Hip Pain Exercises: Your Guide to Relief

A myriad of things can cause hip pain, but when it comes down to it, there are many ways to help with the pain. While many people choose to take painkillers regularly to help with their hip pain, others have opted to try out hip pain exercises.

It might sound ineffectual, but exercising the pained joints can actually help with overall comfort and help with healing. Of course, there is a point of overworking hip joints and making pre-existing issues worse.

Here are five hip pain exercises that have found a good balance between being gentle enough for the tender hip joints and being strengthening so that the hip pain can be diminished over a period of time.

Hip Pain Exercise #1: Lying Knee Lifts

1. Lay flat on your back.
2. Lift one leg and bend the knee until it is as comfortably close to the chest as you can get it.
3. Let the muscles stretch out for thirty seconds.
4. Rotate the knee to the opposite side of the body slowly, feeling the stretch in the hip.
5. Breathe deeply and deepen the pull until you are as comfortably twisted as possible.
6. Twist back until the knee is bent to your chest once more. Extend the leg and rotate the ankle a few times for better release.
7. Repeat on the other side.

This can be repeated as much as desired in an exercise. Don’t pull or tug violently or suddenly on muscles to try to get them looser. Start small and repeat daily.

Hip Pain Exercise #2: Hip Rotations

1. Laying flat on your back, bend your knees until your feet are flat on the floor.
2. Breathing out, rotate your knees (using your hips) until both are stacked on one another on one side of you. Breathe deeply.
3. Hold the stretch for 30 seconds, feeling the stretch in your hip.
4. Rotate hips and knees back until you have feet flat on the floor once more.
5. Repeat on the other side.

The time spent breathing and stretching can eventually be shortened from thirty seconds to fifteen, but take your time here. It’s not supposed to be an ab workout, but deep hip stretching.

Hip Pain Exercise #3: Bridge

1. 1. Lay flat on your back with knees bent so that your feet are flat on the ground. (Not too close.)
   2. Breathing out, press down on your feet so you lift your hips, creating a bridge with your body.
   3. Either perform bridge on your back or lift up on your arms so you can lift higher.
   4. Repeat as desired.
   5. After desired reps are completed, roll to the stomach and stretch out both arms and legs in a Superman-style pose, allowing muscles to relax.

      

Hip Pain Exercise #4: Leg Swings

1. Standing close to a support (a chair or counter would do), straighten the back and take a deep breath.
2. Lift one leg and swing it to the front and around your stationary food, keeping posture as straight as possible.
3. Swing the same leg back around the back and around the stable food, again staying still.
4. Repeat as desired on one leg at a time.
5. Swap legs and repeat.

For this one, try not to swing legs too loosely, but keep them slightly flexed so you can engage the muscles higher up near your hips, giving them a better exercise.

Hip Pain Exercise #5: Hip Flexions

1. Standing straight (possibly with a wall to your back for added stability), place hands on your hips and take a deep breath.
2. Lift one knee until it is as close to your chest as you can get it while standing.
3. Only hold this for a few seconds before lowering it and repeating the action.
4. Swap legs and repeat.
5. Once desired repetition has been reached on both legs, stand on both equally and bend over, coming as close to touching the ground as you can get. Take a deep breath and straighten.

   

Exercise Tips for Pained Hips

Here are five brief tips and tricks for getting the best experience out of hip pain exercises:

• Exercise at the same time of day and keep it regular.
• Take a natural joint health supplement daily, such as Performa Flex™.
• Warm up by light walking or jogging for 3-5 minutes before every workout.
• Apply a pain-reliever cream like Raging Kakapo Pain Relief Cream™ before workouts if your hip joints are feeling particularly stiff.
• Walk around or do some other light stretches to cool off after each exercise, whether it is gentle or rigorous.