TFL OMG WTF

The worst thing about this shit is I apparently favor it to avoid pain to the extent that it hurts everywhere in my lower body when I have to walk. Nothing's working right. My other hip, my calfs (calves?), quads, my whole lower body is not working right and everything fucking hurts like a bastard. I just literally had to walk about 200 yards and it was all I could do to get back to my blessed blessed chair. I ain't young but I'm too young and in too good shape to be this fucking old and hurting. Fuck.

edit: [/whining] tomorrow I start to try to fix this shit. It's been building for a while, I knew it and it's my own fault, I was ignoring it until it got to be intolerable recently. Shit was a closed loop, a self-fulfilling prophecy. Hip was hurting so I walked less, hip hurt more because I wasn't walking. Hip hurt even more so I walked even less, etc. Pretty predictable really. But my whole life I've really needed to be smacked hard to do anything about my health. Not exactly sure why that is (I could make some fairly accurate guesses I bet), but it's a clear pattern. I gotta stop that shit.

I'll report back just for the record and maybe it will help someone else later on.

Hip is the GCT of biomechanics

And the hip bone is connected to the leg bone

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GCT? Grand Central Terminal??

It does seem to be the hub of it all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYb8Wm6-QfA

that^^ was good but this even better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-jFZEhKfnQ

Fats Waller was a badass.

This sounds like what I had going on this ski season. Too many 12 plus hour days sitting and I stopped walking to work. Hips were consistently tight from December to April and I didn't figure out how to fix it well with stretching. It really messed with my skiing anytime I thought about it. Fortunately we had lots of pow days where I could ski with a completely clear mind.

Good to have a name to look for. I think it went away when I started walking a few miles to work everyday again. Since then I started climbing which also seems to help. Gotta get running again

Sitting really fucks with my back. What gets tight is a muscle that runs "through" the hip from a lumbar to the side of my hip. This started in my mid-20's.

Doc told me at the time to keep moving and that sitting will make it worse unless it is really acute. He isn't wrong.

You might consider seeing a DO who practices OMM/OMT. I might get some push back for that, but I've had some reasonable success with it.

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Originally Posted by abraham

This sounds like what I had going on this ski season. Too many 12 plus hour days sitting and I stopped walking to work. Hips were consistently tight from December to April and I didn't figure out how to fix it well with stretching. It really messed with my skiing anytime I thought about it. Fortunately we had lots of pow days where I could ski with a completely clear mind.

Good to have a name to look for. I think it went away when I started walking a few miles to work everyday again. Since then I started climbing which also seems to help. Gotta get running again

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Once my field job turned into more desk over a few years, my hips and knees killed me every day. At first I thought it was IT related and torquing the hip by being tight. Or that I was getting old too early. It is really just a sitting thing I think as 1.5 months out of work and all feels great.

#deskjobsuck

For acute pain, dry needling is my favorite. Lacrosse ball work at home can do wonders, as well, but you have to be really patient. I can get my TFL to spasm and release, but it took like two years and a meditation/zen-like approach to get to that point. Basically, you just lay on floor on top of the lax ball where the worst pain/tightness is and try to relax the muscle while simultaneously applying more pressure until the muscle spams and releases all the tension. Then move very slightly to a new spot and relax again.

You should check out The FAI fix [dot com]. It's a little pricey (though cheap in the grand scheme of things), but there are a whole host of exercises and stretches that can really help with hip problems. Most of it is available in various forms other places, but it's still a great resource, and some of the exercises and stretches I'd not seen anywhere else. I'll try to list some of them, but the most useful ones can be hard to explain without a video/diagram.

If your glutes are really inhibited, you'll need to work on activation exercises by squeezing your glutes. Here are some I like:

Internal rotation: the goal is to get your glute med to control internal rotation instead of your TFL. A PT had me do this by laying on the floor up against a wall with a 90 deg corner (knee bent so my calfs touched one corner and my hamstrings touched the other). Press your hamstrings against the wall and raise your ankle up (i.e., internally rotate).

Bridge (add weight when it gets easy). If you feel it in your quads and back but not your butt, you have activation issues with your glutes.

Hamstring curl machine—good for initial activation before you switch to a more functional exercise.

Reverse hyper extensions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d9_W--eUcI If you can find a reverse hyper machine at one of the gyms, use it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9tU7_w7rvw

Monster & side walk square. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O50LHBlcscA The video sez point toes forward, but I prefer to point toes in a little so you're in a slight internal rotation to inhibit TFL and engage glute med. Maybe more important for me than you, though.

Superband X-walk: http://functionalresistancetraining....perband-x-walk

Single Leg Romanian Deadlifts: https://www.johnsonfit.com/blog/sing...lift-right-way. Add weight when it's not super hard. Try to squeeze your glutes so it works your hamstrings and glutes instead of quads

Sorry for the novel. Hope this helps.

Try the exercise "landmine twist". Start light


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Originally Posted by Betelgeuse

Try the exercise "landmine twist". Start light

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Isn't that primarily a core exercise? Not sure how that's going to help TFL issues. Am I missing something?

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Originally Posted by iceman

I'll report back just for the record and maybe it will help someone else later on.

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Been almost a month...how you doing?

Well it sounds like he fell down the stairs so probably not great.

Those exercises have been helping me though, so thanks

^^Bummer. Heal up quick, ice!

Yeah, glad I could help. After typing that long post above, I realized I could do better myself—between the exercises and a few acupuncture sessions, my hip injury has been feeling ever-so-slightly better, which is great. Fingers crossed it keeps improving.

Another good one for glute max is the Rear-food elevated split squat (RFESS) with dumbells. But you have to be careful not to overextend your back while doing it and that your glutes are already activating properly. Couch stretch for rectus femoris is also very important if you sit all day every day.

