The Steep Stuff Podcast
Welcome to the Steep Stuff Podcast, your source for all things Short Trail
The Steep Stuff Podcast
#147 - Sean Rimmer, PT, DPT, OCS (Run Potential PT) Discussion on Hips, Pelvis & Nerve Injuries in Runners
The ache that won’t sit still, the quad-dominant stride, the back that tightens after miles on trail—none of it is random. We invited Dr. Sean Rimmer, PT, DPT of Run Potential PT, to unpack how the pelvis truly drives running: three-plane motion, rotational loading, and the elastic recoil that makes a stride feel effortless. When the pelvis stops moving, hips overwork, nerves get irritated, and the system loses its spring. Sean explains how to spot the difference between hip, pelvis, and nerve-driven pain, and why a shifting, vague ache is often a neural clue rather than a muscle tear.
We go deep on practical solutions you can apply today. Sean demos walking pelvic rotations and reverse steps to restore glide and rotation, and shows how a simple flow rope builds rhythm, timing, and side-to-side weight shift that mirrors efficient running mechanics. He also shares quick self-screens—pelvic side glides and marching with hands on the pelvis—to reveal blocked planes of motion. If you’ve been told “anterior pelvic tilt” is your problem, you’ll learn why hip flexor rotation is the missing piece and how better sequencing beats endless stretching.
Strength that actually transfers to performance is the final lever. Sean outlines heavy split-stance isometrics to load the glute–ham complex the way running demands—fast stabilization with tendon recoil—without crushing soreness during hard training blocks. Expect clearer cues, less quad overload, and a snappier, more resilient stride within weeks. Whether you’re dealing with nerve flare-ups, stubborn hip tightness, or you just want more power and durability, this conversation gives you a blueprint: restore pelvic motion, retrain rhythm, and load what matters.
If this helped, subscribe, share it with a running friend, and leave a quick review on your favorite app. Tell us which drill changed your stride first, and what body area you want us to tackle next.
Follow Sean on IG - @runpotentialpt
Contact Sean for PT - @runpotentialpt
Check out Run Potential PT online - @runpotentialpt
Follow James on IG - @jameslauriello
Follow the Steep Stuff Podcast on IG - @steepstuff_pod
Use code steepstuffpod for 25% off your cart at UltimateDirection.com!
Welcome back to the Steep Stuff Podcast. I'm your host, James L'Orealow. And today I'm so excited to welcome Sean Rimmer back to the show. Sean is the physiotherapist for Run Potential PT based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Yeah, he's my personal PT and a good friend of mine. And we've had him, he's also the first uh guest we've ever had on the show, which was kind of cool. Um so excited to welcome Sean back to the show this time for a very specific reason. It's interesting. I've had uh dealt quite a lot in the past with hip and um uh more so hip and SI, pelvis and nerve injuries, and I've had quite a few podcasts lately with athletes dealing with similar injuries. So I feel like this was a really interesting time to have Sean back on to talk all things on hips, pelvis, nerve issues, um, how to get those hips and p how to get those uh rotation, um, how to get the hips strong and all kinds of fun things. It was a really good conversation. Sean did a lot of demos. So if you're listening to this on Apple Podcasts, that's awesome. But if you want to pan on over to Spotify or YouTube, that would probably be the most ideal because the video episode of this podcast is gonna get you kind of the most value in that um there's quite a few opportunities uh that you can watch Sean doing different types of strength and mobility demonstrations. Um, that would be the most ideal. So I hope you guys enjoy this one and get a lot of value out of it. Uh Sean is an absolute brain and has been a miracle worker for me over the years. Um I've definitely thrown a lot of athletes his way, um, you know, that listen to the pods so uh they can get some help with these injuries as well, and it's been quite beneficial for a lot of them. So um, like I said, Sean is a miracle worker and an absolute brain. So without further ado, I hope you guys enjoy this one. Dr. Sean Rimmer, uh DPT um of run potential PT on hips and uh pelvis and rotation. Ladies and gentlemen, we Dr. Sean Rimmer, welcome back to the Same Stuff Podcast. How's it going, my friend?
