Hip Arthritis Exercises

Hip arthritis can cause pain all around the hip and in the groin area. It can also be painful when you walk. These hip arthritis stretches and exercises should help make the hip area stronger to relieve the pain. See Doctor Jo’s blog post about this at: http://www.askdoctorjo.com/hip-arthri…

The first stretch is called the pelvic tilt. You will roll back onto your back with your knees bent. You want to imagine pushing your belly button into the ground, or push your back flat onto the ground like you are squishing something. You can put your hand under the curve of your back, and try to push your back into your hand. Make sure you are breathing and not holding your breath while doing these exercises.

Next you will do a bridge. Push your bottom up off the ground, but try to do this slowly, and do one segment of your back at a time curling upward. Then slowly go down the same way, one segment at a time.

Now you will do a four way hip lying down. Start off lying on your back. For all of these you want to try to keep your leg straight by locking out your knee, and pull your toes towards your nose to activate the muscles in your leg. Slowly raise your leg to about the other side where the knee is bent, and then slowly come back down. Then roll onto your side with the leg you want to work on the bottom for hip adduction. You can place your bent knee on top in front of or behind the leg on the ground, which ever is more comfortable. You won’t be able to lift your leg high without rolling your hips. Then you will roll to the other side for hip abduction. Keep your leg straight, and try to lead with your heel and take your leg slightly behind you to engage the glut muscles. Then you will roll over onto your stomach for hip extension. You won’t be able to lift your leg very high with this one either. Do all of these ten times, and work your way up to 20-25.

The next exercise will be a plank on your elbows. You can do this modified with your knees bent and on the ground, or you can get into a full plank position. Make sure your elbow lines up with your shoulder, and that your body is in a straight line. Hold this for about 20-30 seconds, and work your way up to a minute.

Now you are going to get onto all fours or in the quadruped position. Try to keep your hands directly underneath your shoulders, and try to keep your back in a straight line, no arching up or down. Kick one leg straight out behind you, and raise the opposite arm at the same time. Some people call this the bird dog. Do ten on each side.