Tight Hips? No Problem.

You, like many others, may feel like your hips are stiff, tight, and achy. This may look like stiffness when you wake up in the mornings or after standing up from being seated for a while. Maybe it affects you during exercise, presenting as a pinching feeling while doing squats or lunges. It may even cause issues lifting your leg up to put on socks or to tie your shoes. I have personally struggled with ongoing hip issues, and as a Doctor of Physical therapy, even I am not exempt from this common malady. However hip stiffness may affect you, the good news is, there is a solution.

There are two goals when trying to address hip joint issues: Mobility & Strength. First, your hips need to be mobile enough to move throughout their entire range of motion. There are 6 movements that the hip should be able to do without restriction: flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, internal rotation, and external rotation. Second, your hips need to be strong enough to actually get your leg to move those directions as well as support you during standing, walking, exercise, etc. Try moving your leg around in all these positions. Do you feel any restrictions, tightness, or pain?

If your hips feel achy, stiff, restricted, tight, or anything besides mobile and pain-free, you may need to do some of these exercises. Listed below are the most common exercises that I prescribe to my patients for hip mobility and strength.

Next time you’re looking for a lower body workout, try this: 3 mobility exercises (1 set of 10 reps), followed by 4-5 strengthening exercises (3 sets of 8-10 reps). It is important to start at the right intensity level. Start with the beginner strengthening exercises and as those feel easier, progress to the next level. It is equally important, crucial even, to continue to challenge yourself as the strengthening exercises get easier. This may look like: going from a double leg to a single leg exercise, adding weight or resistance to the movement, or changing the tempo of the exercise so that it is very slow and controlled.

MOBILITY:

• FIGURE 4 STRETCH VARIATIONS (SUPINE, SEATED, STANDING, PIGEON)

• KNEELING ADDUCTOR STRETCH

• KNEELING HIP FLEXOR STRETCH TO HAMSTRING STRETCH   

• QUADRUPED HIP CONTROLLED ARTICULAR ROTATIONS (CAR)

• SEATED HIP 90/90

 STRENGTH:

• BEGINNER:

  • CLAMSHELLS

  • REVERSE CLAMSHELLS

  • STRAIGHT LEG RAISE (SLR)

  • BRIDGES

  • HIP 3-WAY

• INTERMEDIATE:

  • MONSTER WALKS (SIDE TO SIDE, FORWARD, BACKWARDS)

  • STEP UPS (FORWARD, LATERAL)

  • SINGLE LEG BRIDGE

  • SIDE PLANK WITH CLAMSHELL

  • AIRPLANE

• ADVANCED:

  • SQUAT VARIATIONS WITH HEELS ELEVATED (BACK, FRONT, GOBLET)

  • SINGLE LEG ROMANIAN DEADLIFT (RDL)

  • REVERSE LUNGES

  • BULGARIAN SPLIT SQUAT

  • TRADITIONAL DEADLIFTS WITH BAR ELEVATED

You can find short videos demonstrating all of these exercises, & more, at this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10zOEYJHsuN8F8Kf9xZ50YAedxUuU2qBC?usp=drive_link

If you have any questions, please email me at restorepelvicrehab@gmail.com

xx,

Dr. Bethany