Multi-plane hip mobility exercise to prevent low back pain, hip pain and knee injuries. A very effective stretch to improve hip flexibility from various angles.
Do you have hip pain? Click here to learn more hip mobility and strength exercises.
Tweetables:
Hip Mobility Exercise To Prevent Low Back Pain. [Click To Tweet]
Lunge Multi-Plane Hip Stretch. [Click To Tweet]
Hip Openers For Optimal Performance. [Click To Tweet]
Transcript:
Hey guys, it’s Manu Kalia, physical therapist and herbalist. So I’ve got a new video for you, a hip opener, and once again you can do these exercises anywhere, anytime essentially. We’re going to use a couch; you can use a chair, whatever you like. It can be done on the floor, but this is another option for you.
So this is a hip opener and what we’re going to do is start off in a lunge position. So we’re trying to get a couple of different things done. So when I start off in this position, right away I’m getting some hip extension on my right hip. So I’m stretching out the front of the hip on my right side, and I’m going to stretch out the back on the left side. So as I’m flexing that left hip, so it’s a lunge position essentially, but sometimes it’s a little easier for people to place the hand here to support yourself.
Now, if the back is too far back, it’s uncomfortable, bring it up a little bit or place another chair next to you if you’re not able to balance yourself and hold that position. What I’m going to do is I’m going to be in this position and as I shift my body weight forward, as I drive that forward, I get a stronger pull right here in my front of my hip on my right side. If I squeeze my right butt cheek, again I’m going to get a stronger pull in the front, not only in the front part of my hip capsule but also in your hip flexors. We’re trying to open these guys up.
So the other part we’re trying to get at on the other side though is, besides getting that hip flexion, getting a stretch right in this area or bending on that hip, we want to get some rotation, so working on opening up that hip, so some external rotation on that hip. The foot stays planted. So I take my hand, not on the knee, just above the knee or even further up, and I’m going to gently open up that hip. So I push it out a little bit. Now, you can either push out or I can step in too. So as I push out, I step in. So now that really works at opening it up. So I add on another thing to it now. I can do some rotation of my trunk away from it, and that really opens up this whole side, stretches that as well as my groin area, front of the hip capsule, and gets some external rotation done too.
Now, if I want to go the other way, I’m going to bring it inwards – internal rotation, adduction. So work at this position too. And you can adjust how much load you want on that. If I back off, put less pressure on that, I can still do that movement. And I’m just above the outside of the knee, so this way I’m not pushing my knee. So I do the same thing, glide, hang out, stretch, come back out of it. So I hit it from different angles, maybe in a more flexed position; I can do that with the hip. I do a little bit less flexed position of the hip. I do the same thing or less weight on the hip. So you can really work at different angles and different amount of load on that hip, so different positions.
So besides doing the internal and external rotation, add the body movement to it also, so trunk rotation away from it and as I really work at opening that up, and then in the other direction too. So maybe I’ll do external rotation and I’ll turn to the same direction where I really work at sitting in here and opening up this whole side. So, the point being that really try to get at it from various angles, and this is just one position.
You could do the exact same thing on the floor too. So I could be right here doing the exact same movement out here with my body movement going this way, or for that matter going in this direction, and I can direct how much pressure I want to bring on to this side, how much weight I want on my front leg too.
So try it out, do both sides, see which side is stiffer, and spend four, five minutes at a time on each side, but make sure, try to contract the back leg. So, for example, in this case back leg, if I want to target the front of the hip more and I want to protect my back, tighten up your butt muscles. That stretches the front of the hip a little bit more. Plus, it also protects your low back. So always protect yourself. Try it out for four to five minutes.
Leave a comment if you have questions.