SPEAKER_00:Good, dude. Happy to be back. It's had a little hiatus together, but glad to try to bring some knowledge and awareness today and hopefully help some people out who are listening.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, man. I'm super excited to have this convo. I've been dude, I've been stewing on this one for a while as far as like what can we talk about to provide value for people that are might be going through injury right now? And the one that I feel like I'm I might be a spokesperson for at this point is hip and pelvic issues, um, notably. And the amount of athletes I know that you probably see on the regular with hip and pelvis issues is probably pretty immense. I know I've referred a couple people over to you, uh like athletes in the space that have had like nerve and some different issues. Um this is something you see a lot, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it is something that's fairly common. Now, it doesn't always mean that this is something that I'll see coming directly from running, like a running-related injury, but sometimes it can be experienced by running and other things. And so, really, you know, with anything, as we know, like having a good history of how long something's going on for what's the behavior of what they're feeling, um, other things going on holistically in their life, their training, their diet, their stress, all these things help me to get a little bit of a lens into like maybe what we're dealing with. And then, you know, looking at the testing from there, kind of breaking down maybe what what's the problem. If it is truly something of hips pelvis origin or nerve from that region of the back or pelvis, you know, that's where we can really dive into the testing and really isolate what the problem is. Um and then again, looking at their movement too. I think, you know, everyone all these everyone runs, and but people can run differently, and how they are running on terrain can and change their mechanics and things. So really looking at the runners' mechanics and if that's even relevant to what's going on, at least helps also paint a picture. So, really what it comes down to is just being holistic with everything, taking a look at all these things and really listening to the person in front of me talk about what they're experiencing to help me kind of put my problem-solving hat on and try to figure things out.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. No, I love it. It's it's interesting because I feel like that's a very peculiar section of the body, the hip, the pelvis, the SI joints, everything kind of interconnected. Can you talk about how that functions as a unit and running?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So if we think about the pelvis, like that's where I think of as like the true core of the body. It's literally like the center of the body. And just below or the underside of the pelvis, we have the hip joint where the femur connects to the pelvis bones. And then above that, we have the spine. So a lot of times we'll perceive some hip issues or back issues and nerve issues. But instead of directing to those general areas, I typically have found that the pelvis can be a link of why those areas are being irritated. And so, to answer your question on how does the pelvis function and running, if we think of the pelvis, and I'll kind of use my hands as a little bit of a demo, uh if if we're thinking of the front of the body where I'm facing you, the pelvis kind of has this bowl feature in the legs would be on the underside. The pelvis really can move in three planes of motion, and we need it to move in three planes of motion. So if we think of together, the pelvis can forwardly rotate. So that think of like rotation forward and back, but not like tilting. And then we have posterior, anterior forward tilt and backward tilt. But more specifically in running, it's usually gonna be a little bit of equal and opposite. So we're not really gonna have like this action running because of the leg action. We're gonna have some forward rotation and back and forward and back. And then we have some side bend or side glide of the pelvis. And all of those happen together in sequence. We don't have like isolated movements, but we need to have all that pelvis mobility moving properly because what that actually allows for is the hip muscles to like stabilize as the pelvis rotates and moves. So the hip hip muscles can stabilize but also store elastic energy and produce force. So if we're not getting the pelvis moving, the hip function starts to be impaired or impacted, or just becomes less optimal compared to when the pelvis is moving fully. So to sum things up with that, the pelvis needs to move, and we need to make sure all of those movements are there, and that's where I do my testing on. Do we have all access to all that? Because sometimes we'll find we don't. And then if we do have access to it where I check movement passively or isolate it, do they use the pelvis when they run? Do they have their motor patterns connect the dots where we have that movement, or is there something off with their coordination and timing and rhythm that's causing things to not move as well when we look at their running or movement patterns? And so hopefully, I mean that's it can be a little complex trying to simplify it, but the key is it needs it needs to move because everything around that above and below is dependent on movement through that area.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that rotation is so important. Can can you I don't want to deviate too much into this topic, but this is something you and I have talked about in the past. I feel like it's it's a really interesting tagline and it's it's a gone viral. I see this on PT accounts all the time, um, where these influencers are trying to talk about anterior pelvic tilt. And I find it to be a very common thing in people where that pelvis almost like the hip flexors gets so tight, pulls the pelvis forward. I deal with it all the time. And for me, when I like I have a ton of different stretches I do to really get more length in my hip flexors and stretch everything out, and it makes it go away almost instantly. Um, I don't want to say anterior pelvic hilt, but like enough to where it's tilted to where it causes lower back pain at times. And I don't know if that's from sitting a ton, and I feel like a lot of athletes deal with that. Um, maybe talk about like anterior pelvic tilt and why that's such a common thing now.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it is relatively common, and I think it comes down to a couple things. Like, of course, looking at their running and what's going on there, because there's a reason why maybe we see that more in runners, but also just the nature of humanity nowadays, and there is so much sitting, and that kind of does tighten a little bit more of the front side of things. Now, I'll still see people who are sitting a lot during the day who have really good mobility through there. So there's we have to kind of connect all the dots there. What I will say is if the pelvis is tilted forward and and kind of more stiff in that direction, typically that may mean that the muscles in the front of the legs maybe are tighter as well. If we think about like the muscle pole. Um and so tension there could obviously be creating that, but typically it's again coming down to how we move. So if we think of the hip flexors, even the long quad, some of the big players in the front, if we're moving in in our running when we have rotation, we tend to get better movement through those tissues, like the hip flexor. Most people think the hip flexor, of course, flexes the hip and it's more of this sagittal plane of action, but a huge component to that hip flexor is internal and external rotation. And so if we're not touching on those pieces when we run, if we're not having that pelvis rotation to wind that tissue up, it's gonna become short and stiff. So I think this is a cool opportunity to kind of show you an example in the video. Now, of course, you know, people listening they can always look at the recording to see this because I think the demonstration helps. But I'm gonna demo um like that stride position and running and show kind of how the hip flexor mobility should present with the rotation.
