Hip Stretches For Pain and Pelvic Imbalance

I get this question a lot from people looking for hip stretches for pain that can help relieve their pain in the SacroIliac or Hip Joint.

Commonly this pain can come from a pelvic imbalance due to tight or weak muscles surrounding the pelvis, poor posture, etc.

One of my favorite hip stretching exercise and for pain in the hip resulting from pelvic imbalance is the bent over wall stretch with heel lift.

Position

Standing with your feet just slightly away from the wall so you are balanced with your toes lined up evenly.

Bent Over Hip Stretching Exercise

Take a breath in and as you exhale roll down from the top of your head through the spine until you are hanging down reaching for your ankles.

Keep your abdominal muscles pulled in and let your head hang heavy. You will probably feel an intense stretch in the hamstrings and through the hips.

Keep hanging down and lift one of your heels as high as you can inhaling, then exhale as you sink the weight into the other leg.

Keep pulling your abdominal muscles in deeply and letting your head hang down heavy so you really feel the hip stretches up and down the leg with the weight in it.

When you are finished you should be able to reach a little farther than when you started.

Take a breath in and then exhale as you draw your abdominal muscles up and in and slowly roll your spine back up the wall to the start position.

Hip Flexor Stretch

Here is another way to do stretches for tight hip flexors and to balance the pelvis by stretching the hamstrings in the back of the thigh and the hip flexors in front of the thigh simultaneously.

Sitting on the end of your bed with one leg hanging off, grab under the opposite knee and pull the knee into yourself as you roll back to lying, while pulling the one leg into yourself grab the end of the bed with the other leg hugging the heel into the bed.

Your hip flexors may be too tight to do this comfortably and the leg may pull up off the bed. Breathe out as you pull the knee toward your chest and hug the bed with the back of your lower leg and heel.

See a video description of this stretch for your hips against the wall here:

Once the pelvis is balanced you can follow up with some hip and pelvic strengthening exercises like the Pilates Bridge that can be found here.

Or, Check out more great Hip Stretches and Pilates mat exercises in the Pilates Ebook – Relief for Back and Joint Pain.

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