(Long time reader just not active anymore on here ) So i am not a newbie , been training since 14 yrs old powerlifting and am now 34. I have spent the majority of my workout life in love with deadlifts and front squats and it seems to be coming to an end, a once bullet proof back is now causing me issues out the yin yang. my hip flexors seem to lock when my glutes get activated , my thoracic seems swollen and sacrum inflamed , and my pelvis out of whack. Ive never had this issue before.

Ive gotten 3 ART treatments and after getting ART for 10 years i have to say i just dont think it gets in deep enough or gets the body as a whole unit just a piece of the puzzle * yes i have seen level III instructors. I find a proper deep deep tissue handles more but even then i never seem to find the right deep tissue guy. Im hitting some acupuncture and it helps but i still cant train legs

My body is relatively balanced quads, hams glutes, my problems are definitely my Hip flexors and psoas which no amount of stretching really relieves and my adductors are as tight as virgins with not much relief.

I haven't trained in awhile and upper body i stop because i dont like to get out of balance my upp body outgrows my lower so fast.

Any plans of action you guys can think of? I never found luck with foam rollers or self massage, I just dont know what to do, and my success with ART over the years has been very so so.

thanks

I recently had quite good results with dry needling. In the past, acupuncture has also been quite effective on muscles that quite simply refused to relaxed despite hours of massage. The good thing about it is you will know very quickly if it is working for you or not (you can feel the muscle releasing) so it might be worth a shot, especially since ART didn't help. Usually cheaper than massage too (at least in my experience). Do a little research first though, try to make sure you get a practitioner with a good track record if you can.

Hi Formoutofchaos,

From the sound of things, this is not something anyone can correctly assess online. From your description I would recommend seeing a Physio (spend some time looking for a good one), it might end up with you needing a radiologogic examination.

Its easy to incorrectly self diagnose a tight muscle as a cause, but tight muscles could be stretched and tight/stiff, short, short and stiff or just stiff. If its the former stretching is going to help.

Also in regards to stretching, to actually change the physiological structure of the muscle you need to keep it in a lengthened position for about 30mins, on a regular basis.

not gonna deal with physio i dont believe in western medicine at all when it comes to this thing, , im correcting things myself, it is involved in the hip pelvis area, i was able to squat 315 which is light for me and it seems to help when i fire my hips, lots of work with a baseball digging in there , esp hip flexors and adductors, acu helps a ton