SPEAKER_01:And so this is why I love doing the video. I can totally demo.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, is obviously benefits. So when most people think, like, and I'll show from the side of you, like the hip flexor technically flex helps to flex the hip. And then as we go in a lengthened position, there is a stretch, period. Now that's part of the story. If we go from the front side, when that leg is back, the hip flexor that attaches inside of the pelvis and the back of the spine attaches to the inside of the femur. And so if the attachment's here and here, as we the leg goes back, there's some stretch, but if the leg rotates or if we rotate into the pelvis, that actually winds it up more. And when we run, we need some of that rotation and weight shift to help facilitate that stretch and then that recoil as the leg swings through. So in the hip flexor, when we load it and push off behind us, or when that we're in that terminal position, this is under good stretch to then help the leg swing through with flexion and external rotation to then come down. So if we're not getting to that point, especially at faster speeds, this can get really feeling like it's pulling and getting angry and getting tight. So when people are really dominant tilted forward, I find that some of that can be missing, as well as they're using a lot more of the quad to help push because things are getting tighter in the front. So that I I put a post on this a little while ago, like tissue tension in the body kind of tells a story. And I think we can stretch things and mobilize things, and of course, that can buy us some movement and freedom, but it's figuring out why that keeps coming back and is present. And if we can understand the root issue of like where the problem is with the mechanics and movement coordination, we can tend to find where we can get things moving more fluidly with movement based practice and um coordination work to help integrate into your running.
SPEAKER_01:Makes sense. How would you here's the thing? Like people um I know when I had this issue, I went to you and I was like, oh my god, I have a herniated disc. That doesn't sound like that. Um, but I think the bigger question here lens it, and I think for athletes listening to this, how would you know if you have a hip or a pelvis problem? Like, how do you be able to distinguish either of the two?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's also a really good point. I think that comes down to, like I said, a little bit of what people are experiencing. Um, and I'll give an example in a moment, but also the testing. And so that helps me kind of point an area what's what the problem is. So, you know, for a lot of people, they may experience like a nerve issue in their leg, you know, it could be in the hip, could be in the thigh, could be even lower than that. Um, and a lot of times that could be coming from somewhere upstream, somewhere near the pelvis, low back, um, or lumbar spine interface. And so I always tend to start from the pelvis and spine just to make sure, again, do we have that adequate mobility? And if we don't, is that contributing to triggering that nerve-related symptom into the leg? Um, so you know, even if there is potentially a herniated disc, right? If we can get things to change via changes in how we move or getting more mobility in areas, like, you know, who cares if there is a herniated disc? There's been enough studies to show that people with asymptomatic MRIs have herniated disks. And so, regardless of the finding there, if we can get people to move better and feel better, you know, that's what we want to work off of versus being scared of a diagnosis that may not even be relevant or a concern. And so I always like to look at at least the movement to see what where the problem is, and then maybe why certain tissue is irritated. So again, if there is nerve or not, if we get the movement better and we retest something, is it improved? And if it is, we want to work off that. You know, that test retest model is very helpful in this field. If we can find a movement or position that doesn't feel good, do some sort of interventions or movement practice and then retest. And if things are improved, like that's a great sign we want to start working off of that. If things are worse, if if symptoms got more intense or there's more irritation, that's also helpful information telling us maybe we want to not go in that type of movement direction for now and kind of figure out where more the problem is. So I find that super helpful in trying to like isolate problems and figure it out. And then that allows me to educate, you know, the people I work with to like, here's where the direction we really want to work towards and integrate into our overall movement practice or movement patterns like running.
