5 Easy Ways To Move Our Hips
Can you still do this?
As we get older our hip joints tend to stiffen up. The hip joint, like the shoulder, is a ball and socket joint. The ball is the top of the femur (thigh bone) and the socket is found in the pelvis. Ball and socket joints are designed to move in all directions.
However, it's really easy to lose mobility in our hips. We move our arms more freely than our legs. For example, when we walk our hips move forward and back (flexion and extension) but they don't rotate or move in or out. So although walking is brilliant - it's not enough to keep your hips mobile. We need to do more!
Here are some ideas to more your hips more (but only if you don't have any hip pain at the moment).
5 ways we can move our hips more
Take up cycling. Cycling is considered to be one of the best activities for reducing hip pain and strengthening the muscles around the hip. It's considered to be a 'closed chain' activity as your feet don't leave the pedals - so it is low in impact.
Swimming. Vary your stroke when you are swimming - breastroke is great (as long as your knees are ok) to move your hips in all directions. If you like the water then consider an aqua aerobics class. Great for improving movement and low impact too.
Do Pilates or Yoga. Classes will help to improve the movement in your hip joints and look after your core. Your teacher will get your hips moving in all directions. We have 1:1 Pilates available in the clinic.
Deep Squat. Practice your deep squat. See the photo above. This is the way our joints are designed to move and how we should sit. We are not designed for chairs. Feel free to send in photos!
Hip circles. I've saved the best for last. You can even do this exercise in bed. Lie on your back - put a hand on each knee and rotate them in either direction. Lovely!
If you already have hip pain
Our 4 chiropractors and 2 massage therapists are here to get your hip joints moving without pain. We will diagnose your problem, treat you and give you specific exercises to help.
All the best,
The team at Shaftesbury Chiropractic
