Hip pain can have a big impact on your everyday life. It is a common complaint people see us for at Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine. It often hurts out the outside of the hip and makes things like walking, running, or climbing stairs difficult and painful. Understanding the cause of pain on the outside of the hip is the key to hip pain relief.
Pain on the outside of your hip is often caused by weakness of your gluteal muscles and sometimes poor core strength. Here are 3 easy exercises you can do to improve your hip and core strength and get hip pain relief.
Side planks
Side planks are a great basic exercise to increase strength and endurance of the muscles on the side of your trunk. They work together with the rest of your trunk muscles to give your gluteal muscles a stable base to work from.
Start with a 10 sec hold and perform it for 10 reps. You may feel your shoulder muscles get tired as well. That is ok as long as there is no pain.
Do these 3 times a week. Try to work your way gradually up to 2 sets of 1-minute holds on each side.
Slider lunge
This is a great exercise to build up gluteal strength. The key is to keep most of your weight on the front (non-sliding) foot
Start off with 2 sets of 10 . Progress this by going lower or adding a third set. You can also make it more difficult by sliding your foot diagonally behind you instead of straight back.
Side Step Down
The goal of this exercise is to control the position of your hips and your knee. Doing this exercise will build strength in your gluteal muscles and improve your balance.
Done correctly, 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 that same foot.
Start with 2 sets of 10 reps and hold for 5 seconds at the bottom. Do these 2-3 days a week. Try to work up to 3 sets of 10.
None of the exercises above should make you hurt more.
If you’ve tried these and you’re still hurting, we can help you!
At Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine, our physical therapists are experts at treating hip pain and will develop a plan to help you stop it.
Call us at 703-299-3111, or click here to request and appointment.
A member of our team will schedule you an appointment with one of our expert physical therapists.
What happens if you don’t have a plan to stop hip pain?
- You stop exercising because your hip hurts
- You avoid playing with your kids because you’re afraid of hurting your hip
- You get out of shape and are more likely to get other diseases and injuries
But WITH a plan to stop hip pain you can live the life you want again.
The exercises above are a great way to get started. They don’t require a lot of time and are pretty easy to do correctly.
But if you want an expert to listen to your unique problems and guide you to success, a Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine physical therapist will create a plan specifically for you.
You’ll feel confident that you have the knowledge and ability to stop hip pain and do all the things you want.
Call us at 703-299-3111, or click here to schedule your appointment and start your path to healing.
Working to keep you living your best life,
The Solutions Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Team
