Any Ideas?

[mrhubbs]

I have had a great deal of difficulty generating any improvements in my flexibility even after working with Mr. Kurz's book/video. In general, my joints and muscles are easily inflamed and seem to take forever to recover. In particular, I get pain in the hip joint that is hard to pin down and also at the outside of the knee. After a martial arts workout, everything seizes up and I can barely kick to knee height. Front and back kicks have never been a problem, but round and side kicks are murder.

I have spoken to numerous professionals including physical therapists, chiropractors and an applied kinesiologist. I have been told that I have flat feet, a minor leg length discrepancy, mild case of chondromalasia patella, a tight piriformis and ITB band, etc. I'm not sure if any or all of these things are at the root of the problem. (Is my frustration coming through yet?) The only thing my body seems to have responded favorably to is trigger point therapy along with some ultrasound. Pain diminished significantly and range of motion improved noticeably. The problem, of course, is that pain and tightness returned when treatment ended.

Has anyone dealt with similar issues and with what results? Recently,I have begun to take Mr. Kurz' approach more seriously and slowly in hopes that in the past I simply did too much too soon without the necessary joint strength. Having said that, I am wondering if anyone has had any experience with any of the above preexisting conditions and if there is any hope that I might one day kick to the chest or solar plexus without warming up. (I've all but given up on head high kicks.)

Thanks for reading.

David

[DRG]

Have you tried heat/cold therapy on the hip yet? Have you tried any of the joint-benefiting supplements available (glucosomine (sp?) et al.)?

Does the pain in the hip coinside with the pain in the outside of the knee? Does it hurt (only or worsen) when you cross your leg with the sore hip over your other leg or anytime you rotate the foot inwards and upwards (the position the foot is in when you sit "indian-style")?

If not the following will be of no help to you. The reason I ask is that this descibes a non-specific hip pain that was accompanied by a pain in the outside of the knee (not at first but as the hip got worse). It has never gone a way but I did get a get deal of relief using a neoprene pair of shorts marketed but Gold's gym. They are marketed as reducing shorts for women. Suppose to make your butt and hips smaller by making them sweat more. I had been using a neoprene wrap but it would slide a lot. The shorts keep the heat in and really help get the joint warmed up. I also increased my warm-up time and started the warm-up more slowly (almost embarrassingly so) with high stepping. If it hurts by the time I get to dynamic stretches, I know I didn't warm up enough. It is to the point now that it doesn't hurt in class but will ache some about an hour or so later when it cools down.

[Thomas Kurz]

In general, my joints and muscles are easily inflamed and seem to take forever to recover.

This looks like a systemic problem. Maybe it can be helped by change in nutrition? Ask the physician who knows Applied Kinesiology.

In particular, I get pain in the hip joint that is hard to pin down and also at the outside of the knee.

This may be a result of stretching only the inner thigh muscles but not the muscles of outer thigh and the external rotators of the thigh. See stretches on pages 66 and 83 in the fourth edition of “Stretching Scientifically.”

Front and back kicks have never been a problem, but round and side kicks are murder.

Do you do your side and roundhouse kicks the way they are taught on the video “Power High Kicks with No Warm-Up!”? If not, then that may be the cause of hip joint and even knee pain and inflammation.

The only thing my body seems to have responded favorably to is trigger point therapy along with some ultrasound. Pain diminished significantly and range of motion improved noticeably. The problem, of course, is that pain and tightness returned when treatment ended.

Did you change your exercises after the treatment or just returned to the same old thing?

[grlereb]

In general, my joints and muscles are easily inflamed and seem to take forever to recover. In particular, I get pain in the hip joint that is hard to pin down and also at the outside of the knee. After a martial arts workout, everything seizes up and I can barely kick to knee height. Front and back kicks have never been a problem, but round and side kicks are murder.

Well I think I have a similar problem. I will try to explain this the best I could since english is not my mother language. I noticed this problem the first time I tried to do a side split. I was about 13. The next day I couldn't spread my legs in the side split for more than 1,5 meter without an incredible pain in the hips. The worst pain was when trying to switch from front to side split. Recovery time was about 10 days. Then I started TKD and somethimes it was almost imposible to do roundhouse kicks.

15 years has passed. Now I am doing Uechi Ryu karate and there is no high roundhouse kicks, thanks God. But I managed to improve my problem when I started yoga and strenght training with deep squots with weights two years ago. So I came to the conclusion that the problem is in the extreme weakness of the mascles and ligaments of the hips. The problem is that you can't train them too often because they need a great amount of time to recover so improvements are very slow. If you do 10 reps of high roundhouse kicks you will be sore the next few days. I feel most pain when rotating the hips from front to side alignment in the roundhouse kick. (switching from front to side split).

And yes, if you try the proper alignment of hips as described by Mr. Kurz you will feel almost no pain.

I hope you will understand what I tried to say and that it will give you hope that improvements are possible.

Thanks