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THE ANATOMY OF THE WONDER HIP

HIP MOBILITY AND WHY IT MATTERS
the wonder hip

WHY ARE OUR HIPS SO TIGHT?

Your hips are a ball and socket joint, like the shoulder, that connect your legs to your body. Unlike the shoulders however, the hips are strong joints that rarely pop out of place or get that injured. This is because the hips are surrounded and controlled by 17+ muscles and connective tissues, where the shoulder only has 8. This makes the hips far more superior in strength than the shoulders BUT also there are a lot more muscles that can get tight and prevent the hips from moving with ease.

ANATOMY OF THE HIP

Ya’ll know I love anatomy and I’ve just finished doing some more anatomy training. So here’s a little hip anatomy coming at you. You don’t need to remember all of this but it’s awesome if you can start to get a visual for what’s happening in there.

So the head of the femur (your leg bone) meets the acetabulum (outer ridge of pelvis), to make the hip joint. This hip joint Includes HUGE ligaments, including the strongest in the body the iliofemoral ligament.

pelvis

MUSCLES OF THE HIP

  • Guteal Group: group of muscles at the back of the pelvis
  • Adductor Group: Group of muscles inside the leg/hip
  • Abductor Group: group of muscles on the outside of the leg/hip
  • Iliopsoas Group: muscles that start at the lumbar spine cross the pelvis and attach at the front of the femur
  • Lateral Rotator Group: Group of muscles that originate at the pelvis and attach at the femur
200px Anterior Hip Muscles 2 min

All of these muscles need lots of time under passive tension to begin to change and become more mobile/flexible. Passive tension is long holds in stretching postures for 3 to 5 minutes. These stretches should be highly varied to mimic the natural movement of the hips.

THE WAY OUR HIPS MOVE
 
  • Flexion = shortening of the joint, bringing the thigh up
  • Extension = lengthening of the joint, bringing the leg behind you straight
  • Lateral Rotation = moving the join outwards, knee away from the body
  • Medial Rotation = moving the joint inwards, knee coming towards or beyond centre
  • Abduction = Leg goes away from the midline
  • Adduction = Leg comes towards the midline
  • Circumduction = moving the joint in a circle, rotating the ankle in a circle from the hip
hip movements min

CAUSES OF STIFFNESS

  • injury
  • exercise
  • small range of movement
  • repetitive movements

Stiffness and lack of range of mobility can come from many things and cannot always be predictable. BUT what you can control is working on the hips and doing some stretching everyday

WANT TO START IMPROVING YOUR HIP MOBILITY TODAY?

Try these 5 stretches that you can do at any time

HAPPY HIPS COURSE

This course will be coming ready in the next week so keep your eyes peeled and your hips ready. The course will include 8 shorter videos on hip mobility and a few longer yoga classes that incorporate lots of juicy hip moves GET THE INFO

Meegan Bradley

Meegan Bradley

Yoga Trainer & Wellness Coach

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