subject: Lower Back Pain - Hip External Rotation by:Jennifer Chu, M.D. [print this page] Lower back pain is commonly due to irritation of the L5 and S1 nerve roots. Hip pain may result secondary to pain and spasm muscles of the lower back and all muscles that cross the hip.
Patients may have trouble with external rotation of the hip due to pain and spasm of muscles that perform external rotation or from pain and spasm of muscles that perform internal rotation and thus limiting the performance of the external rotators.
This week, we shall talk about muscles that perform external rotation. To test these muscles, the patient should lie on his stomach and bend the knee up. The patient then turns the leg and foot in toward midline. This motion produces external rotation of the hip. To test the strength of the external rotators, the examiner must try to push the leg outward away from the midline.
Jennifer Chu, M.D., founder of eToims Soft Tissue Comfort Center is also President and CEO of eToims Medical Technology LLC, a medical device company with training programs in eToims Twitch Relief Method. She is an Emeritus Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Pennsylvania, where has been on faculty for more than 30 years. http://www.stopmusclepain.com
