Happy Hips

Let's learn about our hips shall we. What even is a hip? Technically, it's called the femoroacetabular joint (where the femur meets the acetabulum). The femur is the longest and strongest bone of the body, the thigh bone. The acetabulum is the space where the femur sits in the pelvis.

The hip is a ball and socket joint which allows for the most movement of any joint in the body (secondary to the shoulder). The hip is surrounded by a fibrous capsule to hold it in place but also lots of muscles going all kinds of different ways to support and stabilize the joint.

Your hip should be able to move forwards, backwards, side to side, and rotate a certain amount of degrees in order to allow you to move like you need too! If your hips are restricted in those motions you might have difficulty:

-squatting

-getting out of a chair

-standing up from being on the floor

-etc.

Technically, your hip should be able to rotate in and outward the same amount as each other not only on one hip but between your left and right. However, this is often not the case. What happens when you can move really far in one direction and not as far in the other? Muscle imbalances like this can lead to pain, postural deformities, and an overall decrease in your ability to move as you want too!

How can you improve this? Well ideally you would take barre classes at The Studio-we use these principles in all of our classes to ensure you're strengthening in every plane of motion to reduce muscular imbalances and help you move better.

BUT we always want to provide you with tools you can do on your own to improve your health and wellness.

To improve the mobility of your hips lie on your back with knees bent and feet placed firmly on the ground and/or supporting surface. Slowly bring both knees to the right and then back to the left. Notice any differences in how far you can rock to one side versus the other. Try to keep your pelvis connected to your supporting surface rather than lifting one side of your bottom off of the ground when you rock to one side. This is great to practice daily for a variety of reasons but particularly for improving the rotations through your hips.

Let us know if you try this and we leave you with the best wishes for happy hips!