If left untreated, hip pain can lead to serious issues with mobility. Perhaps more than any other joint, issues with the hip can spread out to other parts of the body and affect how we sit, stand, walk, lift, and generally live our lives. Because the health of our hips are so important we want you to be able to take good care of them. So here are a few simple reminders of things you can do to ensure you have healthy hips for along time.
- Properly stretch to open up the hip. The hip joint should have a surprising range of motion, but most people today spend a lot of their lives sitting instead of walking or moving. Because of how fascia works, if you don’t move your hips you will start to stiffen up, and this can lead to all manner of chronic hip pain. Stretching, yoga, even regular walking or running can go a long way to keeping yourself mobile and pain-free.
- Avoid standing with one hip out. Similar to the above point, it’s pretty common for people to stand with their weight unevenly centered. This can cause a lot of extra stress on the muscles bearing most of the body weight, and it can pull on the hip joint in uncomfortable ways if standing off-center becomes a habit. So, pay attention to how you stand. If you can’t find a comfortable way to stand with your weight evenly balanced (and if so, come see us so we can show you how to do this), then regularly shifting your weight can at least help even out the body and avoid chronic hip pain.
- Pay attention to the impact of your walk. Our bodies are meant to move. But depending on how we land with our feet when we walk or run, we can create a shock that is transmitted up the body, as though we were stomping with every step. This shock is absorbed by the joints, and can be a significant cause of sudden hip pain. To avoid this it’s best to land a step with the heel and roll the weight forward onto the foot – this transmits the energy from stepping into forward motion that helps us move rather than shakes our body.
All of these things can help work out sudden or chronic hip pain, but if you find that these things aren’t sufficient for you, then it’s time to speak to a provider who can help you further. Schedule your appointment today!
