This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in April of 2023. For the original video go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl6tFB2KekY&t=72s
Mike: You might be shocked by what is causing the pain in your hips.
Brad: Luckily we have the tools to fix it.
Mike: In 95% of hip pain cases, this actually plays a major role.
Brad: And what this is, is anterior femoral glide. If we look at the hip, we have the head of the femur in the socket, and it actually goes anterior or forwards out of position slightly. What we need to do is to get it back into the socket, so it has a good surface area connection and a very solid joint.
Mike: And at the end of the video, we'll be showing you one treatment option that will help this pain immediately, plus we're going to show you two other things that will permanently keep it in place.
Brad: Excellent. Typical symptoms, or how the body presents when you have anterior femoral glide is pain oftentimes in the front of the hip, and it can wrap around into the buttock. It's kind of unusual, and it can actually go down into the thigh, typically it does not run down past the knee like sciatica, however.
Mike: And you often get a pinching feeling or possibly even swelling during movements like squatting or running, or sometimes even walking, because the femoral head is not sitting right in there and so you get that little pinching sensation, and it kind of hurts.
Brad: Right, so the good news is we're going to show you a technique to get that femoral head back in the socket where it belongs. And if it works that way and your pain drops down, you know exactly what you have, then we'll show you some exercises to maintain that position. Okay, we have a nice demonstration anatomically of what physically happens when you do this technique. Here is the anterior femoral glide, the head of the femur is forward. We have a strap actually around the femur. Now obviously we can't do this, but it gives you a good example of what's going on. Now if we pull on this red strap, watch that humeral head pop back in and that's what we want. That's what we're looking for, that reduction or translation back into the spot of normalcy.
Mike: So here's an exercise you could try to immediately help relieve your pain. And if this helps, you probably have anterior femoral glide syndrome. However, if you've had a hip replacement, we do not recommend you do this.
Brad: That's right.
Mike: So first you're going to put a band around something that is firm. So we have a railing here. You could possibly put it in a door as well. If you do not have a heavy-duty band, you can simply use a belt as well. So I'm going to put it around my hip joint. I'm going to go forward, get a pulling force, and I'm going to let it put my femoral head back into the socket. That's what Brad demonstrated earlier. And if this feels good or you feel like it goes back in, this is right for you. You can also try going at a side angle and pulling this way as well because this might help depending upon where that femoral head is sitting in there.
Brad: Two really important points. He's putting weight through his left leg, the leg that is actually being moved or translated. The other point is, if this creates pain, particularly anything close to sharp pain, you stop and you do not continue at all. This only is to be continued if it feels like good pain, if things are going where they should be, then continue. And at that point, you may want to do it three or four times a day until it stays in place. But we do, again have exercises to help maintain that positive translation.
Mike: Yes so if this feels good for you, then we want to go and do these next exercises we are doing to keep the femoral head where it needs to be. So the first exercise we're going to do is called some glute pumps. You can either go on all fours or you can go on your elbows. You're going to bring your one leg up and you're going to kick up towards the ceiling with a bent knee. You just want to do little oscillating motions in this range. You don't need to go through the full range of motion with this at all.
Brad: So the idea is he's working that glute max muscle and that muscle connects right to the femur and pulls that femoral head back in where it belongs. We really want to get that muscle active and wired up for action, so it does what it's supposed to do, as opposed to gluteal amnesia where that muscle can actually fall asleep.
Mike: Yes. Do you want to show the standing version?
Brad: Absolutely. So don't do this one on the bed, do it on the floor. If you don't feel comfortable on the floor, do it leaning against a cupboard or solid table, or whatever you have, with your hands or forearms. And it's the same thing. Get that bend in the knee and work that reciprocating motion. Again, not way high, but you know you'll feel that muscle working right there. Get that gluteus maximus working. Rotating the foot inward a little bit can actually make that muscle work even harder. And I'm feeling the burn right now. All right. It does work.
Mike: The next important thing to do is to work on your walking to engage your glute max more as well. So to do this, you want to walk more on your forefoot and not strike on the heel. Striking on the heel is very common, which locks your knee and disengages your butt muscle, which can lead to anterior femoral glide syndrome. That's a lot of chain reaction there. So simply walk on your forefoot as Brad has mentioned in other videos, and pretend like you have some popcorn kernels on your heel, and you don't want to land on it because it hurts. So this is a no-no.
Mike: Walk on your forefoot. You're going to have to take shorter strides when you do this to start. It might feel a little awkward, but over time it'll start to feel more natural.
Brad: Something I personally find out works best for this is walking stocking foot or barefoot on a hard surface. Even out in my driveway where I have concrete when I land on my heel, I clearly feel that heel strike. It's not comfortable. So it naturally motivates me to walk on my forefoot getting the proper mechanics. So yeah oh, look at the shoes that he has.
Mike: So I have more of a minimalist shoe here, so it's all flat. There's no elevated heel. So it does not feel good to land on my heel with these. So this naturally makes me want to walk on my forefoot.
Brad: There's like really nothing to it.
Mike: No, those are very thin. They're not very warm during winter.
Brad: All right, so that covers how to put it back in place. We're talking about the femoral head, and how to exercise to keep it in place. It's amazing how one little thing can change the pain here as well as going to help your hip and your knees and your ankles.
Mike: It helps a little bit with everything. So give them a try. If it doesn't work for you, it doesn't mean you're broken. We just need to find different exercises for you to do.
Brad: That's right. And we can fix just about anything except for...
Mike: A broken heart.
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