Rachel asked the Guru about her hip pain which has developed since having her baby

Hi Rachel

‘fraid so!

I don’t understand physios that do not prescribe rehab for something that you’ve had for quite a while. You need to have your movement patterns changed, and then shown how to keep them changed so they become normal again.

I’d also strongly suspect with your history of SPD that you don’t have anything wrong with your hip – this is where you feel the pain, but it’s not where the problem lies.

The cause is most likely poor control around your hip and lumbar spine because you’ve got a really stiff thoracic spine, from the pregnancy, lifting and feeding baby and not having the ability to really stand tall.

Try this stretch in the morning and night. Roll up a towel, as if your off to the beach and put it on the floor. Put a pillow at the top – the pillow should be higher than the towel (so maybe a big pillow or 2 of them) and should look like a “T” shape. Now lie on the towel. Head on the pillow, shoulders off the pillow and the towel runs from the nape of your neck down to just below your bra strap. Bend your knees up so your feet are flat on the floor – and hang out for 10 minutes. It must be pain free – or your doing it wrong!

This gives you a chance to move your thoracic spine – so make sure you keep it moving with good posture etc.

Any decent Physio worth their salt should be able to deal with this – the rehab is hugely important BUT you need to get control and become more stable (around your hip, pelvis, lumbar spine), not just get stronger…

Hope this helps

The Guru

Six Physio