Thursday, April 1, 2010

FMR L Hip in Batting


Doing some work here with the student who sprained his L shoulder on the follow through of a swing. I picked up a L hip internal rotation deficict which could have potentially contributed to the shoulder sprain. He's doing some oscillations at end range mimicking the backswing bookend of a right handed batter. As his hands are coming back, I'm gently accelerating his pelvis into L rotation as I'm mobilizing his L femur into internal rotation.

5 comments:

JH said...

Does he normally open his front foot like that when hitting?

Unknown said...

Joe -

Hip rotation deficits can lead to a multitude of issues. Thanks for addressing that.

I am curious how you assessed his hip internal rotation deficit. Did you test sitting and prone first and then assess functionally or did you simply look at his swing and see a deficit there first?

Joe Przytula said...

JH- Good observation, the foot position is deliberate. Had I closed his foot I would have used up all the IR, making the mobilization impossible.

WR- Very good question, because sitting & prone it was normal. In a left stride stance BUE shoulder height L rotation I noticed I couldn't see the back of his R shoulder. Naturally I thought it was a Tspine issue until I looked down at his L foot and saw the medial border was lifting off the ground. Put him back on the table supine & got the idea of horizontally adducting the leg with the IR. It immediately locked up. So, I've added in some on table FMR syncing the L hip & shoulder (have to get a pic up). Kind of strange, he explained to me he is a switch hitter who began batting R. As time went on, he said he felt much more natural batting lefty and describes that as his dominant side now.

Unknown said...

Hi Joe,

In our clinic we have recently had a lot of field sports guys come in with previous history of ankle sprain/foot injury (which don't appear to be have been rehabilitated very well) followed by injury of the opposite shoulder a couple of months later. They also present with hip dysfunction and whether this is secondary to the initial ankle/foot injury or later shoulder injury I'm not sure. I figure their ability to transfer of loads in diagonal planes is compromised regardless and may lead to the development of hip/knee/low back injury. Perhaps the athlete in the pic with his medial foot border raising off the ground may also have decreased ankle stability combined with his inability to IR the hip - great exercise from hand to foot all the way!!

GC

Joe Przytula said...

Good point Garrett; but the ankle is fine- at least in this case. That being said, jeez those things cause a sh-- load of dysfunction up & down the chain, don't they?