Hip mobility in Crossfit

So I put out the call yesterday on our MobilizeMe Facebook page to find out what you wanted me to discuss in my next blog posts - and a lot of you asked for hips. So here goes.

Hip mobility is essential for developing a good squat. If you read that article I posted yesterday by Spencer Arnold, you'll see that he mentions mobility a lot. I think a good deal of problems with LACK of hip mobility in the population stems from the fact that we spend most of our day in sitting. Sitting requires about 90 degrees of hip flexion. Squatting requires at least 100 degrees of hip flexion (just breaking parallel), not to mention hip abduction and external rotation.

Sitting is also a PASSIVE activity, meaning that it requires little to no activation of any of the muscles in your lower limbs - you are being held up by the chair (I'm not going to get into a Physics discussion with this statement so don't get all science-y on me :-) Sitting for long periods causes our hip flexors to become short, and our hip extensors to lengthen and become weaker. In essence, we become the shape of a chair.

The Thomas test is a measure of hip flexor length and is shown in the two photos below:

Tight hip flexors - Positive Thomas Test - the knee is higher than the hip




Normal hip flexors - Negative Thomas Test - the knee is lower than the hip with knee flexed to near 90 degrees
 
 
Which of these two do you think would have issues attaining depth in a squat? I'll give you a hint, it's not the second photo....
 

Good hip mobility also includes rotational components; with a squat we are more concerned with the ability to externally rotate the hip/thigh. This puts our hip into a stable position and engages the gluteus maximus. Have you ever seen someone squat and let their knees cave in, then miss the rep or look like they're about to give birth trying to squeeze that rep out? Poor hip external rotation. Now, that can be due to poor mobility or poor hip stability/strength. It's up to your Physio (or really good coach) to figure that one out. But here's a tip: if you honestly, truly, consistently work your mobility and you are getting nowhere, it's a stability problem. All the mobility in the universe won't cure poor stability.

 

So where is this all going - I would have to reiterate what was said in the Spencer Arnold blog post - learn to squat properly from the start and don't add weight until you are proficient. Load is NOT going to help you squat properly. Do your mobility - sit on the lacrosse ball until it no longer hurts (not all at once), get out the band and do hip mobility with the band (it's in the MobilizeMe app and about a kazillion K-starr MWOD's), get up off your ass at work at least every hour. Like I said before, if none of this is working, you need a professional to look at it. Pony up and book into a Physio for an assessment. You can't assess yourself (believe me I have tried and I AM a physio!!).

 





 

Duck feet and squatting

Ever notice what your feet are doing while you're squatting? Probably not, but I DO. And I see it all the time. It makes my ankles, knees, hips and lower back HURT just looking at this.

Poor LEFT ankle mobility

What is actually going on when your feet are turning out during a squat (like the photo above)?

I would generalize and say it's coming from issues at one or two (maybe both) places: your ankles and/or your hips.

For this post, I will concentrate on the ankles.

Squatting requires good dorsiflexion mobility at your ankle joint. In other words, the ability to bring the top of your foot closer towards your shin. Any problems with this means that your body may compensate and find a way around the issue. In most cases, the compensation involves turning the foot outwards.

Lack of ankle mobility may be due to tightness of the calf muscles, the gastrocnemius and soleus and the long toe flexors, or stiffness in the ankle joint/s.

Try this knee-to-wall test to see if your ankle range of movement is adequate:

1. Measure 10cm away from the wall with a ruler/measuring tape and mark the spot on the floor.
2. Place your big toe of one foot at the 10cm mark, with the other leg behind you. Ensure your hips stay square to the wall.
3. Bend the front knee, making sure to keep your heel absolutely flat on the floor. The knee should be tracking over the middle of the foot (and not dropping in towards the midline).
4. If your knee cannot touch the wall without the heel coming off the floor, move the foot forward in centimeter increments and repeat until your knee touches the wall without the heel lifting.
5. Compare to the other side.

   

   Knee-to-wall test

If your score was less than 9-10cm from the wall, you have restricted ankle range of movement.

Try doing some mobility for the sole of the foot, the calves and hamstrings - stretch, foam roller, lacrosse/trigger point ball - prior to squatting. If this fails to make a difference, the problem may be more with restriction in the ankle joint/s. 

The use of an Olympic style lifting shoe can make a massive difference with squatting if your joint mobility isn't so flash. But get that ankle restriction looked at by a Physio. Old injuries like ankle sprains can have an impact on your joint range of movement, so if in doubt, get it checked out!

Deadlifts and Back Pain

Horse & carriage, wine & cheese, Simon & Garfunkel....these things go together. Deadlifts & back pain DO NOT go together. However, more often than not, when I get a Crossfit athlete presenting to me complaining of back pain the movement they were most likely performing when they felt their pain was DEADLIFTS.

Why is this the case?

There can be a million different reasons why you are experiencing back pain with deadlifts. I don't have all day and would probably get carpal tunnel from trying to delve into all of them so we'll just examine a few reasons why.

1. You are not using the right muscles: a deadlift is a functional hip extension movement that involves the posterior chain (hamstrings, glutes and lumbar erector spinae plus latissimus dorsi). The glutes and hamstrings are the primary hip extensors and if they are not activating correctly - the load will shift to the muscles of the lower back. I always tell people they should be sore in their glutes & hammies after deadlifts, if not, they aren't using the right muscles.

2. You aren't engaging your lats: your lats assist with maintaining lumbar extension and shoulder extension. Activating your lats before and during the lift will help keep your back in a good position and also keep the bar close to the body.

3. The bar is too far away from your body: the bar path in a deadlift should be a straight line off the floor. The further away the bar is from your body, the "heavier" it is. Keep the bar against the legs for the duration of the lift.

4. You are rounding your back: you need to maintain a flat thoracic spine during a deadlift. When the weight gets too heavy, we have a tendancy to round the upper back. If you find yourself rounding your back, drop the weight.

5. Your hamstrings are too tight: your hamstrings attach to the bottom of your pelvis and if they are too tight, will pull your pelvis into posterior rotation (butt wink) which is an effective position to be deadlifting in. Also, tight muscles are WEAK muscles.

6. Fatigue: workouts with multiple rounds/reps that have deadlifts and other hip extension movements (think kettlebell swings, running, etc). Once you get tired, you probably are no longer thinking about which muscles should switch on a what point. You just want to get the bloody workout over with already! If you have a tendancy to get back pain with these types of workouts, think about reducing the rounds/reps/weight and focus on your technique. Your back will thank you for it.

Try getting your coach to video you while you are doing your deadlift (Coach's Eye) and watch it frame by frame to see where you may be going wrong. The deadlift should  be a basic movement to perform but it is often done poorly. Get the foundation/technique correct before loading excessive weight on the bar.