2 a.m. Brainstorm

I woke up at 2am this morning to a major "aha" realization (okay, and a full bladder). In previous posts about my heel injury, I've mentioned a muscle weakness on my right side (glutes, hip, quad) compared to my left side. While that may be contributing to the heel problem, it still didn't make much sense to me. Why would I be weaker on my "strong" side, since I'm right-handed and right-footed? Thanks to the middle-of-the-night wake-up call, I think I have the answer: bowling. For the last three years, I've bowled on a Thursday night men's league. My "finish" position, when I release the ball, is pretty exaggerated. I bend quite a bit at the knee and put a lot of weight on my left hip (and, to a lesser extent, on my left quad - see photo below). I'm reminded of this at the start of each season, when I haven't bowled for a few weeks. My left glute KILLS me for a few days, until I get used to bowling again. Multiply this "squat" by roughly 60 times a week, for 34 weeks each year, for three years and it only makes sense that my left side would be stronger than my right. During my rehab, I've been doing my single-leg squats and have been constantly surprised by how much stronger and stable my left leg/hip/glutes are. Now it makes sense! I essentially had a three year head start on 1-legged squats with my left leg!