Thread: Clicking Hips??

One of my beginner students is having a hard time with piston shimmies. She complains that her hips click when she does them, and finds it really uncomfortable, even a little painful. I have no idea how to help her with this.

Her posture is good, her knees are soft, and she looks as though she is doing the movement correctly. I just can't figure out why her hips are clicking.

..c::

Any suggestions?

Is she going straight up and down or is she getting some outward movement as well? She could be flicking a tendon. If so, ensuring she keeps the movement vertical may help.

hmmmm good point. I think she's doing it up and down, but now I'm going to take a closer look.

Some people's hips are shaped a little differently. Maybe her natural stance should be toes more in or out? If you can't find the fix, maybe she could learn a substitute shimmy that doesn't hurt/pop, like straight legged or glut shimmies?

And she should go have her back checked out to make sure something isn't out of alignment. Joints shouldn't pop!

{{{HUGS}}}

ok thanks guys. Yes thats what I was thinking too, about her back. From just looking, it seems everything is ok, but I'm no chiropracter. I've been teaching for quite some time, and this is the first time I've had a student with what looks like good posture and form have this problem. And I want her to be having fun too like everyone else! I will try the glute shimmies next class, and see if that makes a difference

Does she have a history of serious ballet or track training?

There is something called snapping hip syndrome that is caused by tight IT bands and associated muscles that is very common with people that do those activities.

I've had this issue with my hip (left side only) off and on ever since I started having kids. It gets better with weight training ESP w/ squats and lunges. Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by ssipes

There is something called snapping hip syndrome that is caused by tight IT bands and associated muscles that is very common with people that do those activities.

A friend of mine had this. She was told if there was no pain involved then just ignore the noise wjich was just caused by the tissue flicking. That said insuring the hip is pulled in as it goes up is important.

Best suggest she gets a professional to look at it if it is a worry.

if it's causing her pain and you've tried modifications, she should have it looked at. if the glute modification doesn't work out she could try the twisting/washer machine.
it probably wouldn't change anything since the movement of the joint is the same, but would changing where she drives it from help at all? like if she's doing it from the knees right now try lifting with the obliques?

Originally Posted by ssipes

Does she have a history of serious ballet or track training?

There is something called snapping hip syndrome that is caused by tight IT bands and associated muscles that is very common with people that do those activities.

I agree with this. I recently had a student who reported this problem. After I suggested that possibly her IT bands may be tight and she see a Dr., she reported that she had been in treatment with a chiropractor and he recommended she roll on a tennis ball for that very reason. She stopped going and said it hurt too much to use the ball. Well, if it hurts..it's because they are tight and need to be rolled! I suggested she use a foam roller and she actually got one and was quite happy with it.

But really, your student needs to at least see a Dr. before continuing. The glute exercises will only make the problem alot worse if her ITs are tight.

I have excellent posture. I also have a rotated right hip (forward) and one leg significantly shorter than the other. Like almost an inch. Compression between the L4 & L5. No one would ever know by looking.

She needs to see a Dr just to have this checked out and make sure that nothing else is going on.

{{{HUGS}}}

Originally Posted by clueless23de

I agree with this. I recently had a student who reported this problem. After I suggested that possibly her IT bands may be tight and she see a Dr., she reported that she had been in treatment with a chiropractor and he recommended she roll on a tennis ball for that very reason. She stopped going and said it hurt too much to use the ball. Well, if it hurts..it's because they are tight and need to be rolled! I suggested she use a foam roller and she actually got one and was quite happy with it.

But really, your student needs to at least see a Dr. before continuing. The glute exercises will only make the problem alot worse if her ITs are tight.

I have had tight IT bands for a long time, and I am actually very skeptical of the value of those painful ball-rolling treatments and other "stretching" regimes that try to stretch and massage the IT band itself. The IT band is connective tissue (not muscle) probably the biggest and toughest piece of connective tissue in the body.

Can the actual IT band really be stretched?

It seems to me that if the IT band is tight, it must be due to the muscles it attaches to (tensor fascia latae (sp) and the glutes). I think it is better to stretch those. Except those muscles are difficult to stretch on your own.

I have had more relief after having a massage therapist work on the glutes and TFL.

Originally Posted by ssipes

I have had tight IT bands for a long time, and I am actually very skeptical of the value of those painful ball-rolling treatments and other "stretching" regimes that try to stretch and massage the IT band itself. The IT band is connective tissue (not muscle) probably the biggest and toughest piece of connective tissue in the body.

Can the actual IT band really be stretched?

It seems to me that if the IT band is tight, it must be due to the muscles it attaches to (tensor fascia latae (sp) and the glutes). I think it is better to stretch those. Except those muscles are difficult to stretch on your own.

Yes, the physio I work with in Brisbane says the same thing.

Physio in the house...
Pain is never good. And where in the hip is the pain? (Talk about tele-medicine). Are we talking down at the greater trochanter or is the issue a snapping psoas?
Definitely send her to an orthopod to rule out lumbar issues and then to a good physio...
Could be weak glute medius, or weak core muscles. Yes, there are some very accomplished BD'ers out there with significant core weakness. Put yourselves to a test: you might be shocked. I always tell dancers that they should not allow athletic vanity to stand between themselves and doing what exercises they need to do to ensure a long and painfree shelf life as a dancer. Maybe if there is interest I'll post a list of self-test items that folks can try out.

