The correlation between hip range of motion and low back pain is commonly discussed, though most people tend to agree that limitations or asymmetries in hip motion is a contributing factor to low back pain. You can read a summary of some research on the correlation between low back pain and hip range of motion in a previous posts. But while there are several studies that show this to be true, there are also some studies that show no correlation at all. To me, this isn’t very surprising as you really need to assure adequate control of study methodology when designing a research project like this. Grouping several different body types, activity levels, and handiness (righties and lefties) as well as poorly defining “low back pain” can surely throw a wrench in your project and possible allow some false assumptions. Does a Small Loss of Hip Motion Matter to Everyone? Biomechanically, a loss of hip motion contributing to low back pain makes perfect sense. Any lack of mobility of the hips needs to be compensated for elsewhere, and unfortunately this will likely occur in the lumbar spine. The knee is pretty stable, I can see the foot and ankle also contributing, but realistically moving at the lumbar spine is probably going to achieve the person’s goal of rotating the pelvic region the easiest. This is unfortunate as we would all rather rotate from our hips and thoracic spines rather than lumbar spines. When looking closely at the research studies that show correlations between lose of hip motion and low back pain, subjects with low back pain had ~5 degrees less motion of their hips. That is a decent amount of loss of motion, but I’m not sure 5 degrees is limiting for all people. What if the person you are working with doesn’t need to use their body in the end range of rotation very often? I bet that the majority of sedentary people don’t really need full hip range of motion to perform their everyday activities. Walking, for example, only requires approximately 15 degrees in hip and pelvic rotation, no where near full motion. Yes, a large deviation in hip range of motion will likely be a problem in everyone, but would a small amount of loss of hip rotation impact everyone’s chances of suffering from low back pain? Maybe not. Hip range of motion correlate to low back pain Recent studies have assess the correlation between hip range of motion and low back pain in rotational sport athletes, sports like tennis, racquetball, and golf.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 15:49:28 +0000
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