- Do you have weak hip, or hip pain that's causing you to waddle and other symptoms as well? Oh, man. - Well, in this video,
we're gonna show you a common cause of hip pain, and give you some exercises to help keep your hip
strong and be more mobile. - Yeah, I am, I'm back. (upbeat music) All right, we just featured a video on how to stretch your hip, five different stretches to get the tissue so they are
mobile as they need to be. Now, it's time to strengthen that hip. Some people won't need
to stretch their hips. It's just particularly strength. And once the muscles are
strengthened properly, the hip joint will become stable, much less chance of having hip pain. - Yes, and we're gonna start talking about anterior femoral glide syndrome, which is a common cause of
some hip pain in people, and also address the waddling
Brad was doing earlier. - Well, that's common as
well, you'll see that. And we've worked with
many people over the years with that waddle as well
as the femoral glide. That's a mouthful, I'm
not even gonna say it. All equals hip pain. All right, now keep in mind that the hips are the
center gravity of your body. If your hips are strong,
which relates to your core, it makes a tremendous
difference on your mobility, your balance, and just
being strong and mobile. - So, in this video,
we're gonna talk about some key exercises to
strengthen these hips, because if they're
weak, that's what causes waddle walking, imbalance, and a whole lot of
dysfunction in your body. - Right, so again, I'll
review waddle walking. That's when you have this lateral motion, and I did that at the
beginning of the video. The other part that we're talking about, the help me out, the anterior
femoral glide syndrome. Let's look at Sam, he's
gonna help us out today. Right here, we've got a nice view. Now, the anterior means forward. So, what happens is the ball of the hip actually, moves forward. It's not a lot, but it's
enough to get the joint not aligned properly,
causing abnormal wear, premature arthritis, and it
can lead to a hip replacement, which obviously not desirable. Mike, do you have anything to add? - So, we're gonna show you a stretch, or mobilization-type exercise you can do to help get this from being forward, back into place properly,
and not cause as much pain. - Well, actually, a strengthening exercise that's gonna pull that back. - That as well. It all fits together. We'll clear it up as we go along. All right, now the first two exercises are specific to the
gluteus maximus muscle. It's a problem, and Mike's gonna explain why we're gonna do this briefly. - So oftentimes, when you're sitting for prolonged periods during the day, it can disengage your buttock muscle. This is called gluteal amnesia. Another common cause of gluteal amnesia is when your knees are
locked or straight like this. This can happen just when
you're standing or walking. So, if your glutes aren't activated, they're not gonna fire as often. Oftentimes, this can
lead to the femoral head slowly shifting forward or anteriorly, causing that pinching sensation in there. So, if the glutes start engaging more, it'll help get that femoral head where it needs to be
decreasing your amount of pain. - All right, let's show
them the exercises, Mike. All right, here we go. The first exercise is called gluteal pump. We're gonna show you two options. One, this is a preferred
option on hands and knees, and I'm gonna show you another one if that's not comfortable for you. So, we're working the glute maximus muscle on his left hip. Go ahead, Mike. - So, you wanna get into a nice
neutral position like this. Don't be too flexed over or too extended. Then you're gonna lift one of your legs up towards the ceiling. You're not gonna go all the way up. You're just gonna kind of go in between all the way down and all the way up. You're gonna do a little gluteal pump, or kick your foot towards the ceiling, but notice I'm just
doing small oscillations in this little range of motion. This will keep the butt muscle engaged, and firing the whole time. When I do the whole range of motion, it's working other hip muscles, which we're not trying
to target right now. So, just try to do 30
repetitions total like this. If you're not feeling much engagement in your buttock muscle, you could try turning
your foot in like this. And this will help
engage the buttock more. Once this becomes simple, bring that leg back and do them this way. - Good job, Mike. Is it, can the counter, can
they go for time as well? - We often recommend 30 repetitions. If you need to do sets
