tingling going down your arms or fingers? You may have experienced cervical radiculopathy, also known as nerve compression or a pinched nerve in your neck. This unassuming injury occurs in nearly 2 out of 1000 people.


What Is A Cervical Radiculopathy?
Cervical radiculopathies are the result of compression and inflammation of a nerve at the neck. There are various conditions that may lead to nerve compression:

  • Degenerative disc disease of the neck (spondylosis)
  • Disc herniation at the neck
  • Osteophytes of the neck
  • Stenosis at the cervical spine
  • Muscle tightness at the neck



    Who Gets Nerve Compression?
    The population most at risk for developing pinched nerves is the 50+ age. Women are more at risk than men, though the difference is mild.



    Symptoms Of A Pinched Nerve In Your Neck
    The nerves from the neck connect to your trunk, shoulder, arm, hand, and fingers. Symptoms of nerve compression can radiate to any one of those regions:

  • Numbness
  • Tingling e.g. “pins and needles”
  • Muscle weakness
  • Reduce reflexes (tested by your healthcare professional)
  • Pain

    Radicular symptoms like pain and nerve sensations are often felt down the arm. Moving the neck becomes incredibly painful. Performing certain movements may change your symptoms – for better or worse.

    Many cases will present with reduced reflexes and muscle weakness. The most common region affected is the C7 nerve root, the C6 nerve root, and the C5 nerve root. Common movements affected by a pinched nerve in your neck are pushing, pulling, and gripping.

    Cervical radiculopathies typically occur on one side of the body. If you’re noticing nerve symptoms down both sides, see your physician immediately.



    How Do You Treat It?
    Treatment of cervical radiculopathy will involve your physician and physical therapist.
    Your physician can perform tests to identify the cause of your nerve compression. Your physician and physical therapist can perform tests to determine the extent of the compression and provide treatment options such as:

    Postural training: nerve compression may be aggravated by a forward head posture. This requires postural awareness, education, and exercises.

    Exercise: strength training of the muscle can dramatically improve symptoms.
    Check out our IG posts dedicated to neck strengthening.

    Manual therapy: traction, myofascial techniques, and joint mobilizations dedicated to improving posture and reducing muscle tension can provide relief.
    Check out this post about manual therapy for the neck.

    Immobilization: temporarily providing a soft collar to reduce nerve symptoms. Be aware, there is minimal evidence supporting this.

    Medication: provided under the guidance of a physician.

    Surgery: when conservative management fails, and serious nerve symptoms are present.

    There is good news for those with a pinched nerve. Your symptoms will nearly fully resolve in 4-6 months. Up to 90% of people with nerve compression maintain recovery for 4 years. This shows that degenerative changes in the neck do not lead to permanent nerve damage.



    Worried You May Have A Pinched Nerve?
    Give us and your physician a call. We’ll book you a session with one of our expert therapists. They’ll assess your movements and set you up on a FutureProof plan.

    Find your nearest clinic

  • 2 min read

    Myodetox

    Posted on

    Hypermobility Explained:
    More Than Just Party Tricks?


    When does a party trick turn into a pain?
    Understanding hypermobility and when it’s time to seek help.


    We all have that friend who moves their joints in strange ways. Their classic party tricks include twisting their body into all sorts of shapes like hyper-extended elbows, knees, and thumbs.

    These wildly mobile individuals are often labeled double-jointed when in fact, they have hypermobility. But what does that mean? And what, if any, are the risks?



    What Is Hypermobility Syndrome?
    The main risk of being hypermobile is developing hypermobility syndrome. The syndrome manifests when you have excessive joint mobility combined with debilitating symptoms. There is no issue with having joints that move beyond “normal”. Just ask dancers, yogis, musicians, and gymnasts – many will attest to benefiting from an increased range of motion. But when problems begin to arise, then it becomes a syndrome.

    Increased “laxity” in the joints is often associated with other hypermobility disorders such as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Marfan Syndrome, and Rheumatoid Arthritis (this list is not exhaustive). These disorders tend to appear due to genetics, affecting the strength of collagen in our body. When collagen becomes weak, our ligaments and joints become loose and stretch, leading to hypermobility. hypermobility-symptoms



    What Are The Risks And Symptoms?
    Though being hypermobile in itself is not bad, it becomes a problem if you present:

  • Pain or stiffness at the joint and muscle group.
  • Dislocations and subluxations at the joint.
  • Weakness at the muscle or muscle group.
  • Poor balance and movement coordination.
  • Generalized fatigue e.g. extremely tired throughout the day.
  • Dizziness and fainting.
  • Constant muscle strains and ligament sprains e.g. ankle rolling.
  • Thin and stretchy skin
  • Digestive issues.



    Who Is Most Affected?
    Children and adolescents, specifically females, tend to present with the syndrome more than adults. In fact, hypermobility tends to reduce as we age. It is believed that hormonal changes over time affect collagen strength in the body and reduce hypermobility symptoms.



    What Can You Do About It?
    You can think of hypermobility syndrome as over-indexing on the amount of space a joint can move within. The more range of motion (or “space”) you have at a joint, the more you need to strengthen and stabilize the area to reduce the risk of overuse and injury.

    Compound weight lifting and stability training can significantly improve symptoms. Speaking to a physician and physical therapist will be your main source to help create a plan for managing hypermobility.



    Worried You May Have Hypermobility Syndrome?
    Give us a call! We’ll book you a session with one of our incredible therapists. They’ll assess your movements and set you up on a FutureProof plan.

    Find your nearest clinic