Had issues with back/hip/breathing for 2 or so years. A programme of significant stretching of the back / legs / hips seems to be helping relieve the symptoms, however don’t stretch for a week or so and I start feeling a mess again.

In trying to track down the problem I have noticed I have alot of trouble straightening and lifting my left leg, and that I have in fact been compensating quite a lot for it so much so I didn’t really notice.

Currently physios school of thought is its a tight hamstring, which I’m working on, but I am finding I have pain / restriction in the front of the quad when I leg lift (no weights, just leg) it kicks in at about 45degrees, about half of the right leg.

Googling suggests a thigh strain, but what I read seems like a short term injury. I’ve been like this for a long time. Any other ideas of what it could be?

Using a jigsaw / massage on the area seems to reduce pain, but not the restriction.

Using a jigsaw / massage on the area seems to reduce pain, but not the restriction.

Current understanding is that all SMR style stuff does is just increase pain tolerance / locally desensitise the area, it doesn’t make any changes to the actual body tissues (that you can measure).

*If* you have tight muscles / tendons, stretching is the only way to lengthen them and that will take a long time, consistency is key – little and often and expect slow progress. You may also need to keep stretching for life otherwise you will slowly regress back to where you started.

Rotated/twisted pelvis? Had/have similar symptoms in the past. Try this:

Lie on your back, bend knees with hips off the ground. Straighten one leg and hold. Swap to other leg. If one is weaker than the other then that’s worth investigating. It will be the opposite hip from the weaker hold e.g. my left leg is much harder to hold so my right hip is out of alignment.

Yes left leg is much harder to hold up – I get pain in the middle front of the quad and have to put in loads of effort to lift / hold. It feels like its the quad that is the issue, though I do have pain in both hips (right is typically worse) and lower back (left is typically worse). I’ve realised I often twist the leg outward to use different muscles to compensate, and often when I’ve been stretching incorrectly on the left side.

Right leg is no bother

On the bike I have vectors and typically have a 48:52 dominance to the right which is another sign of imbalance

This getting older stuff sucks 🙁

On the bike I have vectors and typically have a 48:52 dominance to the right which is another sign of imbalance

That’s probably within the tolerance of the pedals but even if they’re totally accurate it’s bloody close to bang on

Everyone has asymmetric legs in terms of balance, strength, range of motion.

psoas tight?
I find this 12minute routine very helpful for keeping hips moving and hamstrings active and better ‘form’ for general moving:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BOTvaRaDjI

Thanks for the vid

I did a bit of psosa / iilacus trigger point release this morning. Lying on the floor I can instantly feel breathing ease when pressing on the trigger points in the abdomen. Straight after single leg raises on the left were improved, but still hard work.

Then I drove to work and could feel it tightening up again. Should a tight psosa cause that much of an issue? It feels like I should have some sort of severe tear as it is so limiting, but I have no severe pain, just deep achey pain with physical restrictions.

Get your kidneys checked

https://m.activebeat.com/your-health/chronic-kidney-disease-10-symptoms-of-ckd/?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=AB_GGL_GB_MOBI-SearchMarketing_TR&utm_content=g_m_228964869512&cus_widget=&utm_term=kidney%20pain&cus_teaser=kwd-22448731&utm_acid=3040947159&utm_caid=698921236&utm_agid=37359869915&utm_os=&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxOyNmI3L5AIVirHtCh3UqgRxEAAYASAAEgLM6vD_BwE

https://m.activebeat.com/your-health/chronic-kidney-disease-10-symptoms-of-ckd/2/

https://m.activebeat.com/your-health/chronic-kidney-disease-10-symptoms-of-ckd/8/

Bit scary reading, I’m sure I had a kidney function test relatively recently so I’m hoping that’s not the cause. I’ll call my surgery to check.