SPEAKER_01:On the nerve topic, I find this to be so interesting because I've seen you over the years where I've come to you with adductor pain, or I've come to you with stuff outside uh on the outside of the hip that feels kind of funky. And generally it's always been nerve-related pain. Can you talk about the relationship with the nerve and the fascia and why some something's obviously not gliding correctly, or something's obviously I guess irritated tissue, and that's what will cause that. Can you talk about how the nerve gets irritated and maybe sometimes poor movement can cause that?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's and it's hard to fully like say, like, this is definitely what's happening, just because we don't have enough information on that. But typically, if I if I were to take a step back for a second, when I see nerve issues, most people think if they've felt nerve pain, which this can be a pattern of nerve pain, it's it's this sharp shooting pain or or burning or numbness or tingling. You know, that that can be what you feel with nerve pain, but um, and it and it's where it's this like radiating from the spine or in this whole like length nerve pathway from your butt all the way down, you're like, and sure, that's something I'll definitely see and we see. But it can also be like this vague pain that's in a specific area that sometimes is there, sometimes is not, or is sometimes just always there and constant. And it can be an ache, it can be sharp, it can vary. I think that's a really common predictor of nerve-related pain versus soft tissue pain, even potentially bone pain. It's more consistent in the type of pain. And the other thing is with nerves, things can move around. So you may feel it in the lower part of the adductor one time, and then we do some sort of movement or change, and it and it shifts to radiate higher up, or it shifts to lower in the leg or up in the hip. So things can move around. And if we if I typically hear that from folks, that's kind of like ringing a radar in my brain of like, okay, like there may be a possible bit possibility this is going on. Now, most of the time I'll see nerve-related pain stemming from the again, the region of the spine and the pelvis. And so that's where I always want to start looking at motion and how people are moving through there. Because again, typically I'll see if there is a problem, there is a movement limitation through there. And if we start to improve the movement through there, people can actually integrate that into active movement. I'll typically see things start to improve. Now, if they don't, we want to further explore. Sometimes it's just not as common. We'll see some type of nerve-related entrapment where the nerve can get potentially a little adhered in the tissue within the peripheral system. And we want to work through that area. So nerve-related mobilizations, neural flossing, neural tension or slatters, those can be effective interventions to getting the neural system just a little bit more mobile through the tissue. Um, because the nerve does move through muscle, moves through fascia, it kind of interconnects through all those things. The other times I may see it peripherally or like in the leg in areas and not stemming from like the back or the pelvis region. There could be a muscle that's really tight. Um, for example, I just saw someone who had a ton of tension in their peronial, which is like the lower leg outer side. And how they were running, they were loading a lot more on the outside of the foot, and that area was just getting overworked. And after so many steps or so much time of running. They would start to get nerve-related symptoms in that lower leg. And so, yes, it's a nerve issue, but likely for that individual, we needed to work on some of the changes with his mechanics to get him to load through the full foot and not overload that tissue so we could get that nerve less irritated. And so again, it's figuring out the whole story of like why it's getting irritated and where it's stemming from and looking at their movement. If we can connect all of those pieces, we can kind of problem solve and figure out the problem and hopefully start to move in the right direction.
SPEAKER_01:I think you hit a very valuable thing there where a lot of times it's down the chain. Something with the foot, something with your steps, something with your movement. How would you know like if it is a nerve issue, whether it's around maybe the pelvis or the like if it's presenting issues in that area, it might not be directly related to that. How would you know, like be able to like dissect that?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So again, coming down to just like isolating all those areas. So like I'll look at the foot manually and I'll do some specific movement test to like, do we have adequate movement through there and control? And if so, at least I can check that box of like, all right, I feel good about like this maybe not being a problem, but like let's still like make sure we keep it on the radar. And then check spinal mobility and pelvis and hip mobility. And if things are like really fluid and symmetrical and strong, I feel better that maybe things aren't coming from there. And again, these are just isolated things that we can test. Looking at the movement, though, is the important thing. So if it's triggered with running, I want to look at running. I need to figure out like what's go when does it come on? Does it come on if you're contacting in that initial loading phase? Is it come on more when you're in swing phase, when you're pushing off? The body is in a different position and things are under different loads and tensions and different points in the gate cycle. So that might help paint a picture and tell the story as well. As well as loading cycles. Like, does nerve pain come on after running two miles? Right? How are they running and maybe are they overloading and certain tissues and things are getting irritated? So to break it down, I'll isolate things and I'll look at their movement. And if there's any other movements they feel it with, I want to look at those too. Because again, I want to try to understand the whole picture of where the problem's coming from and not just guessing, but like really trying to be a little more specific about where the issues are so we can try to make some change.
