Do you have pain in the buttock/hip area while going for a long car ride? Or maybe it’s just sitting through a meal. While there may be a few causes of this, often we find there is irritation of the external rotators of the hip. If you look around the corner, you’ll probably find the real reason why.

Perhaps you’ve tried stretching the piriformis or rolling on a ball. It probably gave you some minor temporary relief, but then it just came back. Sound familiar? As with almost all things musculoskeletal, the symptom and the cause are two different things. In this case, we’ll look at how stiffness in the front of the hip turns into pain in the back of the hip.

If you have to sit for work, chances are you are developing stiffness in the hip flexor and thigh. Whatever a muscle does, it limits the opposite motion. For example, hip flexors flex the hip, but limit hip extension.The body is a creative problem solver and will find work-arounds. If you are unable to adequately extend your hip, it will rotate it instead.

Hip extension is what you need to walk normally. And if you run, you need even more. So if you notice your feet turn out excessively when you walk, this may be a sign that you are stiff in your hip flexors as it is a compensation. By the way, this can also be an ankle issue, so have it properly examined.

Here is a quick and easy test. Lay on your stomach, and see if you can lift your leg up, while keeping your stomach and pelvis touching the ground. If you find your pelvis peeling away from the ground, you're probably stiff in the front of the hip.

Problems usually arise when you expose an area where there is a dysfunction. I had one client who was feeling fine, but was extremely stiff in the hip flexors. He hadn’t been exercising much, and then decided to start running. Well the limitation in hip extension was exposed, and he was rotating his hip away from the stiffness with every stride. He irritated his hip to the point where it became painful to sit in his car. Rolling on a ball gave some relief, but it wasn’t until we improved his hip extension that the pain went away for good.

This is one of the mobilizations we used:

Hip Pain While Driving