5 Best Hip Stretches To Improve Both Pain And Mobility

if you're tired of living with tight and painful hips look no further these simple stretches are what I do every day to feel loose and better quickly hey guys Dr Christy Ennis motion is lotion for our hips today and we're going to do all of these exercises lying down and we're going to start with the one that I start with first so you can do this on a bed too if it's more comfortable for you you don't have to get on the ground but we're going to bring our feet about hip width maybe a little bit wider apart and then we're going to drop both knees off to one side so I'm going over as far as I comfortably can it is okay to let that back come up and I'm actually going to take this inside leg and I'm even going to press it down a little to stretch more of that hip flexor out pausing for just a breath or so and then we're coming off to the other side I am also going to show you ways to modify some of these that I certainly know I need to do when I'm not feeling my bestest so that might be today even right so we're just doing about three to five on each side nice and slow and controlled and you may notice that you're actually getting a little bit yeah a little bit more emotion as you go our hips are a little bit looser now we've got a little blood flow going which leads us to the second one a happy baby because babies are happy doing this exercise so feet are going to come off the ground and again I'm going to show you some different variations kind of the hardest one is taking those hands on the outside of those feet and you're bringing those knees towards the armpits you can even add a little rock side to side and a man oh man especially after doing that first one my hips are a little looser and open it feels so darn good now if that is really too much to grab onto your feet you have two other options one you can grab right underneath those thighs or under those knees and again pulling those towards the armpits and again it's okay if you can't pull all the way now if that is still too much to do you could take a strap or a towel or a sheet whatever you have handy you can kind of wrap that around the leg and you can use that strap to do one leg at a time and pull in towards the armpit so this way you don't have to worry about your leg doing as much work or your arms if it's hard to reach that way and you still want to hold this about three to five breaths as opposed to reps this time and one last little tidbit if you want to make it even harder if you're grabbing onto the outside of those feet and you want to go ahead and play a little bit with straightening one leg out then the other this is as straight as they're getting today for me but again that's a little bit more advanced you definitely don't need to do that one to feel good number three our heels are going to go together and our toes are going to go open which should be again a little easier now that we've done those first two and again we're really working on opening up the front of the thigh this time so little tailbone tuck Arms by your side keep those knees open as you lift those hips up so I'm expanding through those hips stretching out those hip flexors and also engaging the those glutes which helps to relax those hip flexors a little bit more so you can stay here and just breathe through it or you can go ahead and add in five to ten repetitions and even adding just a little extra squeeze and a little extra push up at the top to really open up through here if that is uncomfortable for you a modification for that one is to take a pillow or a yoga block if you have one you can kind of lift up as best as you can and then instead of holding there you can slide this right underneath your hips keeping that same position and now if you've got any low back discomfort you should feel nice and supported and comfortable while still being able to open up through those hands our fourth one involves crossing the ankle over the opposite leg so again the previous exercises really help so that you can get into this position so this is step one step two is taking those hands underneath the opposite thigh and then you're pulling up towards your chest make it a little bit more of a stretch you can actually Rock towards that opposite side really stretching all out in through here now if this feels too much I'm going to show you a couple excuse me a couple modifications here one is with the strap so you can take that strap and wrap it underneath the thigh or if you can get a little higher with your knee you can bring it under the foot either way and then you can either if it doesn't just doesn't want to cross you're just going to again use those arms to help kind of bring it or not even kind of to bring it over three to five breaths now if you're getting a pinching in the front of the hip sometimes you need to start with that leg a little bit lower so if you straighten out the opposite leg and then just cross a little bit with that opposite foot and you can add a little bit of a pull with that knee towards the opposite shoulder sometimes this saves this area a little bit as well and do make sure to do both sides our last one is last because everything is open and I love doing this right before going to bed so you're going to bring the soles of the feet together and you're going to drop those knees open trying not to hold your knees up just like gravity do its work if you want to add a little push you can if it feels better to arch your back a little bit it's okay to do that here too and this one just requires you to to breathe no movement now if this is uncomfortable though you can use your block or pillow in a couple different ways number one just like the bridge if you slide that underneath your hips that takes a little pressure off here and sometimes it's easier to let those knees drop open if you have one hip that just is stubborn and doesn't want to cooperate well with you and it just doesn't want to flop you can use this underneath that leg right so now I'm opening up let's just say my hip wants to go down on this side but not on this side now it's supported and it shouldn't feel nearly as stressful so three to five breaths and just relax and breathe and go night night