SPEAKER_01:How would you like treat some of the maybe you could show I I don't know, you kind of broke it down as well. I just want to better get an understanding of like treating some of the hipper nerve problems. Like I know you and I have worked together many, many times over working through different stuff like this, and a lot of different movements help. And yeah, now now I feel like I don't want to say I'm in remission, but like I feel like with the tools I gained from you and then with different strength work, um, like I I haven't had an issue in a really long time, knock on wood. And it's been which is great. Great. Yeah, yeah. All because of you. Um well you're putting in the work, so yeah. Rotation is key. It's so nuts not to like go into the weeds on this, but like once I've actually figured out how to like use my glutes and my ass, my running is completely different. Like, I have full rotation now. Oh, I feel like a completely different runner where I was just so overloaded in the quads before.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. It's hard. I mean, I think it's easier. Obviously, you're doing and you're doing mixing it up now, from what I'm hearing. Like you're doing like road stuff, track stuff, you know, trail. I think it's in general on the trails, there's a lot more variance uphill. It's sometimes harder at times to get in the rhythm. And I think on like a track, treadmill, um, something flatter, you can really get a little more in tune with the rhythm of your running mechanics because it's like more consistent. Um, but you may have, you know, you other people may sometimes they don't feel certain tissue activation because of, again, how they're moving. Do they have rotation? Do they have weight shift? Are there ground contact times and initial point of contact in a good position, setting up everything in further stance? So all those pieces of biomechanics do matter and setting up to how the tissue in the joints function. And so if you're, you know, realistically, if you're running flat, if you're running uphill, like most of the activation should be from posterior chain. So flute, hamstring, calf complex, chilles, and more so um like tendon elasticity, right? Like muscles are turning on quick to almost stabilize to have the tendons be able to stretch and recoil. That's why we don't want a ton of joint excursion at the knee, at the ankle, at the hip when we run during stance phase. We want to be rather stiff so that muscle can stabilize, and then we get this elastic storage and release of energy from the hip all the way down through the foot. And if everything's sequenced well, it's very fluid because we have the motion, we have the sequencing of how everything activates, and then we have this stiff tendon release, and things feel very good. Now, if pieces of those are off, our body's gonna shift to how we're moving, and you know, things can change. And so making sure people have access to movements the first part, because coordination is also part of it, but people need to have mobility to feel certain things engage. And so the the story of that is it can it could be the chicken or the egg. Do you have the mobility to have access or do you not know how to access it so you lose the mobility? So typically I like to work on both some mechanics and mobility pieces, if that's the issue, to see if we can just kind of bridge that gap. So, you know, either way, if we're wrong, we're at least going in the right direction with both pieces.
SPEAKER_01:If you're an athlete listening to this, you're probably wondering, like, okay, what can I do as preventative measures to not like not have to deal with hip pain or not have to deal with like pelvis immobility and things like that? What are some things? Because I don't want to talk about like what I did or what you showed me to be the wrong thing, but like what are some things that like you would maybe recommend to athletes for better rotation, for better mobility, to pay better attention to their mechanics so that way they are getting good rotation.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think that's a really good thought. I've just found that I have these different ideas and exercises and drills that work. Everyone's a little different in what they experience with exercise. So there's some people who have maybe the same issue presenting, but one responds really well to this type of exercise, and one responds really well to that. And I usually can get that trend if I'm teaching someone this, and it just as much as I try to work with them to get it and it's just frustrating and um not feeling good, then I try to use my knowledge and mind's head to try to find something else that we can connect the dots. But I find if people can feel things differently via exercise or drill, that can actually translate better to them feeling better in their running, better than me just cueing things and running. Because if you don't know what to feel, and I'm telling you, do you feel this or feel this or do that? It doesn't connect. So I'll go over a couple things here on the video and I'll describe it a little bit too of just some general mobility pieces or exercises that I've found impactful for myself, I've found impactful for other people, and they're relatively um simple to do, doesn't mean it's easy or feels fluid right away, especially if you're having some rotation um tension in the hips and pelvis. And so let me pop up here and I'll kind of demo a few things. And this will be available in 4K. This this video better get a ton of hits. The first one demoing everything. That's right. All right. So this kind of feeds off of what I was demoing a little bit before. And let me just make sure you have full site. So I like to do this in a walk pattern forward and back. Um, as long as you have space to do it, you could do it 30, 40 feet forward and 30, 40 feet backwards and just rep that. Um, really to teach the movement of the pelvis and read the hips. So I like to have hands on pelvis so you at least have that feedback of feeling the bones so you don't feel like you're just twisting with the spine or condensating with the spine. So I'm using people take a step forward, not too far, but where you can be in a staggered stance position with the front knee bent, hip bent, back leg, knee relatively straight, maybe a soft bend in it, and then heel down. From here, if you are balanced, you're gonna wind pelvis into front thigh. Now, if I just rep this a few times, like this should feel pretty elastic and springy because both hip function and pelvis function are mobile and we get this elastic recoil. A lot of times when I test this for folks, this feels blocked or really stiff, and it does not feel like that. So that's a sign that we maybe want to work through this. The other thing about this is as I rotate my pelvis and my hips, I get this good rotation, especially in the back leg through the knee, through the foot and ankle. So the whole system needs to be elastic and stringy. Super important for running. Okay. So I'll take a step, rotate, make sure I can feel good end, feel I'm stable, and then step two, and then that leg that was back, I'll step forward, and now I'm doing the same thing. So basically, I'll repeat this forward for a period of time and then go backwards. Now, the cool thing about backwards is it tends to just feel a little bit more open to the hip than moving forward, and it just gives you a little different feel, even though it's the same movement pattern. And I find typically that people who do this for several days, several weeks, if they're really locked up in here and they're consistent with this Uber pattern, things start to open up a little bit more. And when you have a little bit more motion through here and access, we can start to help translate that into our running where we can rotate and weight shift. Super important if you watch any high-level runner, especially from the back, they're not staying in midline. There's always some rotational weight shift as they contact, their head's gonna be over their foot. As they load and drive off, they're driving off that leg, and they're gonna see some head shift over each leg. That a lot of is the storage and release of energy with that rotational full wind up. If you feel someone's just stiff in the middle and they're moving their legs, we're missing that rotational piece there. So that's one simple one you can do. Um, the other one I like to do is the, and again, you know of this, the flow rope. Okay. It's again, I'll do it now and I'll demo it. It's rather, again, simple, simple concept, but people have people struggle with it right away. There's definitely a coordination practice component. So if you this is something you try, there's plenty of videos out there on this, and there's all different things, but let me show you it and then we'll kind of talk through why it's important.
