My knee and ankle pain didn't actually start in my knees or ankles. They started in my hip.
It's a more common pattern than most people realize. The hip is supposed to be a major driver of movement, and when it's not doing its job, the joints above and below it pick up the slack, and eventually start to hurt. (If knee pain is what's bothering you, you can read that story here.)
I was seeing a chiropractor up to twice a week, out of pocket, just to keep functioning. The pain was bad enough that I couldn't even sit comfortably, which made my desk job miserable and is exactly why I kept going back so often. When I finally asked him how I could stop needing adjustments that often, his answer was strength training.
That sent me looking for the missing piece, which turned out to be my glutes. Not the muscle itself, but my ability to actually feel it and use it.
I spent a long time building that mind-body connection, doing glute activation work before I could even think about getting stronger. I started from almost nothing. My first bodyweight hip thrusts had me shaking.
what I was hip thrusting two years after starting from bodyweight alone.
The combination of that mind-body connection, the strength I built, and regular massage is what actually fixed my hip pain.
But even now, too much sitting can start the pain creeping back in.
Book NowThat's where Applied Neurology comes in now. It's how I catch the pattern early and shut it down before it turns into the kind of pain that used to send me to the chiropractor twice a week.
If you're ready to find and fix what's actually driving your hip pain, a Therapeutic Massage session is a strong place to start. If you want to combine bodywork with the brain-based approach that's kept my own hip pain from coming back, book a 2-hour Massage + Applied Neuro combo session.