The player is 17 years of age and related that he felt a "pop" in his right hip when he was running track in eighth grade. That was four years ago...

We recently evaluated a Costa Mesa high school football player here at South West Health. The player is 17 years of age and related that he felt a "pop" in his right hip when he was running track in eighth grade. That was four years ago and he is still complaining of the same pain when he attempts to accelerate in football and especially when he attempts to cut to his left. We evaluated the athlete and determined that the right side of his pelvis was not functioning correctly. In fact, the dysfunction prevented him from getting his right hip into active extension causing a reflex shortening of the right hip flexor and posterior capsule. Once we adjusted the right side of his pelvis, and stretched his posterior hip capsule, his range of motion returned to the right hip.

The lesson here is that this athlete had been complaining of the pain for over 4 years and no one had addressed the root cause of the problem. He was being stretched and is extremely fit, probably has only 4-5% body fat. If you have an athlete that is not responding to conservative management, he or she needs to be evaluated by a medical professional proficient in dealing with sports injuries. For more information about sports injuries or to schedule an evaluation for your athlete, call 949.631.5226 ext 10.