Hello I practiced Taekwondo for a few years, but due to circumstances (mainly work)I quit over a year ago. Now I'm sort of practising again on my own, but discovered recently that without proper form you can get friction when the femoral head grinds against the hip socket. So I was wondering if there are some good tutorials out there, for any type of kick. Especially high ones: round, side, hook, axe... For example this person seems to have good from in his kicks: https://www.youtube.com/user/GingerNinjaTrickster Any thoughts?
Friction between the femoral head and the acetabulum is only a risk in healthy adults if you fail to sufficiently rotate the pelvis during kicks that require hip abduction (lifting the leg to the side). You have nothing to worry about if you can, for example, do side kicks to the limit of your flexibility without experiencing sharp, sudden pain in your hip.
Well, I never quite experienced that kind of discomfort. What I do experience especially with a hook kick, is a slight pull around the hip muscles. Also I read certain chambers for kicks can create unnecessary friction.
Where in your hip is the pulling? The chamber position for side, turning, hook etc. kicks requires hip abduction, which could cause friction/pain as stated in my previous post.
I see a lot of people put undo stress on the joint by failing to fully rotate the support foot. Now, some have exceptional range of motion in the hip and can get away with it. You need to watch someone with good kicks and normal range of motion as to the support foot position and then have someone watch you to see if you emulate that. For instance, in most people a good side kick requires the support foot to point 180 degrees (NO LESS) away from the direction of the kick at extension. Hook kick is more complicated to descibe and descrption will vary if you are referring to reverse hook, Lead leg, or rear leg turning forward like a side kick.
Find an old tae kwondo instructor with good hips and learn from them. It is possible to train without causing damage to the body. There is a lot of poor practice in tykwando that can build up injuries for later life. This does not have to be so, but often long term health is sacrificed for short term gain in competition. a few years ago I read an article by a uk tkwando Olympian saying that they had to have a chiropractic session every time they competed. That's not good.
I'd say about a little passed my belly button. The thing is, I realized that as a teen into my early 20's I just kind of swung my leg in the air. Letting my body lean back. So to me the kicks appeared higher then they actually were. The actual reach of my leg when raising it sideways is hardly hip height. So I actually still have to begin, cause of improper instruction. Just in the area of high kicks though. Both instructors I had were very good at other things they taught. It's just their knowledge for achieving high kicks was limited
That is the last thing I would do. Of course "Old" is a relative term. Many old time guys did a lot of bad stuff, bad stretches and exercises, kicking excessively hevy bags. Sometimes their unique physiology allowed them to get away with it. Further, a long time ago I read an article discussing relative size of joints in different races. Sadly caucasions were not the best equipped. Women, due to realtive hip angle and knee alignment can have an advantage at some motions yet be more susceptible to ACL injury
