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I’ve noticed lately that people are looking for back pain and hip relief. It makes sense. Things have been changing for us over time. Some of us spend more time sitting than we are used to.
The number one thing to do when your hips hurt is balance exercise training. Why? Because balance exercises help with proprioceptors. This helps stabilize your body and prevent falls.
A Bit of Information on Proprioceptors
Proprioceptors are sensory receptors located in our muscles, tendons, and joints that provide information to our brain about our body's position and movements. They help us maintain our balance and coordination, and they play an essential role in preventing falls.
When our body is in motion, proprioceptors send signals to our brain, allowing us to make adjustments to our posture and movements to stay upright and stable. This process happens quickly and subconsciously, which is why we don't always notice the work that our proprioceptors are doing.
However, as we age or experience injury, the function of our proprioceptors may decrease. This makes us more vulnerable to falls. That's why it's important to engage in activities that promote proprioception, such as balance exercise and stability exercise, to help maintain our body's ability to stabilize itself and prevent falls.
When your joints are in pain, you’ll be tighter on that side of the body than on the opposite side. This means that if you trip, it’ll take longer for your muscles to react.
Does that lady on TV come to mind? The one shouting, “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” Happens daily. To people of all ages, really.
Considerations for People 55 and Older
Generally, people 55 and older start losing balance, this makes it easier for them to fall. This all happens because they have weak core and hip muscles. These are the main muscles that you use for walking, moving, etc.
Changes in vision, medications, medical conditions, and environmental hazards are just a few of the other things that can lead to falls in older adults. However, there are some specific muscle groups that can be targeted through exercise to improve strength, balance, and coordination and reduce the risk of falls in older adults.
There are things you can do now to prevent this from happening. It’s also never too late to start these exercises to correct imbalances.
How to Strengthen Your Hip Muscles with Balance Exercise
Start with self-myofascial release. Foam roll to relieve hip pain. By doing this, you’ll relieve the tight hip muscles. Then, follow up with balance exercises. Balance exercises will stabilize the working muscles around your joints.
The muscles of the hips, including the glutes, hip flexors, and abductors, are important for stabilizing the pelvis and generating force during walking.
The muscles that started out weak and the ones that started out tight should start meeting in the middle after a few of these sessions.
After you do your balance exercise, it is very important that you follow them up with core training. Balance training and core training go hand in hand. There will be a whole new blog post about core training. In the mean time, if you need some exercises now, let me know, schedule a free consultation!
3 Balance Exercises You Can Do for Hip Health
Single Leg Balance Sagittal Plane
The sagittal will be the baseline for a good starting point. Hold it for a few seconds. (If you don’t have a good balance, hang on to a chair, or the wall.)
You want to look for:
- You should feel a mild burning sensation in the middle of your foot.
- The muscle around the ankle should feel the burn.
- Your knees will start feeling the burn (the muscles).
- Then you’ll feel the burn in your hips.
When these things happen, you know that your muscles are pretty much aligned.
Single Leg Balance Frontal Reach
Once you start holding the sagittal one pretty easily, take your leg and do a small reach. Touch the floor, then bring it back.
Your leg will come off the center of gravity and challenge your body to stay straight. This exercises different core muscles. This is a great way to strengthen your core muscles.
Stability Ball Wall Squats
The Swiss ball is unstable and will automatically challenge the core. This is going to target your balance. While you are doing the ball squat, you’ll be forced to hit the right core muscles.
To squat, make sure to go straight down. Usually, when you do normal squats, the hip will try to go to one side of your body. This happens because the strong side of the body is trying to take on the workload.
Try to do this in front of a mirror so you can make sure you stay centered. Don’t let either side of your body try to take over. Go straight down. This is going to force the weaker side to do some work.
Eventually, you will make that side as strong as the other side. That’ll give you good balance.
Hip Pain and Exercise
The key here is to only do as much as you can. Don’t force yourself to do what you aren’t able to yet. Work little by little to gain balance. Once you are balanced, you’ll see an improvement in your joint health.
If any of this sounds a little overwhelming, contact me here. I’d love to help!
Join our Facebook Support Group, where you have access to me for any questions.
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