The Pelvis & Hip

Low back pain and pelvic girdle pain are common problems experienced by patients seen in clinical practice, from postpartum women to elite athletes. So too are lower extremity injuries such as groin pain, “osteitis pubis”, femoroacetabular impingement (FAI), adductor tendinopathy, and recurrent hamstring strains and posterior thigh pain. A challenge for therapists and patients is that often these problems are recurrent and chronic, and research evidence to indicate what the most effective treatment protocol for these injuries is still lacking.

Effective rehabilitation of any problem facing patients requires consideration of how loads are transferred through the entire body during tasks that have meaning for the patient. An important consideration is that the location of pain does not always correlate to the underlying cause of the problem. That is, dysfunction in other areas of the body, whether painful or not, may be the true underlying cause, or “driver” of the patient’s problem. The ConnectTherapy™ model provides a total body assessment and treatment framework to connect dysfunctional areas to the painful problem and determine the most effective treatment approach. This course teaches how to determine when the pelvis or the hip are the true driver for the patient’s problem, or a victim from a driver elsewhere.

On this 4-day course you will learn the key observational and hands-on skills needed to determine if the pelvis and hip are optimally or non-optimally transferring loads during whole body functional tasks related to daily activities and sport in Meaningful Task Analysis (MTA) (Lee LJ 2008). You will learn pelvis and hip “correction” techniques to use during MTA and the clinical algorithm needed to analyze the findings & determine whether the pelvis or hip is the true “primary driver” for the patient’s problem, or not. Knowing how to “rule in” or “rule out” the pelvis & hip as drivers gives the therapist confidence in designing & implementing treatment that produces results. Techniques to effectively treat pelvis and hip drivers will then be covered, including neuromuscular release techniques and the ConnectTherapy Exercise Prescription Framework to take the rehabilitation program from the acute stage to restoring full return to sport and activity.

LJ will also share her ideas on how the thorax and pelvis interact, looking at the connections between the thorax, pelvis, and hips, and discussing the key clinical findings that direct the therapist to look outside the pelvis-hip complex to find the primary driver for the patient’s problem. Thoracic ring practical techniques are taught in courses on The Thoracic Ring Approach.

Thoracic ring drivers, pelvis drivers, and hip drivers can all significantly impact “core function”, and understanding the connections between abdominal wall function and these drivers will change the way you treat problems with “core stability”.

The purpose of this 4-day evidence-based course is to enhance your hands-on and clinical reasoning skills to determine the role of pelvis and hip dysfunction in a range of common recurrent problems and to more effectively pelvis and hip drivers.