This exercise may not be suitable for you. Consult a health professional before beginning this exercise if you are unsure.
You may experience mild muscle soreness that lasts a few days after this exercise. Seek medical assistance if the soreness persists, if you feel any new or increasing pain, or if you feel dizzy, clammy, or short of breath.
Fun fact: the hip joint is the largest joint in the human body. We use our hips to complete a variety of daily activities like standing, walking, sitting, using the stairs, and bending to pick something up.
Your hips provide you with strength and stability to support movement and maintain balance. If the muscles around the hip become weak, it can lead to an increased risk of injury. In turn, this can put the surrounding joints like the knee and lower back at greater risk.
Hip pain can affect the tasks and activities you do every day. This includes things like getting dressed in the morning, moving around the house, and even using the bathroom.
Some of the things that keep your hips as healthy as possible include:
You can perform strengthening exercises for your hips safely and easily in your home. Exercises can be modified if you have poor balance or find standing too difficult. It's best to start with exercises you can perform while seated or lying down. This way you can improve your leg strength before moving on to standing exercises.
Here are some exercises you can try out now, for free.
This exercise helps strengthen your hip flexors and the muscles on the front of your thigh.
Ensure there is no discomfort in your lower back when completing this exercise.
To perform this exercise:
This exercise is used to improve leg stability by strengthening the hips and backside muscles. We use these muscles every day to move forward when walking, stepping up when climbing stairs, and standing up from a seated position.
To perform this exercise:
This exercise helps to strengthen the muscles that surround your hips. These muscles help stabilise your hips and keep you balanced.
To perform this exercise:
This exercise strengthens your hip flexor muscles. It can help maintain or improve your lower body strength and ensures you are able to lift your foot off the ground.
To perform this exercise:
This exercise can help improve your hip mobility and abductor strength. These muscles are used when standing, walking, and performing tasks like getting in and out of cars.
To perform this exercise:
This exercise can help improve your hip mobility and adductor strength. These muscles are important for hip stability during different movements like walking and sitting.
To perform this exercise:
Make sure to perform standing exercises next to something stable. For example, a railing, table, or chair. This will provide you support so that you do not lose your balance.
Similar to performing in a seated position, this is a great exercise to maintain or improve your leg strength and mobility. It also adds a component of balance and stability.
To perform this exercise:
This exercise is used to maintain or improve your leg strength and specifically targets the muscles on the side of your hips.
To perform this exercise:
This exercise is used to maintain or improve your leg strength and specifically targets the muscles of your backside.
To perform this exercise:
These exercises aim to build strength and mobility in your hip. Older adults should do strength building exercises at least twice a week. Aim to train all your major muscle groups by doing a variety of different exercises.
You can start by doing a single set of each exercise in this list. When these exercises become too easy, it may be time to increase difficulty or add new challenges to your exercise routine.
Your twice-weekly strength training should be incorporated into the 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity the Health Department recommends you do on most days.
Aim for a mix of strength, aerobic fitness, flexibility, and balance exercises.
The more you exercise, the more benefits you will see – but every little bit helps!
Always ask an allied health professional for help when developing a new exercise regimen.
A doctor or physiotherapist can work out what is causing pain in your hips.
They might talk to you and examine:
Treatment for hip pain might include:
Prevention is always better than cure. The best way to do this is by staying active and continuing to do the activities you do every day for as long as you can.
There are tools that can help you perform everyday tasks. They can be used to improve safety with certain activities. Some readily available assistive products include:
Some assistive products require an assessment to ensure they are suitable for you. Occupational therapists are the experts in prescribing assistive products. They will help you find the best products for your situation. This may include:
If you would like to find local exercise classes, social activities, and helpful tips, try the quick LiveUp quiz or call our helpful team for free today on 1800 951 971.
You can also get more tips and advice by following the links below:
Department of Health. (2021). Physical activity and exercise guidelines for older Australians (65 years and over). https://www.health.gov.au/topics/physical-activity-and-exercise/physical-activity-and-exercise-guidelines-for-all-australians/for-older-australians-65-years-and-over
Mayo Clinic. Strength training: Get stronger, leaner, healthier. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/strength-training/art-20046670
