Daily Bad Habits That We Need To Put Right To Avoid Back and Hip Pain

 

Watch people standing some time … how often do you see them standing with one leg bent and one straight? Quite often I think!

This is an example of a Bad Habit but why?

When you shift your weight to one leg, it is usually the same one that we choose to put the weight on. When we shift weight to the left leg, the left knee locks so less muscles are used.

The right knee bends and rotates inwards in response to this shift, which means that the major muscles that flex the right hip forwards  – the tensor fascia lata muscle, the sartorius and the rectus femoris all shorten. This means that when you straighten the right leg again, because the muscles become stuck in a shortened state, the pelvis becomes pulled forward on the right side.

You can imagine that if the pelvis rotates too much every time you straighten your leg on the shortened leg side – for example when you walk ….  rotational forces also affect the discs and joints in the low back.

How long can they be twisted like this before they wear and start to cause low back pain …. all from spending years standing favouring one leg …

If this happens to you or one of your friends or family, come in to see us. We can stretch the affected muscles and give you appropriate strengthening exercises to try to correct that Bad Habit and change it to a good one!