I am a former D1 soccer player and current private strength coach who has always had pronation, tibial external rotation, knee valgus, and hip medial rotation problems, especially on my right side. One chiro said it starts at my foot because my peroneals are so tight and this limits dorsiflexion which then causes me to pronate and the knee and hip follow. At my internship at Athletes Peformance it was all about the hip external rotators and I know for sure that is not everything. When I run my foot splays out to the side and I look ridiculous like those weak women joggers with huge q angles. I am just tired of these power leaks and I have searched everywhere (Shirley Sarhman included) and I cannot find an answer. Mini bands have only gotten me so far. From what I understand I am tight in – peroneals, adductors, TFL-ITB, and biceps femoris and weak in – glute med, posterior tibialis and semi hamstrings. I am also in anterior tilt I think on my right side more so and this puts my into pronation.
The truth of the matter is that this issue can have any combination of contributions to the valgus collapse.
It can be coming from the foot itself. Perhaps a lack of ankle mobility into dorsiflexion is being compensated for with dropping the arch into pronation. This is a classic example of robbing stability to make up for a lack of mobility.
The knee is typically not to blame, as the mechanics at the joint are guided by the ankle below and hip above.
By your description, the contribution to your right pelvis position can be stiff anterior hips, stiff lower back, and/or inhibited anterior abdominals and glutes. All 4 of those players can lead to valgus collapse.
The lower-crossed syndrome that you are describing holds true for all the areas where you think you are tight or weak.
So you know your problem, and you have described it well.
So what do we do about it?
I would ask you to try to work through your FMS weak links with a committed diligence, and see what happens. The asymmetry and anterior shift on the right should show in multiple screens of the FMS. Something I want to emphasize is that you don’t need to be playing around with ASLR, Leg Lock Bridges, and Partner Stretches for 6 weeks. Get the mobility and lock it in and progress to the higher level movements as quickly as you can. Deadlifts, Swings, and Presses are higher level movements, but they are corrective as well. I don’t want the message of training through the FMS to highlight only the lower level mobility and stability. There are plenty of heavy and aggressive lifts that merit the mobility and stability you already have and the new levels you can earn.
You can address the tone and weakness/motor control of each segment individually or regionally as Sahrmann might, but I don’t know if you will get the gas mileage you are looking for. Piecing together all the right parts doesn’t always work out as we hope when we try to put them all together. If you look at whole-body, long-chain movements and rank them by their “disgust,” the weakest link will reveal itself. Going after each spot individually won’t hurt, but I would urge you to look at movements before you look at the impairments.
If you are not familiar with the FMS, this would be a great keyhole into the system.
