Importance of Hip Stability
Why is hip stability important?
Hip stability means to control your hips when you move other parts of your body.
Your hip muscles are responsible for stabilizing your pelvis when you walk. They transmit force through your body whenever your foot hits the ground. They respond to rotation and other movements from your trunk.
Without strong hip muscles, many basic movements would be painful, restricted or impossible to perform.
Walking is just standing on one leg again and again and again. It is a series of balancing exercises that depend on your hip muscle strength and coordination. It’s up to the muscles in your hips to prevent your pelvis from collapsing towards the floor with each step.
Without the ability to maintain a stable pelvis, your lower back would be jerked from side to side as you walk. Other muscles in your trunk, legs, even your arms, would have to find ways to compensate so you don’t get thrown off balance and fall to the ground.
This can lead to chronic pain and loss of mobility.
Hip Anatomy
Your hips are made up of:
The pelvic girdle
Two triangle bones
The ilium: the “wings” on the side of the pelvis that attach to the sacrum and form the sacroiliac joint
The ischium: the bottom and back part of the bony loops at the front of the pelvis
The pubis: the top and middle part of the loops at the front of the pelvis that meet in the middle
The head of the femur: the round knob at the top of the long leg bone that fits into the acetabulum – a notch at the side of the pelvis – that forms the hip joint
The sacrum also connects to and moves against the 5th lumbar vertebrae, the bottom-most bone of your low back, and forms the lumbosacral joint.
As you can see, there are a lot of bones and joints in your hips. Some of these joints can move a lot. Some barely move at all. All of this movement is controlled by your hip muscles.
There are many, many muscles that are connected to your hips and responsible for all movement and stabilizing activity. You hip muscles can be divided into these categories:
Hip flexors and extensors: Muscles that lift your leg up in front of you and muscles that bring your leg back behind you
External and internal hip rotators: Muscles that turn your femur bone outward and those that turn it inward
Hip abductors and adductors: Muscles that bring your leg out to the side and those that bring it towards your midline.
Of all the muscles that power the hips and control their movement, the gluteus medius has the most influence on hip stability. This muscle is on the outside of your buttocks. It holds your hips level when you stand on one leg or walk.
What can cause hip instability
Hip instability might be something you develop slowly over time due to postural habits, misalignment of the joints or weakness.
It may also be something that happens suddenly as a result of an injury.
How to tell if you have hip instability or misalignment
Your physical therapist can perform a variety of tests to determine if you have hip instability and if there is any misalignment in the joints in your hips. Sometimes, the tiniest misalignment can be the source of severe pain, joint dysfunction and instability.
The sacroiliac joint is an example of a joint that barely moves. However, sometimes one or both wings of the pelvis can rotate slightly forward or backward and get stuck there.
This means that all the muscles connecting from your lower back, your legs and throughout your hips are being pulled slightly out of line, putting them in a position that makes it difficult to contract.
This can strain the muscles as they try to move, creating pain. Accessory muscles may start to turn on to help initiate movement. This can create a muscular recruitment pattern that leads to weakness in some muscles and overuse and tightness in others.
How to improve hip health
Strengthening hip stabilizer muscles and maintaining your mobility with stretching exercises or yoga can help keep your hips healthy and your movement pain-free.
If you are experiencing pain in your hips or low back, a PT can help find out the cause of the issue and recommend treatment specific to your body.
Hip stability/strengthening exercises
These are some exercises we recommend for maintaining hip stability.
Penguin shuffles
Loop a band around your ankles. Stand upright, no hip hinge. Pull you navel in towards your spine. Keeping your legs almost straight and upper body still. Step R leg out to R, bring L leg in maintaining tension on the band. The movement will be more of a shuffle than a side step.
Lateral slides
Start in standing with a slider, paper plate or small towel under your R foot. Bend your L knee and sit your hips back into a squat. At the same time, slide your R foot out to the side. Straighten your L leg and slide your R foot back to starting position.
Pilates for hip stability
Pilates involves a lot of core and hip stabilization and can be great for strengthening hip muscles. The Pilates Reformer opens up even more options to challenge and tone your glutes.
Standing reformer kickbacks
Stand to the L of the reformer. Rest your R foot on the shoulder pad nearest you. Sit back into your L leg until you are in a single leg squat. At the same time, push your R foot against the reformer shoulder rest to glide the reformer carriage back. Reverse to stand up straight.
Yoga for hip stability and mobility
Balancing yoga poses and flows can strengthen hip stabilizing muscles and improve mobility.
Eagle pose
Start standing with your feet together. Inhale to bring your arms overhead. Exhale double wrap your R arm under your L, palms together in front of your face. Bend your knees slightly and sit your hips back. Inhale, bring your R leg up over your L leg and wrap your legs around each other. Shift your body weight into your heels, lean your upper body back, actively squeeze your legs together. Take 5 breaths here. Unwrap your legs and arms and return to standing position. Do both sides.
Lie on your back. Bring your legs overhead. Bend your knees and grab your feet from the outside. Let your legs relax, knees will bend towards the floor outside your armpits. You can lie still and let gravity open your hips. If you choose, you can alternate straightening and bending each leg or rocking side to side. (45+ sec)