of 10 or 15, that's fine. You can break them up that way, or do all 30 at once if you're able to. - And doing these on the
floor is best-carpeted floor. Not on a bed, it's gonna be too soft. So, if you're not comfortable
getting down on the floor, go to a cupboard or a solid chair, something solid you can go on and you're gonna do them
in the standing position. And it does work plenty good as long as you do it properly. So here, I'm gonna support myself. Here, I'm gonna work
my right glute muscle, 90 degree bend in the knee. Does that have to be exact? You don't have to get a protractor out. Just bring it about to here. Bring the knee. What are you laughing at, Mike? - Don't you get your protractor out? - Well, you know, that's
the engineer in me. And then out to here, again, not up high. It's in that mid-range and
it's an oscillating motion, exactly like Mike
described, 30 repetitions, or if you're starting out again less. And if you wanna get more, just think about bringing
your heel this direction, and then work it to isolate those fibers of that glute muscle a little bit more. And, you know, it's amazing because I can start to feel those muscles start to burn a little bit,
and then you know you got it. Okay, make sure you do both legs. Three sets is good. Again, start out easy. Make sure you do it right. All right, our second exercise. Again, for those glutes,
Mike's gonna demonstrate it. He's showing it here. You can do this one on the bed if you want a soft bed, not so well. Again, prefers a firm
surface like, you know, on a carpeted floor, but
whatever is safe for you. Go ahead, Mike. - So, you're gonna start in a
bent knee position like this. This is just called a bridge. You're gonna lift your buttock
and low back off the mat. Once you're up, hold it for three seconds and then slowly go back down. When you're doing this, make sure your butt cheeks are firing because these are the
muscles you're trying to target right now. Obviously, low-back muscles, and hamstring muscles are
also gonna be working. But the goal here is to get
those glutes firing again to help with that anterior
femoral glide syndrome. - Can I interrupt, Mike? - Sure. - So obvious, or he's
doing nice, slow motions up and he holds for a second, thinking about those
muscle fibers kicking in and then going down. Repetitions, 10 to 15 is good. Start out with 10. If that gets too easy, just go two to three reps and rest a minute or so between the reps. And how are you doing, Mike? - I'm good. Do you wanna show the advanced version? - Sure. - So, if this is easy for you, you can try going to one leg. So, just kick your other
leg out straight like this, and you're gonna hold up. Again, try to hold for three seconds, and then go back down. Make sure this feels good to you if you're having back pain. Don't do this.
- Right. - But you can do 10
repetitions on each side and then make sure to
switch and do the other one. A good thing to focus
on is keeping straights. You don't wanna be rotating
anyway with one leg. It's a little bit easier and that just makes it
a lot more challenging. - Yes, outstanding. This is actually a very
aggressive technique. A lot of people may not get to this and that's just fine. You'll still get the
objective and the goal set. So, let's go on to what number we on? - Three. - The third exercise. This one's specific to the glute medius. It's forward, it's right in this area. And this really is gonna
help this waddle walking if you happen to have that. That glute medius needs to be strong to stabilize the pelvis. We're gonna show a way
to do it lying down, and then we're gonna show
options coming up as well. So, to lay on your side to begin and we're going to strengthen the hip abductor muscles here. So, what I'm gonna do is kick
this up towards the ceiling, but try to keep my foot pointed forward, or slightly down like this. We don't wanna rotate like this. - [Brad] Right. - This disengages the muscles we want. Then you're gonna go down. If you feel unbalanced like this, you can bend your lower knee back, kind of making a little tripod there, and then you can balance a little easier. Make sure I'm kicking in a
straight plane of motion here. It's even with my arm,
I'm not going forward and I'm not going too far back. This will engage the right
muscles, go slow and controlled. You can try to do 10 to
15 repetitions with this and just take your time and you should feel
these muscles engaging. - All right, nice work, Mike. And actually, turn over and
