Hip clicking on some kicks

--amadeus--

This isn't a medical question - there is nothing medically wrong and I'm not looking for a diagnosis!

I used to lean when I kicked, partly to counter balance and partly to gain height. My instructor has said I should try and stay more upright but when I do I struggle to get any height at all and my left hip "clicks" when I do anything other than a straight front kick. I'll ask the instructor when we go back after Xmas but do you think this is just a lack of flexibility or am I screwing up the technique?

Thanks!

Doug Cartel

DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A DOCTOR... Clicks are usually the result of tight tendons sliding over bumpy areas and then going twang. A lot of the time pops and clicks are actually no big deal, and don't do any damage. Some times though they do.

See how you feel. If you're pain free don't worry about it. If you feel any pain at all, then you need to start taking it seriously. I had a problem like this. The pain was only minor at first, and built up very slowly. Eventually though it became so painful I couldn't do any kicking at all, and took over a year to go away. It still occasionally gives me trouble.



EDIT: Oh yeah even though this is caused by tight tendons, DO NOT try and stretch your tendons. Stretching tendons is a very different thing to stretching muscles and is very damaging.

wudangclan

AFAIK,those clicks are just when there is a little pocket of air in the bone socket and the movement pops the air out, creating a clicking noise.
I don't think it's anything to worry about.
(I'm also not a doctor!)

--amadeus--

Thanks for the replies but I don't think I've explained myself well. It's not a click you can hear (like when you crack your knuckles) - it actually feels like my hip joints connecting or rubbing, almost like the ball of teh joint is rotating against the bone socket. When I lean into teh kick I don't have the same angle and so I don't have teh same problem. Probably something I need face to face correction on, very hard to describe what I mean!

Doug Cartel

Yeah that sounds like a tendon thing.

yomchi

I had this myself for a while. Doctor called it snapping hips, and as stated earlier it was tendons making their way over bumpy bits on the socket - no disclaimer needed there with that jibberish.

On another note, what style do you do? Interesting to here you're being told not to lean back.

Roper

--amadeus-- wrote: »

Thanks for the replies but I don't think I've explained myself well. It's not a click you can hear (like when you crack your knuckles) - it actually feels like my hip joints connecting or rubbing, almost like the ball of teh joint is rotating against the bone socket. When I lean into teh kick I don't have the same angle and so I don't have teh same problem. Probably something I need face to face correction on, very hard to describe what I mean!

Sounds like you have tight hips. Not easily fixed but there's a few things you can do to loosen them out pre session and a few developmental stretches you can do anytime. Kneeling flexor stretch etc. Have you ever heard of the Thomas test? It can tell you a bit about which side is causing it.

Doug Cartel

Yeah I'd like to make an addendum to my comment about not stretching tendons. While you should not try to stretch tendons, you can stretch the muscles that they connect, and as long as you're doing your stretches properly, this is what you'll be doing.

I think though that the tendons that cause snapping hip are connected to muscles which have much less stretch reflex than the other ones in the hip, so they can be difficult to loosen up. It certainly took me a long time to fix it, and the thing that gave me the most benefit was not stretching, but doing ATG squats.

globalkb

I had this exact problem myself when I stopped leaning away from turning kicks.

My instructor told me something along the lines of what has been said above about tendons running over bones. It wasn't painful at all and after a few months it stopped and my hip flexibility improved 3 fold.

Again Im also not a doctor and as I said it caused me no pain and went away but if it is worrying you maybe go to a physio and do the kicks in her presence and see what she thinks

--amadeus--

yomchi wrote: »

I had this myself for a while. Doctor called it snapping hips, and as stated earlier it was tendons making their way over bumpy bits on the socket - no disclaimer needed there with that jibberish.

On another note, what style do you do? Interesting to here you're being told not to lean back.

The class is mainly Tang Soo Do and thats what we grade in but the instructor has trained in a lot of different styles so there is a fair amount of variety.

As always it's not as simple as "don't lean on kicks" - with a grading last weekend a lot of teh emphasis has been on clean technique and he was trying to encourage a more upright style. For sparring or fighting he says lean away as it makes you harder to hit, but on kata and techniques for the grading he wanted me more upright.

Roper wrote: »

Sounds like you have tight hips. Not easily fixed but there's a few things you can do to loosen them out pre session and a few developmental stretches you can do anytime. Kneeling flexor stretch etc. Have you ever heard of the Thomas test? It can tell you a bit about which side is causing it.

Doug Cartel wrote: »

Yeah I'd like to make an addendum to my comment about not stretching tendons. While you should not try to stretch tendons, you can stretch the muscles that they connect, and as long as you're doing your stretches properly, this is what you'll be doing.

I think though that the tendons that cause snapping hip are connected to muscles which have much less stretch reflex than the other ones in the hip, so they can be difficult to loosen up. It certainly took me a long time to fix it, and the thing that gave me the most benefit was not stretching, but doing ATG squats.

Thanks for that - off to Google ATG squats, kneeling flexor stretchs and teh Thomas test!