We’ve told you once and we will tell you again…
/Folks with femoral retro torsion often experience lower back pain with twisting movements
This left handed hydrology engineer Presented to the office with an acute onset of lower back pain following “swinging a softball bat”. He comments that he always “hit it out of the park“ and hit “five home runs“ in the last game prior to his backs demise.
note the internal tibial torsion. drop a plumbline from the tibial tuberosity. it should pass through the 2nd met or between the 2nd and 3rd met shafts
note the internal tibial torsion. drop a plumbline from the tibial tuberosity. it should pass through the 2nd met or between the 2nd and 3rd met shafts
He presented antalgic with a pelvic shift to the left side, flexion of the lumbar spine with 0° extension and a complete loss of the lumbar lordosis. He could not extend his lumbar spine past 0° and was able to flex approximately 70. Lateral bending was approximately 20° on each side. Neurological exam negative. Physical exam revealed bilateral femoral retro torsion as seen above. Note above the loss of internal rotation at the hips of both legs, thus he has very limited internal rotation of the hips. Femoral retroversion means that the angle of the neck of the femur (also known as the femoral neck angle) is less than 8°, severely limiting internal rotation of the hip and often leading to CAM lesions.
Stand like you’re in a batters box and swing like you’re left handed. What do you notice? As you come through your swing your left hip externally rotates and your right hip must internally rotate. He has no internal rotation of the right hip and on a good day, the lumbar spine has about 5° of rotation with half of that occurring at the lumbosacral junction. Guess what? The facet joints are going to become compressed!
bisect the calcaneus. the line should fall though the 2nd metatarsal or between the 2nd and 3rd met shafts
bisect the calcaneus. the line should fall though the 2nd metatarsal or between the 2nd and 3rd met shafts
Now combine that with bilateral 4 foot adductus (see photos above). His foot is already in supination so it is a poor shock observer.
Go back to your “batters box“. Come through your swing left handed. What do you notice? The left foot goes into a greater amount of pronation in the right foot goes into a greater amount of supination. Do you think this is going to help the amount of internal rotation available to the hip?
When folks present with lower back pain due to twisting injuries, make sure to check for femoral torsions. They’re often present with internal tibial torsion, which is also present in this individual.
Remember a while ago we said “things occur in threes”. That goes for congenital abnormalities as well: in this patient: femoral retro torsion, internal tibial torsion and forefoot adductus.
What do we do? Treat locally to reduce inflammation and take steps to try to improve internal rotation of the hips bilaterally as well as having him externally rotate his right foot when he is in the batteries box to allow him to "create" more internal rotation of the right hip.
Dr Ivo Waerlop, one of The Gait Guys
#internalrotation #hipproblem #femoraltorsion #femoralversion #retroversion #retrotorsion #thegaitguys
