It's been awhile since I last updated the blog. I was having trouble finding a topic that I wanted to rant about. I finally came up with something that I can relate to. It's not something I know too much about but interested in incorporating more into my practice. This post will be difficult for me to write, but at least I'll have learned lots by the end of it -- or at least, that's the plan :)
For whatever reason, I've recently started being more aware of impairments and dysfunctions in my body. I'm not sure if it's related to being a physio and just being more conscious of my body, or if it's because I've been working out more and trying to practice good form, or if it's due to seeing clients with conditions that are beyond the help of just passive treatments.
Lately, I've been seeing many people who get their signs and symptoms only with very specific functional movements. As for me, I get clicking/popping in my right hip only when I descend (and not ascend) into a squat. Otherwise, it's completely fine. I've tried playing with narrow and wide stances, turning my feet in and out, elevating my heels, shifting my weight, etc., etc., but the results were not consistent nor conclusive. I took a video of myself squatting and noticed some obvious deviations/shifting of my body when I'm lowering myself down. What is my body doing while I'm squatting that causes this to happen? Is it because one of my legs is longer than the other, and I'm putting more weight on one side? Does my scoliosis cause my back and pelvis to shift more towards one side? Is one hip tighter than the other and limiting my range of motion? Am I leaning too far forward because my glutes are weak and my pelvis is tilted forward? Are my flat feet causing my knees to collapse inwards? As you can see, the clicking sensation is in my hip, but a number of other factors outside of the hip joint itself can be problematic.
Movement patterns and motor control are all the hype these days. It opens our eyes to the entire body as a system, rather than treating the joint as a joint and the muscle as a muscle. Movement dysfunction is all about compensation: your body is designed to perform, and if it can't do so using the correct muscles in a specific pattern, then it's going to recruit any muscle and start doing whatever it can to meet the demands. This causes a lot of muscle imbalances and asymmetries in the body -- certain muscles get overused and fatigued or tight, while others become weak and inhibited. Examples include bending at your back instead of hinging at your hips, using your wrist and forearm to compensate for lack of shoulder mobility, and excessively loading your knees due to weak hips.
Abnormal motor patterns get ingrained into our brains, and if these patterns that are responsible for causing pain are not corrected, the body is susceptible to further injury. Understanding why your body moves the way it does allows treatment to be focused on the root of the problem. Enter: exercises. Corrective exercises re-teach our nervous system how to move properly again, whether this means learning how to activate an inhibited muscle or increasing the mobility/flexibility of an overly active muscle. It is not an easy process, and it definitely takes some diligence.
In the meantime, I will keep trying to assess my squat dysfunction and keep you up to date. Stay tuned...
