At Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine, we often see patients that are lacking in hip strength. Weak hip muscles can lead to pain in your hips and your knees that limits your ability to walk, run, climb stairs, or do work around the house.
The most common muscles that get weak in your hips are the glute max and glute medius. Both are muscles in your buttock, but they each work a bit differently. The glute max works to provide power as well as help control your hip movements. The glute medius mainly works to help control your hip motion, preventing your knee from collapsing in. Here are 2 easy exercises you can do to address the strength of these muscles and help resolve and prevent hip and knee pain.
Bridges
Start with 10 reps and hold for 10 seconds. Do these every other day. Try to work up to 3 reps of 30 second holds. You should feel this in your buttocks more than the back of your thigh.
Side Step Down
The goal of this exercise is to control the position of your hips and your knee. Your hips and pelvis should stay parallel to each other. The knee of your foot that is on the step should stay lined up with the middle of your foot.
Now is the time to give these a try! If you’ve tried them and they don’t get easier, it hurts to do them, or you still have pain with every day life, then you need a full assessment to get to the root of your problem. At Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine, we’re experts at evaluating hip strength and can help you develop a plan to improve it.
Call our office at 703-299-3111, or click here and a member of our team will schedule you an evaluation with one of our highly skilled physical therapists.
Working to keep you living your best life,
The Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Team
