Lateral Malalignment

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The video is flipped like a mirror image.

This has been bugging me for a while and I've finally had the chance to upload a sample.

I kick up into what feels natural.Tthen I shift until I'm in what I think is straight, but fall soon after because I feel like I'm entirely on my left arm.

Any help diagnosing my problems, or suggestions for solutions would be welcome.

Here's my thoughts, and I may be over anal-yzing:

In the past I've injured my left elbow and it no longer fully hyper-extends to the same degree as my right arm does, this and likely other factors have contributed to by arms lengths differing by about an inch. This however seems like the root of other problems and not the direct cause of my crooked handstand. Scapular retraction seems stronger on my right side. Lat flexibility seems better on my left side, as well as the ability to open my shoulders all the way. On supported exercises on the rings, my right arm stabilizes better, and my left bicep is currently feeling tight.

For about a year I also unintentionally worked out daily on slightly crooked rings. I would put my rings on a power tower and level them in the center. After about a year I saw felt strange lateral asymmetry and finally measured the power tower, it was about a 1.5cm higher on one side than the other (shitty craftmanship). So leveling the rings in the center didn't matter, one side would always be slightly higher than the other, but almost imperceptibly so.

Do I alter the movement pattern to try to fix the imbalance or fix the imbalance to improve the movement pattern? I've been trying to do the latter..

What are your thoughts on both the nexus and the solution to this problem?

I have some friends in who are osteopaths (which is closer to a body worker in Europe than a surgeon) they deal extensively with alignment. One of the current trends in thought is that not everyone is meant to be perfectly straight for numerous reasons.

One reason is , and i've gone through it myself, the act of correcting artificially is just as bad as working with the imbalance organically.

I can't say this is you, but for sure you corrected, and then over corrected, so what you say you feel is right. Now its really hard to judge this kind of thing from one short clip, but to me the tilt is more in the midsection and the shoulder girdle looked balanced.

Maybe its a matter of just lengthening the shorter waist more.....

That's an interesting and very organic view, but since this is a very new development in my physiology (within the last year) I think I should correct it.

That looks damn strange. Don't really know what else to say. Have you brainstormed for everything that changed in your last year?

If its that recent then sure, see if you can work it out.

Of course, there could be so many things going on, we can only hope to help give you a clue, you know your entire history, we know this post and video...

But regarding the video, run between 06-09 seconds and at 17 seconds. There are a number of things, but two, see how your left shoulder is further from your ear, and you correct you push everything away from the left rather than lift out of the left, so the gap grows.

Just some thoughts.

thanks for the tips Mr Brady

Here's a picture of my handstand in June, the image is not flipped like the last one. I'm not sure if I'm imagining things anymore, but this looks slightly crooked to me as well.

This is simply a bad habit, no more.

Now that you are aware of the issue, you will be able to self monitor and correct. For the time being as this position has become habitual, you will need to remember that if your HS feels "right" (comfortable), it is probably "wrong" (malaligned).

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

For the rings work, you could just switch which direction you face with each set. That way it doesn't really matter so much which side is slightly higher because you will have equal exposure. I do this at home and it has worked well so far.

I completely agree with coach sommer. I had the same thing happen to my handstand last year, It was seemingly random and it just took some time filming and having people look at my handstand to re-teaching myself what straight actually was. You probably do have strength and flexibility imbalances, but the only way to get your handstand back to straight is to just teach yourself what straight is again.

Tsoonami,

I've also had a similar problem, for me it was related to my hips being slightly twisted in the HS, I don't know why perhaps related to a flexibility issue. Play around with the hip position and see if this helps you, i'm not saying this is your problem, as i think mr brady may be onto something as well but give it a try.

Coach, I think that's exactly what I needed to hear.

Sliz, once I realized this my rigns were crooked, that's exactly what I had done, it was pretty strange the first time.

Marlon, thanks for the reassurance. I had planned on doing the reverse and correcting the structural imbalance to improve the movement pattern; but honestly I'd be shooting in the dark, a handstand is therapy enough.

Demus, this also may be a contributing issue, but I now suspect it's primarily mental and a bad habit.

This was starting to get to an obssessive point where I would would compare or measure my shoe heels, arm's length, shoulder height, and upright walking balance etc... just to make sure there wasn't something wrong. I'll post another picture here once I've consistently corrected this bad habit.