It’s All in the Hips!
6-7 min read
It’s all in the hips! At least that’s what Chubbs Peterson says in the classic film Happy Gilmore.
The hip, like the shoulder, is a ball-and-socket joint, meaning that there are many degrees of freedom and planes of motion for movement to occur. That can be a blessing, but also a curse depending upon the mobility, stability, and positioning of the adjoining and nearby regions. Surrounding the hip is a joint capsule which provides stability for the joint so that proper mechanics and movements can occur without dislocation.
Let’s dive a bit deeper. When I think about a ball-and-socket joint, I think about congruency and all its synonyms… compatibility, conformity, match, balance, harmony, and unity.
Sounds a lot like a relationship, right?
Well, it is a relationship! It is a relationship between the femoral head (upper thigh bone) and the socket of your pelvis. And if that relationship is to flourish, then the actual anatomy of the hip and all its surrounding parts and nearby regions (muscles, lumbar and thoracic spine) must work together to produce pain-free, functional movement.
When evaluating and assessing the hip joint, I’m always looking at the orientation of the pelvis, as well as the positioning and mobility of the spine, as both these regions will impact what happens at the hip, and vice versa.
Let’s talk through an example showing this relationship of how each region can impact the other.
Think about your pelvis as a bowl. On the front of the bowl are your “thigh” muscles and on the back of the bowl are your glute/butt cheek muscles. Now, think of these muscles in terms of a pulley system, and all muscles for that matter. When your muscles on the front of the hip are in more of a shortened position, it pulls the pelvis more anterior (forward), thereby lengthening the muscles on the back of the hip, the glutes. Anytime a muscle is in a lengthened position, it is in an inhibited position, meaning that the muscle will not fire or engage when called upon.
So, in the example above, your “core” muscles, including your glutes, are inhibited, thereby causing increased extension (compression) in your low back. Now, we have an imbalance which opens the door for movement dysfunction and pain to occur, especially when talking about the golf swing.
Let’s take someone who may sit for a majority of the day - whether it be someone working a desk job or someone working the couch. In either case, it’s very likely that person is sitting for at least 8 hours/day, especially once you include the after-work hours. It is highly probable that this person would fit the “pelvis as a bowl” example.
Stay with me.
Now, let’s take that same person and take into account their poor posture! Insert Steve Harvey GIF please…
Survey says… PHYSICAL THERAPY! GOOD ANSWER, GOOD ANSWER!
Like the body as a whole, nothing works in isolation and the hip is no different. There are many moving parts when it comes to treating the hip, thus why it is so important to look at and treat the entire picture.
Solution? A full body evaluation and movement assessment!
Let’s take the same person mentioned above and visualize what their standing posture would look like at 70 compared to 30. Imagine what this would look like if we had one of those flip book representations. As you flipped towards the end of the book, you would gradually see them transition towards a slouched and slumped position. Oftentimes, these are the classic “lean on the grocery cart” shoppers. If you aren’t one, I bet you know someone who is.
Now, the longer this person waits to have it addressed, the harder it becomes to reverse it. There eventually becomes a time where the treatment becomes symptom management and promoting as close to functional movement patterns as possible through using and/or teaching compensatory movement patterns.
Again, another reason why you should understand why you move the way you do because you only get one body in life and the way you treat it today will 100% determine how it treats you tomorrow.
The hips and pelvis are often called the “powerhouse” of the golf swing or the “pelvic powerhouse.” There are many reasons why this is true to include:
The positioning of the pelvis literally controls spine position, thereby impacting shoulder position, thereby impacting arm and hand position, thereby impacting impact position and thus the trajectory of the ball.
The positioning of the pelvis dictates how much power is generated and/or lost during the transfer of ground reaction forces from the lower body into the pelvis.
The most efficient transition sequence from the top of the swing to impact should always be the pelvis, torso, lead arm, and hands. Therefore, the pelvis should initiate the downswing and if the glutes are firing properly and all the other pieces fall in order, then you can expect increased force production into the club and thus into the ball at impact.
So, Chubbs Peterson may have been right after all! It is ALL IN THE HIPS!
So, how do your hips move!? Do you even know what your hip movement is like? Or even what good hip movement looks like? In the golf swing, that is!
One of the many aspects that I love about what I do is that I work alongside a PGA teaching professional. Not any teaching professional, but the 2022 RI PGA Teacher of the Year. What I love about this is the knowledge we are able to share and the collaboration we are able to have amongst each other and with the patient/client. For the golfer, that’s where the true secret sauce lies!
So, are you a golfer? Do you know someone who is?
Chances of answering YES to one of these questions is highly likely if you are reading this, so do yourself a favor by allowing me to help you move and play better, on the course and in life.
Ways on how to connect and work with me are below!
You can schedule a FREE consultation call by clicking HERE!
Have a question? Reach out!
Call at (401) 864-0112 or email michael@shoregolfperformance.com!
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Until next time, take care and God Bless!