Hip exercises for older people

Fun fact: the hip joint is the largest joint in the human body. We use our hips to complete a variety of daily activities like standing, walking, sitting, using the stairs, and bending to pick something up.

Your hips provide you with strength and stability to support movement and maintain balance. If the muscles around the hip become weak, it can lead to an increased risk of injury. In turn, this can put the surrounding joints like the knee and lower back at greater risk.

Hip pain can affect the tasks and activities you do every day. This includes things like getting dressed in the morning, moving around the house, and even using the bathroom.

You can perform strengthening exercises for your hips safely and easily in your home.

Exercises can be modified if you have poor balance or find standing too difficult.

It is best to start with exercises you can perform while seated or lying down. This way you can improve your leg strength before moving on to standing exercises.

Here are some exercises you can try out now, for free.

Part 1

This exercise helps strengthen your hip flexors and the muscles on the front of your thigh.

Ensure there is no discomfort in your lower back when completing this exercise.

To perform this exercise:

• Lie flat on your back with one leg straight and the other knee bent with your foot on the mattress or floor.
• Keep your stomach tight and gently brace throughout the movement.

This exercise is used to improve leg stability by strengthening the hips and backside muscles. We use these muscles every day to move forward when walking, stepping up when climbing stairs, and standing up from a seated position. To perform this exercise:

• Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat.
• Lift your hips off the ground ensuring your hips are balanced.
• Squeeze the muscles of your backside as you lift your hips up.
• Try not to arch your back.
• Hold for a few seconds at the top, then slowly lower your hips back down.
• Do this in a controlled manner.

This exercise strengthens our hip flexor muscles. It can help maintain or improve your lower body strength and ensures you are able to lift your foot off the ground. To perform this exercise:

• Sit up tall with your feet flat on the floor.
• Your hands can rest at the sides of your chair, or wherever is most comfortable.
• Lift up your right knee as high as comfortable, then lower it.
• Alternate lifting your knees.
• Ensure you perform this movement in a slow and controlled manner.

This exercise can help improve your hip mobility and adductor strength. These muscles are important for hip stability during different movements like walking and sitting. To perform this exercise:

• Sitting up tall, shuffle forward closer to the edge of your chair.
• Place a cushion or a rolled-up towel between your knees.
• Bring your feet together, ensuring they are flat on the floor.
• Whilst lightly holding the cushion with your hands, squeeze the cushion using your knees.
• Hold this for 5 seconds and relax.

This exercise is used to maintain or improve your leg strength and specifically targets the muscles on the side of your hips. To perform this exercise:

• Stand upright and hold onto a chair or wall for stability.
• Start by bringing both feet together.
• Slowly raise one leg off the ground and away from your body, kicking out to the side.
• Return to the start position. Switch legs and repeat on the opposite side. Avoid leaning to one side.

• Arthritis affects the hips of many people as they age. This can result in pain, stiffness, and restricted movement in the hip joint.
• Fractures and dislocation of the hip is common because bones become less dense as you age, and your risk of falling increases.
• Muscle injury and referred pain in the hip can be a result of injury or inflammation to the muscles and tendons that surround the hip. Pinched or irritated nerves and lower back problems can also impact the hips.

• Physiotherapy, exercise physiology, or occupational therapy
• Exercise, stretching, strength training, or hydrotherapy
• Anti-inflammatory creams or pain relief medicines
• Antibiotics and steroid injections
• Advice about weight loss

Prevention is always better than cure. The best way to do this is by staying active and continuing to do the activities you do every day for as long as you can.

Some assistive products require an assessment to ensure they are suitable for you. Occupational therapists are the experts in prescribing assistive products. They will help you find the best products for your situation. This may include:

• A raised toilet seat so it’s easier to sit down
• Grab rails so you have some extra support
• Ramps to avoid having to lift your foot too high
• Walking sticks and frames to help you get around