Compensation Patterns

I get the question quite a bit about what causes compensation patterns in individuals. First lets look at a what a compensation pattern is. It is a way your body compensates or changes its "normal" or meant to be movement pattern.

Take walking for example. Lets say you have tight hip flexors (the muscles on the front part of your hips). This no big deal right? Wrong. This can cause big problems down the rest of the leg not to mention up the chain. Because of these tight hip flexors, anterior pelvic tilt is next on your list of problems, leading to internal rotation of the femur and tibia over time. No big deal again, WRONG. These internally rotated femurs can lead to tight IT bands/adductor's, which in turn can lead to knee/back pain. I won't get into things down the rest of the leg and the problems that can arise in that opposite shoulder and spine.



Now lets say one hip flexor is tighter than the other. Ever hear someone walking from a mile away with one foot pounding into the ground? That leg on the side of the tight hip flexor can end up getting shortened causing it to constantly pound into that group time after time. That is one of many causes of compensation patterns that can arise just because of those tight hip flexors.

You also see quite a few patterns in athletes if work isn't done to iron out these imbalances before they get to far. Take a baseball player swinging a baseball bat. The tourque of the front side leg is going to take a beating if that lead legs exteral rotation isn't up to par.

The Hips Are A Powerful Thing

So how do I fix this? I can tell you how to make it worse. Keep doing what you've been doing!

Is that treadmill walking/running helping your compensation patterns?

Well for the price of only $9.95 you can....kidding! Things such as myofascial release on a foam roller and lots of single leg work can go along ways.