do the other side as well. - Yes. - While we're in this position, we might as well show the hip ad doctors as dip the opposite side of muscle groups. - Yes. - And go ahead, I'm sorry. - So, I'm gonna be doing the left leg since I'm laying this way. I'm gonna bring my top leg
and bring it back like this to keep balanced. I'm still gonna try to keep
my trunk facing this way and you're gonna kick this
leg up towards the ceiling. You're gonna work those
inner thigh muscles this time trying to strengthen them. Some people, these are weak on some. Most people they're pretty strong on. It's not as important as the abductor if you're just gonna pick one. But as long as you're
here, try to do both. - Right, right. - Yeah, and this is one of
those things like you said. Some people, I've had people
even just getting enough of the, you know, the better the floor, two inches be is very difficult at first. And then those muscles start to engage and there they go within a week. So yep, that's a good one to do. It doesn't take much time and be complete. All right, now this next
option I really like because it's more functional and it makes those muscles
kick in with weight bearing which is exactly what you do while you walk to eliminate this waddle. You do need one step and a handrail, or anything like Mike is showing here. Make sure you're safe, and you feel comfortable doing this. Go ahead, Mike. - So, you're gonna stand
sideways on the stair, hold on to the railing for support. And what we're gonna do is
this is gonna strengthen this leg and the hip
abductor, the leg on the step. So, all I'm gonna do is drop my pelvis at an angle like this, and then I'm gonna lift it up. So, you're gonna feel
some muscles engaging on the right side as well. But the focus here is a
hip abductor on the left. Try to go slow and controlled with this. Take your time and try to
do 10 to 15 repetitions, and do two to three sets if possible. I do wanna add one thing. When I've worked with patients
with this over the years, my verbal cue to make sure
the mechanics are done right is focus on this knee. Mike, I want you to lock that
knee out and keep it locked and that's gonna stay there
and that, there we go. And then I say, see if
you can touch your heel towards the floor, so pull those toes up. And obviously, you're not gonna touch, but think about that, like, pistoning up and down
while this knee is locked and it really isolates to
that hip abductor muscle and that's what we want. And Mike talked about the reps. Any other suggestions, Mike? - You're gonna feel a slight
stretch when you go down because I commonly don't do this exercise. - Yeah, it's a good one. So, if you have any pain,
this does work the low back. If you have back pain with
it, you do need to stop it. Okay, just quickly, Mike
is doing the same exercise and you can see it has his belt lying. This hip drops and it pulls up. This knee stays locked. It's just a nice visual
of proper mechanics while you're doing it. All right, okay, this
last set of exercises is gonna work the hip muscle
in three different directions. I like to call it the triple threat. It's a nice exercise. Now, please be aware, we're
giving you five exercises and some options. Do all of them, pick out the
ones that work best for you. You may only pick two or three of them or possibly only one. None of them should create pain. If they do, you do not do that one. So, work with them, do the ones you like and kind of work with them over time. You may end up doing all of them. So that's the rule. The next set, you can use ankle weights if you want or have them. I've had one here. I've already wrapped one around my ankle. Mike is gonna do them
without ankle weights. You do not need them. Go ahead, Mike, you start. - So, the first one I'm gonna
do is a front-forward kick like this. You can either do them
with the straight leg, or you can flex your
knee like you're marching if this is easier for you or less painful, but just go straight forward and back. Be nice and controlled. Make sure to hold on to
support if you feel unsteady. I'm using a stair rail, Brad's
using a cane-like stick. So just do 10 repetitions, slow controlled and you're working
those front hip muscles. - Good, and if you are using
a stick or a cane or a wall, if you're working your right leg, you're gonna hold on with your right hand. It just makes a wide base. It makes a big difference
versus over here. You'll find out very quickly. Let's do the next exercise. - The next exercise is hip abduction, or kicking out to the side. Go nice, slow, and controlled. Keep the foot forward the whole time. Don't turn out or turn in too much. Again, try to keep your
pelvis somewhat neutral. Don't lean over like
this to kick up higher. That is not gonna effectively
strengthen this muscle. So good upright posture,
slow controlled movements and 10, 15 reps again. - That's right. And the third one, I think
you can do these all as a set and that's why I usually do it myself or with patience, forward,
sideways, and then. - Backwards, so we're gonna
kick straight backwards. Obviously, I'm this way, so, I'm not hitting anything behind me. You wanna keep a nice straight leg like Brad is showing there, and it's gonna work your
buttock muscle again, kind of like the earlier exercise. - Good, I'll demonstrate the two mistakes people commonly make. They start doing this, which works the hamstring muscle. We don't want that or
compensate by doing this, which is really gonna take away from working the hip muscle. - So, don't do those two. Make sure to do both sides evenly and the side standing is
actually gonna get a workout too because it's keeping balance while you're strengthening the other side. - It's a bonus. It's a double bonus. - [Mike] Triple threat
with a double bonus. - There you go, you can't get much better. However, we are gonna go one more step. If you have bands at home
and you wanna use those, it's a really effective way to work the hips will be right there. All right, now if you do have bands, typically, they come
with four or five bands. There's an ankle strap
as well as a door anchor and you're set to go to
really, really advance your strengthening of the hip. So, on a door like we have here, we put it in the door, we've
already have it in there. Mike's gotta connect it up. He's got his ankle, Velcro
strap around his ankle and look at that, he's
going to town already. Oftentimes you may need
something to hold on to. You're gonna need a stick or cane. We got the Booyah, go
ahead, Mike, talk about it. - So, we're gonna do the
same exact exercises. We just have a band for resistance. So go nice, slow, and controlled. You can either do flexion like this, hip flexion like you're marching or straight leg like we mentioned earlier. Now to go into the other planes of motion, we gotta turn a little bit with the band. So, here I like the band
in front of my foot here and then we're gonna kick out to the side. Again, keeping a nice
neutral position here, not leaning over too much. The closer you are to the door, the less resistance you're
gonna have with the band. The more resistance you want, simply stretch it out and go this way. And Brad, do you wanna
show the last variation on the wall anchors? - You bet. Again, with the bands, there's
gonna be different colors. Typically, the darker
colors have more resistance. It's very obvious to see. If you do have bands
and you want to progress and you don't wanna use the door anymore, because it's an issue,
there's wall anchors that really work out well
for different levels. Obviously, for this, we're
gonna use the lower wall anchor. The upper ones are
particularly for upper arms and trunk strengthening. So here, I'm gonna do it with a loop band. So, it works really well
with a loop band as well. You do not need the
strap, the Velcro strap. And I'm gonna do adduction this way. Yeah, it is nice to have
a stick to hold onto them a little wobbly and
it's the same exercises that Mike just demonstrated. And again, this one, it's always nice to have the band in front, I think. I have much more balance. Ooh, I'm too tight there, I gotta move in. - Brad, you just made the
triple-theta quadruple. - Well, whatever, that's fine. These are the people
in the advanced anyway, so, we did give you an extra
exercise, but I'm good at that. You ever see a band snap? - No, I did. - Oh, he's gotta have some fun. So good luck with your hip strengthening. It's gonna make a difference. It's important, though. You do this for one week. If you're a waddle walking,
one week of hip strengthening probably is not gonna correct you and allow you to walk straight. It does take time and
it's gonna probably take two to three weeks and some really focus. Cause you've got a habit of water walking. Your mind doesn't even
know you're doing it. Look in a mirror, walk down the hallway and look at yourself, correct yourself as you're walking in the mirror in addition to the strengthening, and you can get this taken care of. Any questions on that, Mike? - No, but if you wanna watch
the five stretches for hip that we talked about earlier in the video, we'll link it down below
in the first comment. So, if you wanna learn
more about the hips, go watch that video. - Most excellent, good luck.
