One of the common issues we see in the clinic, especially amongst the running population, is poor hip control and strength. This type of hip dysfunction often leads to a variety of injuries such as anterior knee pain, hip pain and low back pain. As clinicians we are able to subjectively view someone’s running gait and determine where their deficiencies are. This however is purely subjective and doesn’t give us concrete data on how bad the control actually is and is hard to measure positive change effectively.
This has now become an issue of the past with recent technological developments. Using Vi Move, which is a system using sensors, we are now able to quantify hip stability and strength issues. One of the ways in which we do this is by hooking a patient up to 2 sensors on the shin bone and measuring knee collapse in anything from single leg squat to box jumps. It’s a great objective measure that we can then rehab and re-measure after following a strength program.
Further to these sensor placements we can also put them on the low back and pelvis and test single leg hurdle step and a lunge to see how the hip is affecting low back and pelvis alignment. The benefit of these sensor placements is you can then look at it with real time training. This will allow you to watch the sensors on the screen and give you real time feedback on how to move properly and engage better hip control.
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