Hip Exercises Key to Health and Injury Prevention

Your hips are major joints that need care and attention so doing hip exercises are just as important as exercising other muscles in the body. Cycling in general has been shown to be an excellent method of addressing and improving extension impairments in the hip, knee and ankle joints. In addition to the strengthening benefits of cycling, improvements to balance and proprioception have also been found.

We have showcased numerous ways to use Excy as a traditional stationary exercise bike or stationary recumbent bike, which given the biomechanics of cycling, are relevant to the hip joint.

In today’s live stream, we showcased some additional moderate and low-impact cycling hip exercises. These exercises are easy to do, and you don’t have to submit to long hours of miserable exercise to strengthen your hips. If you have an injury, you will want to run these and all movements by your physical therapist and doctor first so they can help create an individualized exercise program.

Why all the Fuss About Hip Exercises?

Weak hips can throw off stability, resulting in excess movement not only at the hip, but also the knee. This can lead to overuse issues by forcing other muscles take on work they weren’t built to do. For instance, one study published in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy found that when the hip over-rotated and collapsed inwards during the gait cycle, illiotibial band syndrome often resulted. Another study in the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine discovered an association between overuse injuries in the lower extremities and poor strength in the muscles around the hip region, including the hip abductor, adductor and flexor.

There are higher intensity cycling exercise you can do with Excy as well, like the unicycle or step cycling position, but people who have a bad hip, whether from arthritis, an injury, hip surgery, or another reason should stick to more moderate, low-impact exercises.

Here’s Today’s Hip Exercise Live Stream

Always consult a doctor before starting a new exercise program. You can find more videos with physical therapy tutorials here.