Not all hip and back pain is the same. Two people can have the exact same complaint, SI joint pain, tight hips, a back that won't quit aching and be dealing with completely different causes underneath it.
That's why more exercises rarely fixes it. You need to know what you're actually working with first.
Here are three simple tests I use, on myself and with clients, to figure that out.
The Thomas Test. Sit at the edge of a bed or bench, pull one knee into your chest, and let the other leg hang and relax. What you feel in that hanging leg tells you something real — broadly, whether you're dealing with a joint restriction or a muscle that's just tight and shortened. I've got a full video walking through this one on my channel if you want to try it yourself.
The Faber Test. A figure-4 position — hip flexion, abduction, and rotation. Whether your knee can drop close to flat, and whether that's painful or restricted, gives you a general read on what's going on with your hip or SI joint on that side.
The ESLR Test. Lying on your back, leg raised straight until it reproduces the pain, then a small follow-up movement depending on where that pain shows up. This one checks whether pain radiating down your leg is coming from an irritated nerve versus a tight muscle or stiff joint — and it's genuinely well-validated, not something I made up. I've filmed this one too, along with both variations, so keep an eye out for it on my YouTube.
Three tests, a few minutes total, and each one tells you something different about where your pain is actually coming from.
So — which one are you?
Sources (add under the post):
Thomas, H.O. — the Thomas Test is named for Hugh Owen Thomas, the Welsh orthopedic surgeon often called the father of British orthopedic surgery; used to assess hip flexor/iliopsoas tightness. Physiopedia: Thomas Test
Patrick, H.T. — the FABER Test (Flexion, ABduction, External Rotation) is also known as Patrick's Test, named for American neurologist Hugh Talbot Patrick; differentiates hip joint pathology from SI joint pathology based on where pain is reproduced. Physiotutors: Patrick's Test
"Extending the straight leg raise test for improved clinical evaluation of sciatica: reliability of hip internal rotation or ankle dorsiflexion," BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. 40 subjects (20 sciatic, 20 control); inter-examiner agreement Kappa = 0.85, "almost perfect." Full study
On the YouTube links — I don't have your actual channel or video URLs in this conversation, so I've been leaving those as placeholder text ("link on my channel"). Can you drop me the URLs for your channel and the Thomas Test video specifically? I'll slot them in and the ESLR one once that's live.
Sources:
