These Pelvic Floor Exercises are some of my favorites. Since the pelvic floor muscles are small, it doesn’t take a lot of movement to work them, so it’s best to start with a little and slowly work up.
The pelvic floor is a group of small muscles along the floor of the pelvis. They help support organs in the pelvis and help with stability in the hip area.
The first exercise is going to be a pelvic tilt. When done correctly, you are not using your legs to tilt at the pelvis, just your pelvic muscles.
Then you can progress to doing pelvic clocks. It’s just like it sounds by imagining you have a clock on your tummy. Then you can tilt at different angles of the clock.
The next exercise is a progressive movement, so you can start with each movement at a time. Place a ball in between your knees. Go into a pelvic tilt and squeeze the ball. If those are easy, then lift your feet to where your hips and knees are at about a 90-degree angle. Then if that’s easy, you can place your hands on the front of your thighs to also activate your hip flexors by pushing into your hands. Try to keep your tilt the whole time.
The last two exercises focus on the obturator internus muscle. It also attaches to the femur bone to help with stability. So it’s a great general hip exercise as well. Place the ball in between your knees again, and while you squeeze into the ball, push your feet outward without moving them with an isometric squeeze.
Finally, wrap a belt or strap around your ankles, and roll onto your stomach. Bend your knees so your feet are up toward the ceiling. Push out into the belt like you are pushing your feet away from each other, and at the same time tighten your core by tucking your tailbone in.
Tight hips can be a real pain! The hip muscles can get tight for many reasons, and it's often painful to stretch and/or strengthen them. Isometric exercises can be a great way to help relax tight hip muscles and help strengthen them at the same time.
Tight hips can be caused by many different things including arthritis, muscles imbalance, strains, sprains, and alignment issues. These hip stretches should help.
Often tight hip flexor muscles can cause hip pain. My favorite stretch for this area is a modified hip flexor stretch. It’s great for the hip, knee, and back area.
A piriformis stretch is great for your piriformis muscle and also your glutes. It can help with hip tightness and is often a great stretch for sciatica and sciatic type pain. This stretch can sometimes be difficult if the hip is tight. But here is a great way to modify the piriformis stretch to get some hip pain relief.
Greater trochanteric bursitis, or hip bursitis, can be very painful and debilitating. These stretches and exercises can help relieve hip bursitis pain.
Hip osteoarthritis (OA) can cause pain in the hips, back & knees, and it can pain when walking. These are moderate hip osteoarthritis exercises, so if they are too difficult, check out my beginner hip osteoarthritis exercises.
These hip stretches and exercises in bed are a great way to help relieve hip pain in the morning before getting up, and/or when going to bed at night. And they don’t necessarily need to be done in bed, they can also be done on the couch or floor.
Hip pain can make it difficult to perform everyday activities. Here some of my favorite hip stretches and exercises to help relieve pain and tightness.
These Pelvic Floor Exercises are some of my favorites. Since the pelvic floor muscles are small, it doesn’t take a lot of movement to work them, so it’s best to start with a little and slowly work up.
