Well, first, I need a new anatomy series. Not only does it make my NerdBrain happy, but it also makes for manageable writing when I am otherwise distracted — by events such as the MASSIVE PILE OF WORK I need to do before the end of the school year.
Why hips, specifically? They are pretty nifty little — okay, big — joints. They have multiple types of movement — flexing and extending, abducting and adducting, internal and external rotation — which is plenty enough for a nice long series. (Additionally, some poses involve more than one type of motion.) Moreover, the muscles that facilitate all these different movements have attachment or insertion points on places like the femurs, the pelvis, and the lumbar spine.
[Video by envisionphysio via YouTube.]
It is probably unsurprising, then, that hip tightness and range of motion issues show up in some people with low back pain, pelvic pain, even knee pain. Personally, well, I had two of those even before I started running. (My knees were and are still fine.) And I know running has increased the tightness in my own hips. I’ve always been sort of vaguely aware of the different muscles surrounding the hip joint, but I never went through them in systematic detail.
I’m thinking now is a good time to start.
As a person with ridonkulous hips, I am fully in support of this series and looking forward to it.
Yeah, mine have gone from being idiosyncratic — way tight in some areas, way loose in others — but predictable to changing on a daily basis. I need to figure out WTF is up.
I blame running.
(Okay, only a little. And even if running is causing some hip tightness — possible — I think it’s more a “neutral result” rather than anything that merits blame.)