SPEAKER_01:I feel like I need to get like an Amazon affiliate code before we post this podcast so that way we can make some money off these ropes. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I'm sure I've made a if I had a code, I'm sure I would have made some money off that.
SPEAKER_01:Oh dear. You've posted some great videos on these.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So um basically it's just a simple rope. Um, this one has a little weight to it. I feel like having some weight to it allows you to feel things like momentum-wise better. But the pattern is this underhand figure eight. So I'll start swinging it on one side and then I transfer to the other. Now, if you're watching this, what you'll notice is looking at my head, my head shifts from side to side. And it's not like I'm just moving my head. This is all rotational weight shift transfer of energy. The rope's really cool because it gives us timing, it gives us rhythm, and allows us to kind of sequence things and be um snappy through the legs, but to also feel things. What I find is if people do resonate with this exercise, this drill, just doing it for several days to even a few weeks, if they're consistent with it, they start to feel a little different in their running. And that helps us connect the dots of like what we're looking for. We need some of that rotation and weight shift. So I really like this tool. It's really powerful, simple. And um, once you get an understanding of the movement pattern, if you're consistent with that, it does feel like it helps open things up because you can just feel the body move in the way it should, not feel stiff, kind of just moving forward and back. So I really like those drills. Um the other just quick screens I like to test. So I always like to test just the gliding of the pelvis. So in standing, so I'll people check like, can we get pelvis to glide both ways? Sometimes if I'll see an issue on one side like this, maybe pretty blocked. Um in figuring out if if it's a glide issue, if there's something else. So we need to see that. That's one of the motions we need to see in the pelvis because that allows you to weight shift onto a side when you run. We need that rotation. So this is one of my tests. Are we symmetrical and fluid here? And then the forward and backward rotation. I actually like testing a march. So I'll test and I'll have my people put their hands there and I can see things move. But when when you go into a march, you get relative hip flexion on this leg, hip extension on this leg, and the pelvis needs to tilt a little back, and then this comes a little relative forward. And then the same thing as we marched, can we see this kind of come down and this kind of go back? If anything feels like really stiff through there, and maybe people perceive that in the hips, the pelvis, the glute, what have you. I need to make sure those pelvic movements can glide just like my hands there. So those are kind of me just screening those planes of motion just to see like, is there any big issues there? Because if there is, we want to start maybe at least working off of those pieces to see if that starts to help.