The big revelation for me is that skiing is pretty quad dominant and sitting weakens and shortens your posterior chain. So if you sit all day and then target your quads during workouts to prepare for ski season, you're setting yourself up for failure unless you balance it out with some exercises for your posterior chain. When I started lifting hard a few years ago, I primarily got sore in my glutes and hamstrings—I mistakenly assumed that meant I needed to work my quads more/instead, and ended up with a hip injury as a result. The correct conclusion should have been: "Man, my glutes are weak!" not "Man, I need to target my quads more to get them strong for ski season."

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Originally Posted by iceman

The worst thing about this shit is I apparently favor it to avoid pain to the extent that it hurts everywhere in my lower body when I have to walk. Nothing's working right. My other hip, my calfs (calves?), quads, my whole lower body is not working right and everything fucking hurts like a bastard. I just literally had to walk about 200 yards and it was all I could do to get back to my blessed blessed chair. I ain't young but I'm too young and in too good shape to be this fucking old and hurting. Fuck.

edit: [/whining] tomorrow I start to try to fix this shit. It's been building for a while, I knew it and it's my own fault, I was ignoring it until it got to be intolerable recently. Shit was a closed loop, a self-fulfilling prophecy. Hip was hurting so I walked less, hip hurt more because I wasn't walking. Hip hurt even more so I walked even less, etc. Pretty predictable really. But my whole life I've really needed to be smacked hard to do anything about my health. Not exactly sure why that is (I could make some fairly accurate guesses I bet), but it's a clear pattern. I gotta stop that shit.

I'll report back just for the record and maybe it will help someone else later on.

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Just reading this shit is making me wince. I've taken a beating since that post^^. I fractured my pelvis (12/2017)skiing and have had a hip replacement on that side (1/2020). Also a couple broken ribs (twice), torn rotator cuff, subdural hematoma...the list goes on. And they all happened over time, it's not like I was in a car crash. Sometimes I feel like my role in life is to take a beating. And they've been telling me that I need a hip replacement on the other side too. argh.

After the pelvis fracture in 2017 it's like my body forgot about the TFL and it hasn't bothered me at all until lately. Welp, now that the hip replacement (almost exactly a year ago) seems all healed, the TFL shit has come roaring back. This shit sucks hard. And it's not just the TFL, the pain causes you to change how you do everything so after a while everything hurts. which is where I am. Again.

Brock had some good advice in this thread but he's MIA lately. I'm going to finally take action on Yeahman's post early in the thread and go to an ART guy nearby unless I get ahold of Brock and get the name of the guy he was recommending.

Unless new shit has come to light on dealing with this TFL thing. Has it?

Ice, if you're in SLC, we're both still alive, and this pandemic shit is over, jump over to Reno and let me introduce you to someone who can help you out incredibly. As she would say, getting the muscle to release and relax is one part of the equation but training it to stay relaxed is the key.

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Originally Posted by Brock Landers

Ice if you can get to Boston I have a PT/chiro that can help w diagnosing, treating, and exercises. He does Graston and ART as well (if appropriate). Treated me for tendinitis and basically our whole crossfit gym on whatever issues pop up.

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is this guy’s office on Boylston? Can you shoot me a pm with the info? Can’t know too many good people when it comes to this crap.

I'll keep it in mind Pat, maybe this spring? Or summer at the latest I hope. Not gonna get out there this winter I don't think. On Monday I'm gonna call this ART guy and hopefully that will help. Been really working the lacrosse ball, foam roller, self-massage stuff the past couple days, I actually feel a bit better today. The cream does help, it did wonders for my shoulder, but I can't take a bath in it unfortunately.

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Originally Posted by Self Jupiter

is this guy’s office on Boylston? Can you shoot me a pm with the info? Can’t know too many good people when it comes to this crap.

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Brock's been MIA here for a while but I have his number, I'm gonna call him later. If I catch him I'll report back, or maybe I can get him to post.

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Originally Posted by Self Jupiter

is this guy’s office on Boylston? Can you shoot me a pm with the info? Can’t know too many good people when it comes to this crap.

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I got a hold of Brock, the guy he was talking about is up your way now, in Newburyport. Name is Michael Melander. He also said google Ian Nurse or Carly Stote in Boston.

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Originally Posted by ötzi

I got a hold of Brock, the guy he was talking about is up your way now, in Newburyport. Name is Michael Melander. He also said google Ian Nurse or Carly Stote in Boston.

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Right on, thanks ice

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Originally Posted by ötzi

ötzi

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WTF is that!!

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Originally Posted by Self Jupiter

is this guy’s office on Boylston? Can you shoot me a pm with the info? Can’t know too many good people when it comes to this crap.

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It was on Boylston, then moved to Berkeley St, then Newburyport (Melander). Carly at Spine and Sports Injury Center or Ian Nurse at Wellness in Motion...I think theres prob a bit of a wait but he's good. Both in the city

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Originally Posted by Brock Landers

It was on Boylston, then moved to Berkeley St, then Newburyport (Melander). Carly at Spine and Sports Injury Center or Ian Nurse at Wellness in Motion...I think theres prob a bit of a wait but he's good. Both in the city

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~660 block on Boylston is our Chiropractic District. Appreciate the names, thanks!

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Originally Posted by Brock Landers

WTF is that!!

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A mess. I tried to change my password but didn't realize my profile was linked to an old email address, so the board sent an email to that address and is waiting for conformation of the change and until then iceman can't post. Nobody here knows how to fix it, so I had to call an audible. I was always supposed to be named after ötzi, not the guy in Top Gun, so what the hell. RIP iceman.

You should PM Rontele he could prob get it fixed