Put an end to buckling hips.
What to do to stop your hips from buckling
When hips begin to buckle it can be for many reasons; here we will look at buckling hips as a symptom of trigger points.
What are trigger points?
Trigger points are discrete, focal, hyper-irritable spots located in a taut band of skeletal muscle. They produce pain locally and in a referred pattern and often accompany chronic musculoskeletal disorders.
For more information on this you can check out my other blog on "Foam rolling and trigger point release"
https://samuelplove.com/blog/k...
The two muscles that we are going to focus on releasing here are:
- Rectus femoris
- Upper vastus intermedius
Rectus femoris
This muscle is a big part of the quadricep muscles. Being the only one that crosses the hip and the knee it is one of the main hip flexors. It is central to the quadricep and runs over the top of the other three (vastus medialis, vastus lateralis, vastus intermedius).
The Rectus femoris is responsible for hip flexion and knee extension, basic things like walking upstairs, running, cycling.
The “X” marks the trigger points and the red area is the possible referral pain. Bear in mind that the points shown are not an exact area of trigger points and trigger point areas can vary, which is why it is best to do your own feel of the muscle before you begin, although usually this trigger point is within the musculotendinous junction.
Causes of trigger points arrival – hamstring weakness or injury, parts overload without proper technique, poor foot and ankle biomechanics.
Other indications you may have trigger points on your rectus femoris
- Pain/weakness in the thigh
- Giving way of the knee
- Pain on knee extension – straightening out of the knee
In order to find the muscule junction where there trigger point resides
- Find your hip bone from the front with your thumb (anterior superior iliac spine)
- Move down a couple of inches to your hip line - you should be able to feel it gets quite tender. When you are in that tender spot you will be on your tendonus area. Feel around for a trigger point and there may be more than one.
Once you have found the position of the trigger point you will be able to apply pressure to it in anyway you wish, with either a cricket ball or a thera-cane.
Vastus intermedius
Vastus intermedius is the smaller middle muscle of the quadriceps and it lays just underneath the Rectus femoris, in the centre of the thigh.
This muscle is responsible as part of a synergistic group of muscles performing the action of extension of the knee (straightening of the knee).
The “X” marks the trigger points and the red area is the possible referral pain. Bear in mind that the points shown are not an exact area of trigger points and trigger point areas can vary, which is why it is best to do your own feel of the muscle before you begin.
Causes of trigger points arrival – hamstring weakness or injury, parts overload without proper technique, poor foot and ankle biomechanics.
Other indications you may have trigger points on your Vastus intermedius
- Pain/weakness in the thigh
- Giving way of the knee
- Pain on knee extension – straightening out of the knee
List of things to do when finding trigger points in the quadriceps
- Review the area.
- Identify trigger point by pressing on the area and seeing if it causes any referred pain.
- Stroke down the muscle lightly to warm up the tissues.
- Find the trigger point once again and add pressure until the referred pain reduces.
- Massage muscle to flush the toxins out.
When working on this trigger point you can use a thera-cane, a foam roller or a small hard ball like a cricket ball.
For more information on how to strengthen your hips and core you can go to my exercise library or to my YouTube channel. Subscribe here. https://www.youtube.com/channe...