Friday, January 19, 2007

Hip Strategy...

How to implement the information from yesterday on the Glute Medius and hip function.

As the study indicates there is a need to perform screening or testing of the hip in a weight bearing situation. So we begin with a simple single leg stance test.
Stand with feet together and simply shift to a one leg stance. (Note - just bend the knee of the leg you are not standing on and lift the heel a couple of inches off of the ground - no need to raise the leg in front or lift it too high in the back.) After 5-6 seconds of single leg stance on one side - switch to the other side.

What are we looking for - Any deviation from symmetrical. To paraphrase Mike Boyle - any answer other than No - is a yes. If you cannot look at the single leg stance and say No - nothing changed - then it is a yes.

You must keep an open focus - top of the head to the arches of the feet - look for any deviation.
Good neurological systems will hide issues and compensate quickly. A shoulder that raises, a hip that shifts, a foot that collapses in at the arch - all indicate an "issue" in single leg stance.
A raise of a shoulder and an upper trap firing can indicate a "core" firing problem. A shift of the hip can indicate the glute medius firing problem. Collapsing arch indicates - well...a collapsing arch ;)

You can back this up with bridging and Stuart McGills glute amnesia test.
Then implement the Glute Activation Tip from Tom Furman's blog.

Then - and this is the important part - get on your feet and perform the single leg stance test again. Did it improve?
If not - back to the drawing board - re-evaluate and find what you missed.

IF Yes - then perform several brief single leg stance "contractions" to reinforce the now firing glute medius - this is repeated several times a day but with perfection.
When you can perform the single leg stance test at any time and nail it perfectly - progress into squats using a band around the knees, small step ups being VERY strict on perfect form and no deviation during the step up. Then progress to Single leg Dead-lift.

Where to go from there could include small single leg hops and any number of other progressions - but these depend on individual goals and situations.

Screen, address what you find in the screen, Re-screen and so on...

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