Hip mobIlity: game changer

Working on hip mobility allowed this lady to drastically improve her running efficiency.

Working on hip mobility allowed this lady to drastically improve her form efficiency. Notice how much more symmetrical her form is? Her head is squared in the middle, less hip shifting, improved stride length, improved forward drive (less body rotation) and more effective toe off.

So what exactly did we do for this lady?

1) We improved her pelvic-sacrum congruity. If you have read the book, you would know it’s a big part of what’s lacking in the average runner’s gait.

Lower abdominals and deep abdominals were weak. Spinal dissociation work on all 4s followed by the addition of upper and lower limbs motion.

Upper abdominals were overly dominated. To tone them down, lots of posterior scapula work activation was performed as well as deep neck muscles activation work to get her slouching less from the lower cervical through the thoracic region.

2) Deep hip stabilisers strengthening

Her hip needed the stability throughout stance and swing. Her hip external rotators need to be strong into shortening and lengthening. So that’s exactly what we did.

Concentric and eccentric work on 2 legs, progressing to single leg work.

Of course, it all seems like a day’s work in writing. But in reality, all these progress and changes happened over a 6 weeks period.

Weekly sessions with very independent active daily strength work by my patient.

Your gait can be optimised.

You can run better.

#YCRB.