Do you have hip tightness? Maybe you sit a lot and that gets your hips kind of achy and tight over time. Maybe you can’t get all the way deep in your squat. Maybe you’re limited in what you’re trying to do in terms of sport. In this video, we’re gonna dive into a few strategies to get rid of some of that hip tightness stick around to the end.
This video goes through the best hip mobility routine, if we’re just condensing it down to three exercises.
Today we’re gonna be diving in and trying to help you with your hip tightness. Couple things I wanna note before we jump into the routine is that tightness is a perception in itself. So it doesn’t automatically mean that you need to jump into stretching or jump into any certain type of exercise to get rid of it.
It makes “hip tightness” a little bit more complicated, but you have to figure out what works for you. Hopefully. We’re not getting into anything that is too specific to a certain area of tightness, but we’re gonna have a global progression that hopefully will help you with what you’re dealing with. That feeling of tightness can be changed by a few different things, such as stretching, strengthening, or massage work.
You’ll see a lot of those types of things thrown at hip tightness. Not having enough mobility is often thought to be one of the main reasons behind why hip tightness is happening, but your mobility can be affected by a couple different things. One of them being your anatomy. Depending on the anatomy of your hips just from birth, your mobility may be different from “normal”.
Not everybody’s gonna have the same amount of mobility or be able to move their hip in the same exact way. And hip anatomy in general is gonna vary from person to person. For example, if we’re looking at my hip mobility in the video above, you can see how my rotation in seated is different between external and internal rotation at the hip.
I’m really limited with internal rotation, and I get somewhat of a pinch in the front of the hip. But for me, it’s the same on both sides and no matter how much stretching I do, that’s probably not gonna change much. The anatomy of my hip affects how much rotation I have, and we see this a lot in hip pathologies such as hip impingement. Jamming into these provocative positions is not always the best idea as it can make things more sensitive for your hips.
When you’re trying to get rid of your stiffness, trying to gain mobility isn’t always gonna be what solves the problem. Taking into account factors like hip anatomy is really important.
The second thing you wanna note, is that your brain will affect how far you can stretch into positions. When you do a bunch of stretching, the muscle doesn’t really change size, but your brain will let it move farther and you gain tolerance to the discomfort of those positions.
What I like to look for in a good mobility or stiffness routine, you’re trying to get rid of some of that achiness that you have is actually trying to do more active things, meaning I like to do strength work versus just stretching.
In the video above, you will find 3 different exercise variations that we do to help with stiff or tight hips.
- Banded Hip Mobility Exercises
- Lunge Position ISOs
- Barbell Thruster ISOs
ISOs are really helpful if you have hip pain, stiffness, or tightness. This is because it allows you to add load to your hips, which creates changes at the tissue (muscle and tendon) while also helping reduce pain.
To watch and learn from Dr. Drake Griggs on how to apply these exercises, watch the video above!
At Peak Pursuit Performance and Rehab, we offer both in person physical therapy services in Salt Lake City, Utah, and online remote consultations for those outside the city. If you are looking for help with your hip pain, stiffness, or tightness, give us a call at (801) 215-9087.
