Today I have a guest blog post for you.

It is from Dean Sommerset.

Dean is a fitness professional from Edmonton.

A few years ago we were presenting at the Natural Health Practitioners of Canada conference in Edmonton together. We were not able to connect up but we have been keeping in touch over the phone and email.

I asked him to send over  blog post for you on muscle imbalances.

Here is part 1 of his blog post. I think you will like it.

Muscle Tightness: Overactive Fatigue vs. Dysfunctional Stiffness

How Can My Tight Hip Flexor Be Because of My Ankle?

One of my co-workers was complaining the other day about how his hips were bothering him. When I asked him what the problem was he said he had tight hips that just didn’t seem to ever relax. The rest of our conversation went something like this:

Co-worker: What kind of stretches should I use to get these darned hip flexors stretched out??

Me: Do you really think your hip flexors need more stretching? If you’ve been doing it for so long and they aren’t responding, shouldn’t you try doing something else?

Co-worker:……….

Me: If your hip flexors are so tight, maybe they’re tight for a reason. Do you have any problems with your back or legs that your hip flexors may be over-compensating for?

Co-workers: Uh, yeah. I sprained my left ankle a few times years ago playing basketball, and I have a tight back from sitting in a chair all these years. Do you think they may be causing my hip flexor to be tight??

Me: Well, if the foot and ankle become unstable, the hip has to increase its’ own stability to compensate and create stability throughout the system. Likewise with your low back. If your hip flexors are tight, they provide stability to your low back that it’s probably lacking.

Co-worker: You mean my body made my hip flexor tight for a reason and it’s not just a stupid muscle??

Me: Looks that way. Let’s get your ankles more stable and see if you can start doing some spinal stability work to see if that loosens those buggers up.

Co-worker: Okay. So what stretches should I do to get these darned hip flexors stretched out??

Me: ………….

The Two Ways a Muscle Can Be Tight

There are only two ways a muscle can get tight.

#1 Way – One is if the muscle is overactive and holding tension because of a muscle imbalance somewhere in the body – in my case it is because there is a bulging disc in my L4-S1 region, which made my low back less than stable and therefore my hamstrings had to “pick up the slack” for my low back.

#2 Way – The other scenario is when the muscle is dis-used and less than optimally functional, and begins to atrophy and stiffen. Each scenario means the muscle becomes shorter and less than optimally functional, but only one will actually benefit from stretching. If a muscle is holding tension because it is making up for another area, stretching it will only cause more problems, sort of like stretching the wires of a bicycle tire………

Well that was part 1.

I will let you know when Dean sends me part 2.

Rick Kaselj, MS

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