by Dr. Brent Wells
Help your hips stay strong. We don’t usually think of working out our hips, but it’s actually a key part of promoting mobility as we age.
If you want to boost ease-of-movement and flexibility, don’t let your hips take a back seat to other areas. It’s easy to forget about your hips when you’re dealing with more obvious joint problems – such as your back and knees – but you can easily add some of these exercises to your daily workout routine.
Regularly exercising your hips can also have the secondary effect of helping strengthen your back and knees as well, since pain in these areas is often due to decreased hip mobility.
Why Are Our Hips Important?
The health of our hips is vital to ensure that we maintain mobility into old age. Hips are the center around which our movement revolves. Anytime you’re walking, standing or simply on the move, you use your hip muscles. Specifically, you use your hip flexors, which help move and swivel your hips.
Your hips are also closely connected to your knees. Nowadays, people are faced with desk jobs that involve long hours of sitting. This is especially bad for your hip muscles, which become shorter and weaker from lack of movement. When this happens, range of motion is decreased and your back and knees take on much of the work that healthy mobile hips normally would. Often, this results in overuse injuries, for example when you pick up a heavy object.
Because your hips are aligned with your knees, they help controls them too. By strengthening your hips, you can also boost your knee strength and reduce any pain. In order to help prevent future injury to your back and knees, it’s a good idea to follow these exercises for hip health and mobility.
As you get older, you also have a greater risk for osteoarthritis, or wear and tear of joints. If you want to help prevent this condition, keeping your hips mobile is an excellent idea.
How Can You Adapt a Hip-Healthy Lifestyle?
Besides doing daily exercises, there are several ways you can keep your hips healthy as you age. First, losing excess weight is good for your hips, as it will keep extra pressure off your hip muscles.
One way to do this is to follow an anti-inflammatory diet, which focuses on fruits and vegetables, as well as fish, whole grains and olive oils. This kind of diet, modeled off the Mediterranean diet, is great for keeping your joints strong and preventing arthritis-related pain.
In addition, Harvard Health Publishing highly recommends swimming or water aerobics for hip-related pain and injuries. In particular, the water takes stress off your joints and a warmer pool soothes them. In a pool, you can even increase your range of motion because of this unique environment. If you’re not a fan of the pool, you can also try gentle yoga to keep your other muscles and joints flexible, as well as your hip flexors.
What Exercises Keep Your Hips Mobile?
To boost hip health, try doing the following exercises on a daily basis. Over time, you can increase frequency and move onto more advanced exercises. Remember that none of these exercises should induce pain. If you’re experiencing pain or discomfort, stop exercising and consult your doctor or chiropractor.
1. Hip Swings
Steady yourself with one hand on the back of a chair or similar object. Swing one leg forward and back, keeping it straight, and be sure to move from the hip and not the thigh. Do fifteen of these on each leg.
Then change direction and practice swinging your leg across the front of your body and out to the side. Do fifteen sets of these as well.
Try to move your torso as little as possible when doing this exercise for the greatest benefit.
2. Forward Lunge
Standing with your feet hip-width apart, lunge forward with your right leg, bringing your left knee to the floor.
Shift your weight forward until your right knee is perpendicular over your foot and hold for 30 seconds. Repeat lunge on opposite side.
3. Dog at the Hydrant
While on your hands and knees, lift one leg out to the side and draw small clockwise circles in the air with your knee, gradually making them larger.
Then do the same using counter-clockwise circles.
Repeat with the other leg.
4. Lying Butterfly and Variation
While lying on your back, bend your knees and bring the soles of your feet together, with your knees pointing out to the sides. Hold for 30 seconds.
Then bring your knees up so you are lying with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Bring the outside of your left ankle to rest on your right knee.
Reach with your left hand through the little triangle made by your left leg to interlace your fingers behind your right thigh and gently pull your right leg toward your body (with your ankle still resting on the front of your knee).
Repeat with the other leg.
5. Straight Leg Raise
Lie down on your back with one leg straight and the one knee bent with foot flat on the floor. Keep your body aligned as you lift your straight leg about one foot off the ground.
Hold the position for a few seconds, then lower your leg. Repeat 15 times.
Then switch legs. It’s best to keep your leg as straight as possible.
6. Wall Slide
Stand against a wall with good posture. Your body should be aligned with your feet shoulder-width apart.
Start by bending your knees and sliding down the wall for five seconds until your knees are bent. Hold for five seconds.
Then, as you straighten your knees, slide back up the wall for five seconds until you’re in the original position. Repeat five times.
Takeaway
Your hip health is extremely important. Take control of your mobility by following these exercises, as well as adapting a hip-healthy lifestyle. These changes will make a real difference in how easily you can move as you age.
When in doubt about hip pain or therapy, talk to a chiropractor near you. He/she can help create a personalized workout plan according to your specific situation, as well as suggest the right diet. This holistic approach is a great, preventative way to stay on top of your hip health.
(Dr. Brent Wells is a graduate of the University of Nevada where he earned his bachelor’s of science degree before moving on to complete his doctorate from Western States Chiropractic College.
He founded Better Health Chiropractic in Juneau. He became passionate about being one of the best chiropractors in Juneau after his own experiences with hurried, unprofessional healthcare providers.)
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