Well, it’s almost that time again. That time when Christmas trees go up, temperatures drop and we prepare for *gasp*…snow! As the winter season progresses, we all seem to reduce our activities and become a little bit more sedentary. To complicate matters worse, we start to develop aches, pains, and stiffness. One particular region I get complaints about all the time is the hip. Stiffness, discomfort, or downright painful hip syndromes can severely limit activity in the winter (let alone the frigid cold!) It’s important to keep active this winter, even if you have hip pain.
So why am I sharing this valuable information with you?
After countless complaints of hip, buttock, or lower back pain with my new clients, I decided I would cover the topic to help them out a little bit. Hopefully, this will also prevent you from having to see a hip pain expert like me!
The Basics
Before I let you know exactly how you can implement the 3 easy ways to keep active this winter, I want to set the basis for the word “hip” used in this blog post. When I say “hip”, I mean the actual hip bone area, buttock, down the side of the thigh to the knee, in front of the thigh, or even lower back pain. All of these pain sites can actually be a direct cause of the hip.
Needless to say, when you have hip discomfort, it makes it that much harder to get up, get ready, and go be active.
So Who Is This Blog Post Meant To Help Exactly?
This information is for you if the following is true for you:
- Have pain while putting on or taking off shoes or socks
- Tend to lean (or sit) towards one end of the couch
- Have discomfort or pain sitting in bed or on the couch
- Find that if you could just get rid of pain or discomfort, you could exercise and lose weight
- Getting in or out of the car can hurt you
- Rolling around in bed is limited or painful
- Find it painful after standing from sitting a while and then get’s better when you walk around
- Find housework hard to do (especially vacuuming, sweeping, or dishwasher activity)
- You are noticeable less energetic, positive, and just in a “blah” mood
If some of these things are true for you, these 3 easy ways to stay active in winter will be extremely important to preventing or even reducing hip pain.
So let’s get you active, feeling good, and taking care of your hip…
#1 – Stick To A Stretching And Exercise Regimen
Ok, this one’s completely obvious. But don’t worry I’ll give you more value than that! It’s not enough to know exercise will help (of course it will) but to know which exercises and which stretches will help. There is a lot of misinformation out there on the internet and the truth is that not all exercises are right for everyone.
This makes the answer to this question narrowed down to only a few exercises most anyone could do – with or without hip issues. The exercise that first comes to mind for me, and is one of the tried and true exercises I perform in my specialized hip pain recovery protocol with clients.
To do this is simple and I usually recommend people start with it first thing in the morning. It’s not hard to do so don’t worry! You would be laying on your back and bending both knees up so that your feet are flat on the bed. Next put a folded pillow, ball, or rolled-up towel between the knees. Lightly pull in your stomach (not too hard now) and then lightly squeeze the thighs together to squeeze the pillow between the legs. Hold for 5 seconds and then release slowly. Repeat for 2-3 minutes. Note: Keep the stomach in the entire 2-3 minutes (it doesn’t get to relax).
Slow And Controlled
The biggest mistake I see people making with this exercise is the fact they move way too fast or squeeze too hard. You should almost feel like you’re not doing too much. We want super light movements and repeated, SLOW, contractions of your muscles. In a weird sort of way, it’s almost like a “massage” for your muscles!
While this is only one exercise it’s a start. If you are interested in learning how to do this one correctly and other, even more effective exercises and stretches to build up to, I recommend taking me up on my limited time offer here.
#2 – Avoid Being Comfortable
Sounds crazy right? But what if I told you the positioning of comfort right now is causing you even more dysfunction.
Picture yourself in a position of comfort. Is your back slouched? Are your shoulders forward dropping? Are your knees kicked up or propped up on something like a coffee table?