Originally Posted by ssipes

Does she have a history of serious ballet or track training?

There is something called snapping hip syndrome that is caused by tight IT bands and associated muscles that is very common with people that do those activities.

I developed IT band syndrome when I was younger combination of ballet and intensive crew training. Tight IT bands either manifest in knee pain or the clicking hip.

Clicking hip (snapping hip syndrome) causes, diagnosis and treatment | Sports Injury Bulletin

Iliotibial Band Syndrome: A Common Source of Knee Pain - April 15, 2005 - American Family Physician

I originally developed problems in the knee. In addition to the tight IT band, I hand some pretty big muscle imbalances in my leg, my inner thigh muscles were much weaker than my quads. Later I developed the snapping hip. But since I started pilates and am trying to keep myself more balanced, I haven't had knee or hip problems. So the student may want to visit a sports doctor and see if they've got some muscle imbalances that may be contributing to the problem.

Originally Posted by niamh

Physio in the house...
Pain is never good. And where in the hip is the pain? (Talk about tele-medicine). Are we talking down at the greater trochanter or is the issue a snapping psoas?
Definitely send her to an orthopod to rule out lumbar issues and then to a good physio...
Could be weak glute medius, or weak core muscles. Yes, there are some very accomplished BD'ers out there with significant core weakness. Put yourselves to a test: you might be shocked. I always tell dancers that they should not allow athletic vanity to stand between themselves and doing what exercises they need to do to ensure a long and painfree shelf life as a dancer. Maybe if there is interest I'll post a list of self-test items that folks can try out.

I would be intereste in seeing your list!! Thanks!

The list: I am going to have to make a word document of it and figure out how to post it. It is lengthy because of safety instructions. Then I'll post it to my website and give the forum members a link. Anyone interested please send me a PM. I do not wish to give the impression that I am using the forumto promote myself. It is purely for fun. I will not be available for gigs anyway.

Originally Posted by niamh

Could be weak glute medius, or weak core muscles. Yes, there are some very accomplished BD'ers out there with significant core weakness. Put yourselves to a test: you might be shocked. I always tell dancers that they should not allow athletic vanity to stand between themselves and doing what exercises they need to do to ensure a long and painfree shelf life as a dancer. Maybe if there is interest I'll post a list of self-test items that folks can try out.

One of the most useful things I ever did was pay for a physical assessment by a physio for dance. I have a far from perfect body and it was very useful to have my problem areas listed and a plan for tackling them. That is what were core underlying issues that could be addressed with some hard work (flexibility issues and posture) and what I had to live with (twisted tibia and misaligned hip joints). A few years later I could see what progress I had made and the next most important areas tackled. Wish I'd done it in my 20s.

I have scoliosis, and the resulting uneven hips, leg length and sometimes feet problems. I see a chiropractor regularly. I used to have hip clicking when i did some Jazzercise exercises when we laid on the floor and moved the legs around as leg and lower ab workout. since i do yoga now 2x a week, no more clicking. i agree she should be evaluted---since i know we all feel terrible if a student hurts themselves.

So this student is the kind that comes in and and out without saying too much to me, so I didn't really get a chance to talk to her about getting her hips checked by a doctor.

But I did teach the whole class glute shimmies. I always work on clenches with all my classes in the warm up, mostly because the piston shimmy, especially in my beginner classes, are always the default shimmy. So I find teaching them glute squeezes from the get go prevents students from automatically reverting to the straight leg shimmy- gives them more awareness in their butts rather than their knees. But I've never taught shimmies being driven by the glutes alone in a beginner class. So I did in this one, and it seemed to work for the student who was having trouble. She was able to keep up with the whole drill without having to stop and shake her legs out.

yay! My biggest worry in beginner classes is having students not be able to participate during the class due to various body issues. In my higher level classes I have no problem teaching variations or having that student try something similar but not quite the same as the rest. But most of my students in the higher levels want to eventually become performers, so they are looking for that kind of individuality. But most of my beginners are just there to get fit and have fun. And whenever I teach them to do something a little different than the rest to suite their body better, they either stop moving all together, or they revert back to the move that they physically can't do or causes them pain, simply because thats what everyone else is doing. So it was great to be able to get the whole class to do glute shimmies. Everyone had fun, and the student with the clicking hips didn't have to feel singled out.

So thanks for all the advice!

I had this problem when I first started too. When I went to a new instructor I asked her about it. It was only on my left side.
She noticed I didn't bend my left knee(and keep it bent, like you're supposed to) so I focused on that, and viola, CURED!!
So for me it was all posturing.

Plain and Simple, if there is pain involved send her to her doctor. I at least am not qualified to diagnose. My hips and knees click or pop when they don't get exercised and I do not feel any pain. The more I exercise the clicking and popping stops. Thats my two and half cents. ,r:;

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