Why Lunges Give You Hip Pinch
And How to Fix It
Figuring this out took me too long.
For years, when I lunged I felt this pinch in my right hip and sometimes it would radiate all the way down to my knee and foot.
I went to the chiropractor for this and they gave me a figure four stretch and foam roller exercise and told me one of my legs was shorter than the other (read this article for more).
Then I started working with a kinesiologist and they basically said, move your knee slightly out and keep at it until you’re stronger.
And I did all of that and pushed through the pain like we’ve been conditioned to.
Years later I FINALLY do lunges with no pain because I understood what was actually going on.
It wasn’t my hip, it was my pelvis.
My pelvis was oriented toward the right.
Doing a traditional lunge forces an already rotated pelvis into more rotation.
So no wonder I was feeling all of that tension, I had no more room to rotate into.
My body was protecting me.
These days the way I lunge (and teach lunges to client) is different left to right because we ARE different left to right.
Here is why humans are different left to right:
We have our heart in the rib cage on the left while more weight and organs are packed on the right including liver, colon, gallbladder and more lung weight.
Our inhale and exhale is different on the left and the right. To be specific: the left rib is descending easier because nothing is blocking it. On the right side even though descending might be harder, ascending is easier and we have more respiratory capacity on the right side.
Understanding this very basic human asymmetry helps massively in how we can optimize our training programs.
In this video I show you how I do lunges differently on each side to:
Improve my orientation. Get my pelvis to orient toward the left. And for that to happen I need more right side glute activation.
Get stronger on the left side so my body trusts that side more. To be able to load my left side properly, I need more inner thigh engagement.
Press play to discover how intelligent strength training introduces better movement patterns into your system ↓
👁️ What your body has been trying to tell you?
The way we hold ourselves matters. Not just because of how it looks. But because it shapes how we live, how we relate, and what we’re capable of imagining. Let your body speak. Let it interrupt the collective war and offer you a new way of being entirely.
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Hedi Shah
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👁️ Bodyworker & Mindfulness Teacher
🐉 Nervous system regulation, breathwork, and posture-focused strength training to target the cause of what keeps you stuck and in pain, not just symptoms.
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