What is wrong with my right hip?

So I've been having this issue with my right hip for some time now... not even sure how long... a couple years or more.

Where I really notice it the most is during certain stretches. Once specifically is the standing side kick static hold... I did a lot of martial arts back in the day (many days ago) and one way we would position our foot when doing a side kick is with the foot flexed and rotated outward... so you would be striking with the ridge of the foot. In this first video you will see it is no problem with my left leg and I can stand straight up while doing it. But when I do the right side my body wants to lean quite a bit in the opposite direction and flexing and rotating the foot is almost impossible... if I do force it I hear lots of nice crunching in the hip... not really painful but certainly not natural... my foot is pointed when I extend my leg and I don't actually flex it until its all the way out...

https://youtu.be/7FFG65j97uw

Now what really made me think about this today is when I took a video of myself to see how my middle split was coming along... and I notice my hips were definitely not in sync... my left is lower than the right. Nothing felt out of sorts when I was doing it and I didn't know until I watched the video

https://youtu.be/waSIZFt0-5U

I thought this was something that would simply go away at some point but it seems to want to stay along for the ride... rewinding a couple years... I loath running and basically never do it. But one night 2-3 years ago I randomly went for a run at the track... I was about 3-3.5 miles in and for someone who hates running it felt great... cardio wise that is. Felt like I could do 10... the reason I stopped is it started to feel like someone was hitting my right hip with a baseball bat on every lap... and it hurt quite a bit for some time after... Not sure at this point if this is exactly when this started but its been at least this long.

Other times I'll notice this is doing seated straddle work... reaching over to the right foot is much harder than the left.

PE01 Sidepront lift in Foundations One my range of motion is less on the right side... actually when I first started doing this exercise the ROM was pathetic... I've improved it quite a bit but still not what the left is.

Any thoughts, suggestions?

Hi Andy, 

Thank you for the post. We will definitely help get your questions answered. I am unable to view your videos, this may be because of privacy settings. Once I can see your video I will be able to assist you better. 

16 minutes ago, Tanya Hill said:

Hi Andy, 

Thank you for the post. We will definitely help get your questions answered. I am unable to view your videos, this may be because of privacy settings. Once I can see your video I will be able to assist you better. 

 

Hey Tanya,

Thanks.... Maybe because I had the videos listed as private. Thought you'd still be able to see with the link.

Anyway, I changed then to just unlisted. Can you try again please.

Thank you.

On 11/5/2017 at 12:25 PM, Andy Desak 36466 said:

and it hurt quite a bit for some time after

Hi Andy. Do you still experience pain in the hip during certain movements? How does the side prone lift feel (other than asymmetric)?

2 hours ago, Everett Carroll said:

Hi Andy. Do you still experience pain in the hip during certain movements? How does the side prone lift feel (other than asymmetric)?

Hey Everett, thanks for the reply.

I wouldn't even describe it as pain anymore as it would only be painful at this point if I forced it. Whereas after that running incident it was a nagging issue for some time.
Its more of just this limited range of motion especially in the flexed externally rotated position.

As for the side prone lift... my left leg can effortlessly get past 90 degrees regardless of foot position. As for the troubled right side... toes pointed maybe 80 degrees... foot flexed and externally rotated 60-65ish... which is an improvement from a few months ago where 45 would have been an effort without forcing it.

I'm not suffering in pain with this or anything but something is out of sorts.

On a side note and I don't know if this is related or not. But on that same side and for probably just as long I was fighting what seemed a never ending battle with a piriformis/sciatica issue.
Terribly bad especially while driving... sometimes even when just lying in bed.

Did all kinds of stretching, rolling, massage and it seemed like it would never go away. Any time it did seem to be leaving, a good day of deadlifts or ambitious front split stretching would bring it back to life.

If was only just this year when due to a lot of remodeling around my house for about 6 months I was cutting back on my gym time... stretching being neglected the most... Then I got back to a normal training routine and now at this point for at least 2 months now that pain is 100% gone. And although I haven't been going heavy (315 tops) I can deadlift without issue and my front split is probably better than its ever been.

But for the longest time these two issues seemed to have gone hand in hand.... This is the only time on my life I've ever had this issue.

This is a tough one, Andy. I suggest running the hip issue by a physio to see what they say. Unfortunately, this is too complex to work on with any sort of detail or accuracy over the forum. 

Hey Everett, no problem. I understand this is probably an odd situation. I'll just keep hitting the mobility and stretching for now and see what happens. Thanks anyway!

You've put up with these pains and discomforts for quite a while it seems! I can't recommend it enough: try a physical therapist that specializes in athletes. They're worth their weight in gold. 

A good physio will dig into what you do as an athlete to help diagnose and correct imbalances. I even go to mine before pain starts for regular check-ins because I'm prone to reoccurring imbalance in one hip.