Is it my age?

[Mrs. Tommie]

Hello,
I'm a 44 year old female. I've been practicing martial arts for most of the last 9 years. I took a couple of breaks for babies, a move, and finding a new school after our sensi retired. I was first dan in tae kwondo before all the disruptions.

I've been having problems with intermittent, intense hip pain for the last two years that has caused a tremendous decrease in flexibility. It feels as if my hip CAN NOT move beyond a certain point. When I stretch with my feet spread as wide as possible, my inner thigh muscles are not tight when I am forced to stop. I've stopped attempting side splits because I'm afraid of making matters worse. Two years ago I could extend almost 180 degrees. My front split is not hindered and is still progressing. The kiba dachi is not painful. Side kicks can be painful.

Sometimes when I'm walking or even just shifting my weight, it feels as if the ball of the femur is slipping within the joint. X-Ray and MRI have not shown an obstruction in the joint nor other damage. Any suggestions?

[dragon]

To answer the question "Is it my age?",i'd say no.
The body may deteriorate with age but if you've had tests done that prove nothing is wrong with your joints then age shouldn't be a factor.
Whether having children could've affected your tendons/ligaments i'm not sure.That would be best answered by a good sports doctor.
Also,your level of conditioning could have dropped if your training has been infrequent.

Dragon.

[Thomas Kurz]

I'm a 44 year old female. [...] I've been having problems with intermittent, intense hip pain for the last two years that has caused a tremendous decrease in flexibility. It feels as if my hip CAN NOT move beyond a certain point. When I stretch with my feet spread as wide as possible, my inner thigh muscles are not tight when I am forced to stop. [...] Two years ago I could extend almost 180 degrees. My front split is not hindered and is still progressing. The kiba dachi is not painful. Side kicks can be painful.

Sometimes when I'm walking or even just shifting my weight, it feels as if the ball of the femur is slipping within the joint. X-Ray and MRI have not shown an obstruction in the joint nor other damage. Any suggestions?

X-rays and MRI can only show structural damage to tissues. Neither X-rays nor MRI can show disfunction of muscles--the likely cause of your hips' instability, pain, and loss of range of motion. (Eventually though, the disfunction of muscles will result in structural damage, and then X-rays and MRI will show it.)

The specialists who can diagnose and successfully treat muscle disfunction are physicians (D.C. [Doctor of Chiropractic], M.D. [Doctor of Medicine], or D.O. [Doctor of Osteopathy]) who are trained in Applied Kinesiology. Here are others' posts on Applied Kinesiology:

http://stadion.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php ... iology#922
http://stadion.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php ... iology#240

To learn about my experience with Applied Kinesiology read and follow links in
http://stadion.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php ... siology#61

What AK is not:
http://stadion.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php ... iology#232