SPEAKER_01:Very interesting.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for demonstrating. Yeah, hopefully people will take a look at that because I think uh Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01:We're gonna I'm gonna clip that, we'll make a reel out of it so people can see it. I think it'd be super sad. Cool. Um, I have like a strength question for you. So like one of the things I started doing maybe a few months ago was like working on just getting I've always had really weak hips. Like I've never had strong hips at all. And uh I wanted to change that. So I Googled like Muay Thai exercises for like, or like sorry, uh exercises for like Muay Thai like kickboxers and stuff like that. And dude, I have worked so much on getting my hips strong, and it has played like uh such a fundamental role in helping me, I think, engage more muscles and get more just be strong in that area of my body. Would you recommend more strength like that? Like, I don't have the dexterity to be able to kick somebody in the face, but I have like decent dexterity. Um do you think that's like super important for runners, or should runners be a little stiffer? Um, I think for me it was more so working on like, okay, how do I just get that entire section of my body much stronger than it had been before?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I would I kind of agree with both of those points. Like, we do want timing-wise, because really when you think about running propulsion, like hips drive that, of course, and really that drive down into the ground, like the amount of force we can put into the ground and meet that and not like collapse, because like really when our foot contacts the ground and running, all of our tissues and our leg from our hip all the way to our foot are basically trying to prevent collapse or like prevent you from bending or flexing too much of your joints. So you need to be strong to meet the demand of the force being put into the ground. And if you can meet that demand, then your tendons will stretch and you'll get this elastic spring-like movement. Hence, when you see a lot of really good runners, like you're not seeing them bobbing up and down, they're pretty small bouncing fluid because they're strong and elastic. Now, I do think there's value of having the hips being strong, of course. Um, you can strengthen your hip in a lot of ways, but if you want it to transfer better to running performance, we want to meet the demands of the actions we would see in running. So, more from like this hip flexion to extension, kind of split stance scissoring down into the ground, um, as well as like making sure you're strong in that like mid-stance phase of running, because that's where our body is like overcoming all of that load. And then as soon as the body transfers over the leg and standing, we're releasing that on the backside. So, really, that front side mechanic into the ground is where we want to be strongest if we're specific for running. And a lot of that is hip um glute hamstring action of driving into the ground. Um, what I've been playing around with a lot recently, because it makes sense, is a lot of heavy isometrics. So isometrics are um like uh muscle contractions in like one position. So think of like to give a simple example, wall sit. Most people can conceptualize or maybe have done that in the past, where you're you're against a wall and you're just holding position, quads burn, right? Where muscles are just working in one position. When we run, that's happening. So our muscles are rather what we call quasi-isometric isometric, where they will stabilize and maybe move a little bit, but really if they're being stable and quick and strong to then stretch the tendon. So if we can train heavy isometrics in positions where they're gonna be more specific to running, we can see massive performance improvements. Versus moving slow and heavy, yes, that's gonna help tissue function. Like you're gonna you're gonna get stronger uh muscles and tendons, but it doesn't always translate to performance because we're moving slow and it doesn't really reflect the demands of running. And so I have I like to do I don't kind of demo again if that's cool. Yeah, yeah. Um people can play with some of this stuff. Yeah. Well, wall sits will work the quads. So quads are great. We want those to be strong, especially for trail runners. But the the glued hamstring complex, that's where all of our propulsive power comes from, especially if we're running faster, we're running uphill. Like we want that to be strong to overcome the ground contact and not have our body like collapse or sink into it. So let me demo um a couple things. And I'm not gonna do it with weight because I don't just have stuff right with me. But no, it's fine. Just so you could see. Um so one thing I like to do to kind of if you think about the running action, right? Or to simplify as my leg swings through, I basically am now, I want to drive this leg down into the ground, especially as speed increases and that demand. This needs to be strong coming into the ground. So this muscle action is where we want to be strong through the hip. So, really simple. I've most people can do a lunge getting into that lower lunge position. So, this kind of is a similar action to driving down. What I like to do to not have any issues here is I'll have heavy dumbbells on the ground and I'll lower and then come up like an inch and just hold it. So now I don't have to lower into it and be really sore in the glutes hamstrings. I can hold that position. And if it's pretty heavy, like we may only get like 10 seconds here. But that's really gonna challenge the system to almost overcome the collapse. So I'll get really heavy dumbbells hold, and as soon as I'm done for that time duration, drop them and then stand up and do the other leg. So I lower down under just my body weight, not really much stress. I'll hold the weight and I would find a position where I can feel more hamstring glute rather than quad because I want to have more of that propulsive tendon muscle load. So I might shift a little forward from the trunk or maybe turn into that hip a little bit and then hold. So that's been really powerful. And the cool thing about isometrics is they can be demanding, but they're not gonna make you sore and overly fatigue the next day, which is really cool for when you're in a heat of a training block and you just don't want to have a ton of muscle tension or soreness the next day. Really powerful to have still performance benefits with these movements.
SPEAKER_01:Dude, I feel like I feel like I've got a whole whole I'm about to go do workouts right now. This is amazing.
SPEAKER_00:It's pretty cool. You'll notice like within just like a week or two of doing some of that stuff, if it's the right dosage, you'll feel snappier and more powerful in your stride. Because we're loading it more, you know, that's not a fast thing, but because we're getting that isometric load, it gets good um tension on the muscle tendon units and it's heavy. And that's kind of a similar translation we want into running.
SPEAKER_01:Interesting. Wow. Dude, thank you for demonstrating that. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00:I think the and keeping it simple for application purposes, like most people can do that at any jam or home. I mean, having the right weight is good, but like a lunge is a very a fairly simple movement. Yeah, yeah. No, a hundred percent.
SPEAKER_01:And that's like you said, that's something anybody could do. Yeah, just kind of hanging out. It's not that big of a deal.
SPEAKER_00:Let's make the barrier low to entry for some of these things. You don't need uh, you know, all this fancy equipment. Like you sure that can help at times, but you can have a really good program with you know dumbbells and some simple things if we're doing it the kind of the right way. Yeah.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:What do you think? Because I I I went through kind of the list of topics that we had kind of planned. Is there anything I didn't get to? Anything that you want to either demonstrate or a topic that you want to hit as far as uh like that grouping between the pelvis and hips and that area?
