July 3, 2020

Physical Therapy

Two nights ago, I had my PT friend from the gym come out to the house and actually put his hands on my problems (so far we've just video chatted about my SI).

Big-ass porch couch made an excellent outdoor work surface, and we wore masks

Within minutes, he had diagnosed me as having a crooked and twisted pelvis. Specifically, and not at all to my surprise, my right hip is forward of my left hip, and my right side of my pelvis is higher than the left side.

This has the cascading effect of:
- Shortening the right side of my torso
- Causing me to stand more heavily to the right and sit more heavily to the left
- Causing my left glute to be smaller than the right
- Causing my left foot to be flatter than the right and my left kneecap to point inward
- Causing my left knee to hurt when I put it into the saddle
- Probably causing the tightness in my right knee when I run more than a couple miles
- Causing my SI pain

Baby Jen six months into starting CrossFit in December 2011, with horrible form lol

He did a couple of exercises with me, gave me "homework" exercises, and told me not to be surprised if my right hip started hurting in a very specific way as those shortened...tendons? muscles? start to stretch back to a more normal length.

Within an hour of him leaving, not only did it hurt exactly where he said it would, the motion of walking changed. I felt like suddenly my right hip bone had more range of motion through the walk step, and was able to rotate forward/down more. It was FASCINATING, and I can't wait to see what working through these issues does for me in the saddle.


8 comments:

  1. This is exactly what my SI joint does, to the point that when it's bad my right leg is an inch shorter than my left. For me, getting it re-adjusted at the chiropractor and then following that up with PT is a godsend. So glad you're getting it worked on! Mine has been worse too since working from home, as my right hip flexor for whatever reason seizes up and pulls. So I've been stretching & foam rolling a few times a day.

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    1. That's exactly the plan for me, going to continue doing my PT stretches and also go to a chiro for the first time ever. The PT is the permanent solution, but the chiro should put things back into place temporarily enough to help the PT work better. Hopefully my standing desk helps too, the PT gave me specific ways to stand to make it better.

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  2. I haven’t been able to get to my MTand it’s really showing. I hope soon.

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  3. I need to look into this. I've had pretty severe SI pain for a couple of years now (and I'm only 22!). I've found that yoga helps a lot, but if I stop practicing every day the pain comes right back. I'm glad you found some exercises to help. SI pain is literally crippling!

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  4. Sounds like a great PT session! My pelvis is always uneven as well, I have hip problems and it's caused all sorts of unevenness. Love your porch couch too!

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  5. Completely fascinating! I want someone to come figure out my biomechanical imbalances like this so I can work on them with hopes of living happily and healthily with oodles of mobility into my golden years.

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  6. haha can I say I'm glad you got diagnosed with my problem so I can possibly benefit from your post lol

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  7. I'm going for my first ever PT session for my pulled groin. I'm pretty sure that my groin is just going to be the tip of the iceberg of my problems!

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