Hip pain in single leg forward fold

Hey guys! I love front stretch series because it is helping me address so many of my weaknesses (achilles, plantar, and hips!). One struggle I can't seem to overcome is the single leg forward fold against the wall. No matter how I adjust, I have immediate pain in the hip of the standing leg. The closest I've been able to do pain free is getting completely away from the wall and bringing one leg up/behind me (like in a standing split). This takes my hips away from being square, so that makes me think it isn't a good progression/substitute. 

I've been chatting with Mark about rehabbing my hips in this thread 

Anyone have suggestions for substitutions/adjustments, or just plain skipping for now?

Maybe @Mark Collins?

Julia, I am not at all an expert,  but have you tried using various blocks to elevate your hands? If you feel no discomfort with normal pike, the problem may be the increased load. By using blocks you can shift some of the weight to the arms. 

I had a look at the other thread. I do not want in any way to contradict Mark who is surely more knowledgeable that I am, but I would say that your hip problem cannot come from sitting too much. Sure, sitting does nothing good for your flexibility and may exacerbate a preexisting condition, but plenty of people sit all the time. That does not make them athletes, but usually does not make their hips hurt too. 

i had similar issues with piking and discovered hip distractions were the key for me.  you could give it a try if you want.

I have an exercise band attached to a pole at hip height and then pull it out so there is a fair amount of tension on the band while placing my leg through i bring up the other end of the band to sit around my straight leg just below the hip crease.  this pulls my femur back a little bit as i pike forwards.  instantly noticed a difference doing this and didnt have to do it for long before the issue dissapeared.  i do this in the kneeling lunge style stretch as well.

sorry if this doesnt make sense I am just doing a quick write up at lunch

That is a clever joint mobilisation with stretching.

@Guido Franchetti, thanks for chiming in! I did try blocks and it was not enough decrease in load for my hip  Also, I don't want to speak for Mark, but I don't think he meant that sitting injured my hip; I think he meant that so much sitting without enough extension created a weak hip that crapped out on me under the new strain of F1. 

@Andrew Long, great idea!! I have done that stretch before but didn't think to try it for this issue. I'll experiment tomorrow and see how it goes! Thanks for the idea

Too much sitting is a big problem for most people and can cause biomechanical changes in the hip for the worse. Now did it cause the problem? It is hard to know without doing a proper assessment. What we can say is that the hip is not meant to be bent at 90 degrees all day for years on end.

9 hours ago, Mark Collins said:

Too much sitting is a big problem for most people and can cause biomechanical changes in the hip for the worse. Now did it cause the problem? It is hard to know without doing a proper assessment. What we can say is that the hip is not meant to be bent at 90 degrees all day for years on end.

I see, I was not aware that it causes problems to so many people, maybe that is especially on the long term. But how come the time spent sleeping does not offset the problems caused by the hip being bent during the day? Is the fact that while sleeping the hip bears little weight compared to a standing position which makes a difference?

Good question. Most of us sleep on soft beds and pillows, which does not really help us. We also tend to sleep in sidelying with the hips flexed. When we are active and walk alot the hip joint will extend 10-20000 times a day. Those that sit for most if the day would be lucky to take 5000 steps a day. Which means the hip is missing out on going into extension.

Right, I did not think of pillows and of the fact that sleeping positions often involve flexed hips. Thanks, I appreciate your point better now!

Update! The band distraction helped a lot. I was able to do 30s on my worse leg (right leg) before I started to feel pain and cramping, so I stopped. Didn't want to overdo it. I was able to do all but 15s of the time for my left leg before I also started to feel pain and cramping. 

Huge improvement! Hopefully as the weeks go by, I'll be able to go for the full time without pain or cramping, and then maybe not have to use a band in the future.