Decrease Hip Arthritis Pain in ONE Move
Do this exercise first thing in the morning or after sitting…
The holidays are right around the corner!🌟
Do you have travel plans?
Hosting celebrations?
Planning a Christmas movie marathon?
When you think about these activities are you filled with excited anticipation?
Or, is there a tiny part of you that is worried about how stiff and cranky your hips will feel after all that sitting?
Osteoarthritis (”wear & tear”) in the hip is very common as we get older.
In fact, it’s estimated that 1 in 4 people will develop hip osteoarthritis in their lifetime.
It makes sense that you’d want to slow down when pain in your hip sets in.
But this could actually make it worse!
In today’s issue, we’re going to focus on one essential movement to help manage hip pain today and protect your mobility into the future.
JUST ONE THING
Let’s not forget that the healthiest joints have these 4 attributes:
1. Thick cartilage acting as a shock/friction absorber
2. Smooth, thick bone surfaces at the joint itself
3. Lots of gelatinous synovial fluid lubricating the joint
4. Strong, flexible connective tissues (muscles, tendons and ligaments)
Even if you’ve lost cartilage and have degradation of bone surfaces, you are STILL able to improve the health and feeling of your hip joint!
How?
By strengthening the muscles surrounding your hip socket, and improving the integrity of your synovial joint fluid.
The best and most straight forward solution:Keep moving—however you can, as often as you can.
Your JUST ONE THING to Alleviate Hip Joint Pain
Remember: “Motion is Lotion”
With hip osteoarthritis, the most common times to experience pain is after being in one position for a long period of time:
Sitting at a desk or a holiday meal.
Riding in the car or on airplanes.
Sleeping at night (especially not in your own bed).
The best thing to do when you feel that pain settling in is to get the hip socket moving gently.
These leg swings are a life saver and offer instant pain relief.
Extra bonus is that you don’t need any equipment.Kids love doing them too!
Try these today when you get up and moving or add them into your warmup prior to a walk or strength session.
Leg Swings
- First, stand sideways next to a wall for support; Swing the inside leg back and forth; Do 6-8 reps per leg.
- Then, turn to face wall, anchoring both hands on the wall for stability and swing one leg at a time side to side; Do 6-8 reps per leg.
- Don’t just use “momentum”. Hold your core steady and use your muscles to pull your leg through the range of motion.
Extra Tip: It is A-OK to feel some creaks and pops in your hip socket when you’re moving it through a full range of motion—as long as this does not create any pain with the motion. Those noises are likely your ligaments and tendons simply moving along bony protrusions in the joint or simply bubbles in the joint fluid moving around.
Did You Know...
- Your hip socket is one of the MOST mobile joints in your entire body. It is designed to move forward and backward, side to side and rotate through very large ranges of motion.
- Severe hip arthritis may require surgery. And that’s OKAY! A new hip can help you stay active long-term. To have the most successful recovery, be sure to go into surgery with as much strength and mobility as possible.
- Building glute strength is crucial for an arthritic hip joint. Strong glute muscles help to stabilize and support the joint, allowing you to move with far less pain. Not sure how to strengthen your glutes? This free glute training program can help!
Until next week... Be strong💪
