Clinical Research

The University of Calgary, Canada, has recently conducted some very interesting research into the role that weak hips play in common running injuries and lower back pain.

Lead by Dr. Reed Ferber (Ph.D., CAT(C), ATC), the studies, involving hundreds of subjects concluded that weak hips are often at the root cause of both running injuries and lower back pain:

Running Injuries

"While most running injuries happen in the knees and lower legs, it turns out their root cause is almost always weak hip muscles. So runners should stop blaming faulty knees for causing them so much pain as they jog and start strengthening their hips." (Quote from www.runninginjuryclinic.com)

Dr Ferber says: "Certainly there are a lot of factors in running injuries, but the commonality is that (lack of) hip strength."

Lower back pain

Dr Ferber says: "What most people don’t realize is that many of the muscles that support your lower back begin in your hips...When those hip muscles become weak and inflexible they create alignment issues that often result in pain in the lower back and hips.”

In a preliminary clinical trial, patients following a hip-strengthening program reported a significant reduction in lower back pain with a corresponding increase in hip strength after only three weeks.

The above information was taken from www.runninginjuryclinic.com
Dr. Reed Ferber is Assistant Professor and Director of the Running Injury Clinic at the University of Calgary.

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