Forensic Physical Therapy

Had my third physical therapy session last night. We are still trying to figure out the root cause of my pain. I think we are getting close.

It is becoming more obvious that there's something going on in my pelvis. And I'm not talking about Elvis the Pelvis. But the fact that my body seems to be acting as if my right leg were longer than my left. Although we did measure both of my legs and that is not the case.

For years when I used to work out at the gym, a favorite exercise of mine was stiff-legged deadlifts. I loved these because I was strong in this movement and also from years of practicing martial arts I had great hamstring flexibility and I could lock my knees and and go through a really great range of motion. It would tear up my hamstrings instantly!

But when I'd perform these, if I were in front of a mirror I would notice that it appeared that my right hip was higher than my left. I thought it looked odd, but since it never bothered me or caused me pain or affected my performance, I just assumed it was normal for me and kept going.

I've heard some say that kettlebells will find your weaknesses. Well, it has found one of mine. We still need to determine why my body acts this way and try to correct it.

What's funny is that after this 'discovery' last night, it now seems obvious that racking a kettlebell on my left illiac crest feels much farther away then racking on the right. I'm therefore twisting and compensating for this on my left side, thereby putting strain on my lumbar ligaments. Funny how I never picked up on this when I felt strong.

So the journey of education and discovery continues. I am going to slowly try to introduce some other movements back into the scheme of things making sure that I don't aggravate those ligaments more than they already are. Baby steps.