Pain Relief

Strengthen Your Hips to Relieve Back Pain and Improve Balance

Quick, simple yet effective moves for building hip abductor strength.

What are the hip abductors and why do they matter?

The hip abductor muscles include the gluteus medius, gluteus minimus, and tensor fasciae latae (TFL) located on the back and side of your pelvis. They abduct the legs (i.e. take them away from the body) and help rotate the leg at the hip joint. They also stabilize the pelvis while standing and walking (especially when you’re on one leg) - making them crucial for balance and stability while moving.

Weakness in these muscles can cause pain, instability, and create poor movement patterns.

Strengthening them can relieve SI joint, low back, knee and IT band pain, improve balance and gait.

You've likely seen or done at least some of these moves before - at the gym or maybe in physical therapy - and likely gotten mixed results. In this video I share the small adjustments and tricks to make these exercises more effective.

In this video, I'm using a blue medium-heavy resistance Versa-Loop from Power Systems. This is a good option if you already have some hip strength and are looking to create more stability and correct muscular imbalances.

Power Systems makes 6 resistance levels so that you can choose the resistance best for you (see link below for other options).

While not shown in this video, I also really enjoy the fabric resistance loops - these are a great option if the rubber bands are uncomfortable - especially if you have larger legs or are wearing shorts while using them. They are both thicker and wider which makes them much more comfortable for most people.

These exercises can be performed without a band but to build strength, I highly recommend using one .

When building strength, we're going for muscle fatigue - meaning less repetitionss done with more resistance. You want to feel these the next day. Because of that, this series isn't meant to be done everyday. Two to three times a week (depending on your body's recovery time) should be enough.

A good general guideline - if you can do 20 or more reps of each exercises, you aren't using enough resistance. On the flip side, if you aren't able to lift your knee up to hip height when lying on your side, the resistance is too heavy.