Our body’s fundamental alignment heavily relies on the hips, which are a ball-and-socket joint. They provide the base for the entire body.
The issue lies in the fact that there exists an extensive roster of tasks that have the capacity to misalign our hips. Whether it be remaining seated all day or inadvertently stumbling upon an uneven pavement, dislocating our hips is an effortless feat; however, once done, it can bring about complications in the spine, lower back, as well as various other regions of the body, such as the knees.
Misaligned hips may be the culprit behind your lower back pain, as your hips bear the brunt of your body weight. Thus, it’s crucial to care for them properly by ensuring their alignment and practicing stretches and exercises to maintain their proper position. In case you suspect your hips are misaligned, refer to our brief guide on hip alignment for some useful tips.
How To Tell If Your Hips Are Out of Alignment
Although it’s important to seek the advice of an expert concerning severe pain, there are certain uncomplicated methods to assess your hip alignment within the comfort of your own home.
- Find a fairly firm surface (a table is ideal) and lay on your back
- Bend both of your knees while keeping your feet flat on the table
- Lift your hips off the table (into a bridge) then set them back down once
- Straighten your legs until you are flat
- Use your hands to find the front of your hip bones on both sides (the pointy part of your pelvis)
- Check to see if one point is closer to your chest than the other (you might need someone else to offer their opinion)
By locating these points in the mirror, you can check to see if one is higher than the other.
Symptoms Of Misaligned Hips
Hip alignment issues often lead to the following symptoms due to the crucial role of hips in stabilizing the pelvis:
- Hip pain or tightness in the hips
- Low back pain
- IT band syndrome
- Runners knee
- Knee pain, ankle pain, and/or foot pain while running and walking
- Uneven height to your shoulders and hip crests
- Uneven walking or running gait, or differences in the range of motion in your legs when you try to run or walk
- Feeling like you have one leg that is longer than the other
How To Realign Hips
After taking the test, it appears that your hips are noticeably uneven. Although seeking professional help will provide relief from any pain, there are also some methods that can be done at home to improve alignment. Maintaining an active lifestyle and regularly stretching and exercising are crucial for keeping your body healthy and aligned. To address the issue of hip misalignment, here are some exercises and stretches that may be helpful.
Hip Alignment Exercises
Hip Alignment Exercise #1:
- Lie on your back with your feet against a wall.
- Using the leg on the same side as the hip that is tilted toward your shoulder, press your leg into the wall.
- At the same time, press your higher hip down with your hand.
- Hold for 10 seconds, and then release.
- Do 12 repetitions.
Exercise #2:
- Lie on your side with hips and knees bent.
- Lift your top knee up while keeping your feet stacked, one on top of the other. Repeat 10 times then change legs.
Exercise #3:
- Sit against a wall with your legs straight out in front of you, and your feet hip-width apart.
- Your buttocks and upper back should be against the wall.
- Your tailbone should feel snugly wedged up against the wall.
- Place your hands on your lap, with palms up. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and hold. Don’t lift the shoulders; only squeeze them back and down.
- Tighten your thighs and flex your feet back toward you, and hold. The emphasis is keeping your shoulder blades pulled together, thighs tight and feet flexed back.
- Relax your stomach muscles, and breathe deeply through your belly. Hold for three minutes.
When researching how to realign hips, it is crucial to incorporate workouts that enhance hip alignment directly, fortify weak hip muscles, and elongate tight and overactive hip muscles that lead to misaligned hips.
To properly align your hips and develop a tailored alignment treatment, it is recommended to undergo an assessment by a physical therapist or chiropractor to identify the presence of any hip misalignment.
Hip Alignment Stretches
Deep Lunge
Sitting regularly can result in the shortening of our hip flexors which can then lead to pain and tightness. To release tension in these muscles, attempt a deep lunge by taking a large step forward while standing. Bend the front leg carefully, keeping the back leg straight and tuck your tailbone in to ensure you feel the stretch in the front of the back leg. Keep this pose for approximately 20-30 seconds before switching legs.
Butterfly
Several yoga positions can help extend your hip flexors, including the Butterfly stretch. To execute this pose, sit on the floor with your knees bent and feet together. Utilize your hands to spread open your feet like a book and push your knees down to the ground using your elbows while leaning forward with your back upright. For an increased extension, stretch your arms out in front of your body. Maintain the posture for roughly 20 seconds.
Why Having The Correct Hip Alignment Matters
The hips are situated right at the core of the human body, as one reflects on it.
Consequently, the placement of your hips impacts the positioning of your pelvis, subsequently affecting the overall alignment of your lower limbs and the torso above the pelvis.
Misalignment of the hips can cause problems with alignment throughout the entire kinetic chain, as they serve as a crucial point of connection between the upper and lower body, as well as the axial and appendicular skeletons.
Improper alignment of the hip can cause misalignment in the knee, as well as the shin, ankle, and foot complex.
If not corrected for an extended time, it can elevate the possibility of injuries like runners knee, shin splints, excessive foot pronation, iliotibial band syndrome, and knee osteoarthritis.
Likewise, misalignment of the hip can result in postural difficulties and complications with achieving correct alignment while seated, as well as during standing, walking, and running.
If your hip alignment is incorrect, it will hinder the stability of your core muscles and make it difficult for your core to sustain proper posture and ensure that your legs bear equal weight when you are standing, walking, running, or engaging in weight-bearing exercises.
The reason for this is that the hips aid in bearing the load of the torso and evenly distributing it to the lower limbs.
Uneven weight distribution may occur if your hips are not properly aligned, resulting in varying magnitude and direction of force applied to each leg while standing or moving.
Once more, this will greatly heighten the chances of harm while also undermining effectiveness, strength, and savings for exercises such as jogging, biking, and walking.
Typically, when contemplating issues with hip alignment, we focus on the alignment of the hips in the frontal plane.
Misaligned hips can be identified by observing one hip being marginally elevated or lowered compared to the other, coupled with the contraction, excessive activation, and tautness of certain muscular groups. Additionally, the opposing muscle groups or the hip opposite to it might experience over-stretching, hyperactivity, and feebleness.
It is essential to assess proper hip placement in all planes of motion besides the one being considered.
Flexion, extension, internal and external rotation are also movements that the hips can perform. However, if there is a tilt in the pelvis or one hip is misaligned and positioned further forward than the other, or rotated more internally or externally, functional effects and a higher probability of injury may result.