More often than not, when you are in pain, it is already too late. What I mean by that is that you will naturally, and sometimes subconsciously find positions of comfort that decrease pain – BUT are hurting you in the long run. There is only so far forward you can slouch before you have nowhere to hide right? Eventually, you have to stand up, move and do things and that’s when major limitation of pain will occur. Keeping the sitting posture in check is one of the top things you MUST fix if you want to keep active this winter and avoid hip pain!
Here’s A Tip
Sit at least 50% of the time with your feet flat on the ground, no matter what the chair. Usually the firmer the chair, the better it is for you. Yes – I know it might bother you to do that but it is really the lesser of two evils. So sit upright with your feet flat on the ground at least 50% of the time to have a noticeable impact.
Bonus Tip
Avoid sitting on either end of the couch. People tend to lean on the right or left sides of the couch and that creates a pelvic/hip/spine dysfunction that is going to make it worse. Instead, sit in the middle of the couch. It will do wonders for your hip, buttock, and lower back. There is a TON more that goes into posture, but the above tips should help you out for now. If you are interested in getting a full postural analysis.
If you want even more great tips, I suggest my new checklist “12 Ultra-Simple Ways To Full-Proof Your Lifestyle & Home From Hip, Knee & Lower Back Pain…And Avoid Surgery!” It’s jammed packed with useful information and covers costly mistakes to your health you’re already making…
#3 – Correct Your Walking
Ok, this will be a fun little experiment. What I want you to do right now before you go any further in to do a little test for me: Stand up and try walking across the room you’re in back and forth a few times and while you’re doing this look down at your feet.
So what happens when we have hip, pelvic, knee or even lower back pain is that our walking changes. Walking is nothing more than repeated falling and catching yourself if you think about it (mind blown, I know). When you take a step, it is super important that your feet are pointing in the same direction…likely one of your feet where tilted out toward the side a bit more. That’s not a coincidence and something that needs to change if you want to stay active this winter without hip pain.
Make sure you consciously correct that many times throughout the day. You’ll certainly catch yourself doing that over and over and over…you get the point.
So What’s The Most Important Takeaway From All Of This?
If you were to take one thing away from these 3 easy ways to keep active in winter even with hip pain, is that you cannot let yourself become sedentary simply because you’re in discomfort or pain. Not moving is not an option. Remember, less movement actually equals more pain and goes against conventional wisdom. You just have to know how to move, how to improve your posture, and how to improve walking in your everyday life.
You can get even more tips on how to improve your activity levels this winter and make it your most productive in health, weight loss, and reduction in hip, knee, or lower back pain for good. For a limited time, you can get your free insider checklist instantly by clicking here.
I hope this was helpful to you! Please do share this post with a friend or family member that has hip, buttock, or lower back pain. I bet they’ll thank you for it!
To your health,
Dr. Alex Borja
Natural Hip, Knee & Back Pain Specialist
P.S. If you are one of the many who know that they could use a little bit more guidance in the process of choosing which exercises are best, postural analysis, walking pattern analysis and even choosing the right shoe, I am here to give you quite the exciting offer…
Special Limited Time Offer
For an extremely limited time, I will offer you a “Fast Pain Relief Discovery Session To Determine What’s Wrong & How You Can Get Back To Your Active Lifestyle” ($175 Value…FREE!)
During this Discovery Session, you will: 1) Learn why you continue to have pain even after taking medications, seeking several health providers, and spending countless dollars on treatments that don’t work. 2) What types of exercises are best for your specific condition and how to perform them correctly. 3) Posture and gait analysis to determine how to modify your everyday life to eliminate inflammation.
As if that weren’t enough…As an extra-cherry-on-top BONUS, you will also receive a customized plan during this session!
All you have to do is call 586-884-4565 and our team will answer the phone. Let them know you are requesting your “Dr. Alex’s Fast Pain Relief Discovery Session” and they will take care of you. Hurry – due to the extreme limitation in my time and the amount of value you will get from this entirely free session, I can only take on 5 per week and this offer will only be valid for a limited time…take action now. Call 586-884-4565 now or click the button below…
Hope to see you there!
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