SPEAKER_00:I don't think so. I feel like maybe we indirectly covered a lot of things. Um and of course, there's always something that could come up with more things, but I feel like the big takeaways are making sure we have the adequate mobility at the pelvis and the hips. Um, we're not getting compensation because that's where we could potentially have issues in the soft tissue and and nerve stuff from the back. Um and if there is an issue, you know, we can there's things you can do to screen for that. There's simple things you can do on your own. Obviously, you could see someone too. Um and that's part of it. And then looking at your running. How what are the mechanics? Mechanics do matter. There's a thought that they don't. Um, I I would say they do to a degree. I'm not gonna first always mess with it. I would like to first look at some um interventions we could do movement-wise and just see if things start to change in their running. But if we exhaust some of that stuff and we're just not uh improving with that stuff, then we definitely want to look at running to see if we can make some changes there, especially if they're starting to feel better. So, yeah, move movement fluidity is huge in running. If people are not feeling fluid, they're feeling like oh my hips and pelvis are always tight, something's wrong there. We need to change that because that's that shouldn't be the default.
SPEAKER_01:Well, dude, this was a good one. I think this was our best one ever. I appreciate that. Cool.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but what which one was this now? Was this the third or I think this is fourth? Okay, third or fourth. I can't remember. I was trying to look back.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I was thinking about before. I might I gotta update our uh PT series like thing because it's I think I could do a better one now because I've got Canva. Yeah, shout out to Canva.
SPEAKER_00:Heck yeah. Well, I appreciate you, man.
SPEAKER_01:Sean, thank you so much. Uh, for those in the audience, obviously we'll link everything in the show notes. But if you are on the front range or really any parts of Colorado, New Mexico, or uh if you want to travel from Kansas or Wyoming, come check out Run Potential PT. Um I'll link everything in the show notes so they can contact you. And uh yeah, man, appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I appreciate that, James. That's uh very kind. And yeah, I appreciate you having me on. Um again, I keep saying this each time I'm on. What you're doing's awesome for the sport. I'm a huge fan of the podcast, so keep them rolling. I'm excited uh for what 2026 brings for you.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, actually, dude, it's kind of funny. One thing for new listeners that might not know this, you were my first episode, like back in March two years ago. Isn't that crazy?
SPEAKER_00:Like, that's I still remember even you kind of talking it through before you even started the podcast, of like talking through like ideas and how you want to do it and all that, and it's just so cool to see it come full circle and just the progress. But that comes anything great comes with consistency, and that's something you've definitely been. So again, keep keep it rolling because it's it's pretty awesome.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Yeah, many more to many more. We'll be doing, and uh, I can't wait to have the next discussion. We'll pick a different muscle group or a different grouping of uh injuries and stuff like that, and we'll we'll do uh another round. So appreciate it, buddy. Sure, man. Love love the chat. Take care. Oh, dude, that was so good. That was what'd you guys think? Oh man, uh, definitely want to thank Sean so much for coming on the show. Definitely a fun conversation and just so much value there. Um, like I said in the intro, I I think a lot of I've had a I mean, I don't even know how I think I've had a lot of athletes on the podcast lately, and we've all been talking about very similar injuries, issues with hip rotation, pelvis, nerve, a lot of nerve stuff. And uh I definitely think this was a very warranted conversation. And uh, if you're going through this as an athlete, I think there's a it's kind of a weird thing, right? Like you didn't break something, you don't have a tendon tear, but like nerve stuff, especially in that area of the body, is always a pain in the ass. And it's something I have dealt with for years. Um, and the only thing that has ever helped me has been a lot of mobility work and strengthening that area of the body. So definitely, and with working with Sean. And uh so it was kind of cool to kind of help tell that story and hopefully get more to the audience um so for for the future. Guys, if you've been enjoying this one um and there's another uh, I don't know, area of the body or another subtopic you want to uh me to have Sean back on for to talk about, maybe the knees, maybe plant or fasciitis, something in the feet. I don't know. If there's anything that you guys want to hear more from Sean on, let us know. We'll happily get another podcast going in the new year uh to talk about this stuff and hopefully provide more value for you guys as we continue to go along. If you've been enjoying this stuff, uh give us a five-star rating and review on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube, and uh hit that subscribe button on YouTube uh so uh we can get more uh eyes on that channel as we continue to grow that. We're at like a whole 89 followers now, so we're we're hitting it, guys. We're doing it. Um appreciate you all. Thank you so much for tuning in, and thank you guys for uh following along uh the journey and uh just super thankful for everyone uh in the new year. So appreciate it.
