Do you consistently feel tightness or pain on just one side of your body – like a sore right calf, stiff left hip, or nagging pain in one knee or side of the lower back? While stretching and foam rolling can offer temporary relief, these discomforts often return if the underlying issue isn’t addressed.
The real culprit may be postural or biomechanical imbalances – common but correctable habits that throw your body out of alignment. Here are several everyday causes and how to fix them with small, consistent changes:
Common Causes & How to Fix Them
| Cause | Effect on Your Body | Correction Strategy |
| Using a mouse only with your right hand | Causes right shoulder tension and disrupts upper body rotation while running, leading to uneven leg loading. | Train yourself to use the mouse with your left hand as well. It may feel awkward at first but gets easier within a few weeks. |
| Holding a phone or bottle in one hand while running | Alters upper body mechanics and loads more stress onto one leg. | Either switch hands every mile or use a centered pouch on your waist or shorts. |
| Always sleeping on the same side | Leads to hip weakness and overstretching on one side, impairing glute and hip stabilizer function. This affects how your leg lands. | Try training yourself to sleep on the opposite side – it’s challenging but doable. |
| Running in the same direction on a track | Creates repetitive oblique stress on the inside leg, leading to ankle/calf tightness or hip stiffness. | Change directions often when on a track – or vary your routine by running off-track. |
| Running on a sloped (cambered) road | The inner leg tightens while the outer leg becomes too mobile, creating imbalance through the back, hips, and legs. | While this one is tricky due to safety concerns, reduce cambered road running whenever possible—even a 20% decrease can help. |
Persistent, one-sided pain is often a sign of imbalance, not just muscle tightness. Identifying and adjusting small habits in your daily routine—like how you sleep, work, or run—can go a long way toward restoring balance and improving performance.
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