Tight Hips?

Got hips that don’t lie?

If you’ve had tight, painful, or stiff hips… this week’s Mobility and Musings is for you!

Let’s dive right in, shall we?

Did you know that hip pain often comes from muscle imbalance?

Our bodies are beautifully designed to function in balance, all the way down to the most minute level. And throughout our neuromuscular system, there are specific muscle groups that are designed to function as a team. When one contracts, the other relaxes, and vice versa.

This is all wonderful when things are working as they should.

But that is not always the case. Poor posture, long hours of sitting, injury, insufficient warmups, and a host of other reasons can cause one muscle group to overcompensate for its partner. Leaving the balancing muscle, that should have activated, now weak…while its counterpart is overworked.

Remember that group project in school, where it was getting down to the wire… and no one did the homework, so you just did it all yourself? How did that make you feel? Stressed, right?

The same things happens to our muscles. When the muscles that are supposed to be working aren’t activating properly…the overcompensating muscles get stressed. We experience this in our bodies as “gripping,” or pain, or things feeling tight.

As an intuitive mobility coach, the majority of hip pain I see in clients can actually be traced to…weak glutes. I know, crazy, right?!

And when the glute muscles aren’t engaging, the hip flexors take over & get stressed…which is a perfect recipe for hip pain and hip injury.

Do you see why merely addressing symptoms is not enough? When it comes to tightness in our bodies…the default advice is to stretch. But stretching by itself does not address a muscle imbalance.

In the case of tight hips, stretching won’t actually fix the problem…until we engage the glutes.

In this issue of Mobility & Musings, I’m sharing a simple series of exercises you can do right now to get those glutes firing properly: (Click on the photo below to open the full video)

Gentle Hip Stabilizing Exercises:

1. Elevated Single Leg Bridges

Lie on your back with your feet and knees in a 90 degree angle up on the wall, a couch, or an elevated surface. Make sure your knees, ankles, and toes are facing directly forwards. Lift one leg off the wall towards the ceiling. Draw your belly button into the spine, tuck your pelvis, and squeeze your glutes as you roll up into a pelvic bridge. Think of it like you had a tail and you’re simply peeling that tail up off the floor. Hold the elevated leg over the center of your body as you lift and lower. Remember to exhale on effort and inhale on the recovery (ie. the roll down). Try to keep your supporting foot flat on the wall.

2. Elevated Single Leg Bridges, Externally Rotated

Lie on your back with your feet and knees in a 90 degree angle up on the wall, a couch, or an elevated surface. Let your knees, ankles, and feet rotate outwards. Lift one leg off the wall towards the ceiling. Keep the external rotation of both legs as you draw your belly button into the spine, tuck your pelvis, and squeeze your glutes as you roll up into a pelvic bridge. Think of it like you had a tail and you’re simply peeling that tail up off the floor. Hold the elevated leg in that external rotation over the center of your body as you lift and lower. Remember to exhale on effort and inhale on the recovery (ie. the roll down).

3. Elevated Single Leg Bridges, Internally Rotated

Lie on your back with your feet and knees in a 90 degree angle up on the wall, a couch, or an elevated surface. Let your knees, ankles, and feet rotate inwards, so your toes are turned toward each other. This may just be slight at first, that's ok. It will feel weird but SHOULD NOT hurt. If it does, let me know! Lift one leg off the wall towards the ceiling. Keep the internal rotation of both legs as you draw your belly button into the spine, tuck your pelvis, and squeeze your glutes as you roll up into a pelvic bridge. Think of it like you had a tail and you’re simply peeling that tail up off the floor. Hold the elevated leg in that internal rotation over the center of your body as you lift and lower. Your legs will be slightly crossed. Remember to exhale on effort and inhale on the recovery (ie. the roll down).

Finish with a Twisted Figure 4 Stretch.

If you’d like help figuring out what YOUR body needs to move at its best, pain-free, click the button below.