In this video, I'm going to show you how to get rid of hip
pain at night for good. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
St. Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to go over
easy exercises that can give both quick and long-lasting
relief for hip pains at night and what usually causes hip
pain at night is because of a blend of weakness and tightness
in the muscles that support the hips and to make it easy, I'm
going to break the video up into two separate parts to
address this. Well, each part is different, they are meant to
work together. So, go through all of the exercise and use
what works best for you. With that being said, let's get
started. So, in the first part, we're going to focus on a big
cause of hip pain at night which is a build up of
tightness and tension in the muscles that support the hips.
It's really important that we release this tension before
going to bed. Otherwise, it just hangs out and it just
builds and builds throughout the night causing pain and
discomfort. So, here's two easy exercises that can really help.
The first we're going to start lying flat on our back. You can
do this one in bed or on a floor but you want all of the
muscles around the hips nice and relax including the core,
back, glutes, and legs. My legs are going to be roughly hip
width apart, knees bent, feet flat. I'm also going to take my
hands, put them off to my side for support. The first movement
is called a windshield wiper. Really easy to do. What we're
going to do is gently press our heels into the bed or the floor
and slowly lower our knee downward towards one side until
we feel a gentle but a little bit of a deep stretch in the
hips once you feel that you're going to hold this for a second
or two and then you're going to repeat on the other side so
kind of going over just like a windshield wiper but do this
nice and slowly for 10 to 15 repetitions in both directions
and with each repetition try to build in to adjust a little bit
more we're really focus on trying to just everything nice
and loose with this one but afterwards, see how you feel.
If there's a little bit of tightness left and this is
really helping you out, you're more than welcome to throw in
as many repetitions as you like. So, let's try to take
this one to the next level and get a deeper stretch. So, this
time around, I'm going to have my knees upward towards the
ceiling and my knees are going to be bent roughly at 90
degrees. Let's definitely take our hands and put them off to
our side for support with this one but just like that first
move, this time around what I'm going to do is lower my knees
down towards one side but I'm going to focus on feeling an
initial stretch in my hips but then take it a little bit
further until I feel it in my lower back just a gentle
stretch hold this one for a second or two and then repeat
on the other side this one generally feels really really
good and it's going to stretch pretty much everything in the
hips the pelvis and the lower back but 10 to 15 times in both
directions and after see how you feel. There's a little bit
of tightness left. Again, you can throw in as many
repetitions as you like. So, the second exercise that we can
use to quickly take tension and tightness out of the hips is
known as the frog rocker. For this one, we're going to start
on all fours. I find that this one is easiest done right at
the edge of a bed because you can really grip into it for a
solid stable anchor point. So, let's start off by just
loosening everything up around the groin, pelvis, and the
hips. What you want to do is take feet, put them together,
and then slowly slide your knees outward as much as you
can until you feel a really good stretch inner part of your
thighs towards the groin but more importantly, feel it in
the hips. Once you feel that, you're going to hold this one
comfortably for 20 to 30 seconds and do nice, slow,
control breathing. Let out as much tension as you can. If,
if this does feel really really good though, you can hold it
for as long as you like. 45 seconds, 60 sec I'd experiment
with it. Use what works best for you but when you need a
breather, just go back on all fours just like this. So, do
this a couple times until everything is nice and loose.
So, now we're going to build into the frog rocker which is
very similar. So, with this one, we're going to take our
fingers grip right into the edge of our bed. We're going to
tuck our chin towards our chest and what we're going to do is
try to wing our knees outward as much as we can until we feel
that initial stretch but we're then going to rock our whole
body backward just like this, taking our butt down towards
our heels. As you do this, you're going to feel a really
deep stretch throughout the back going down into the hips.
It usually feels really really good. Try to hold this one
comfortably for 20 to 30 seconds. Again, do nice, slow
control breathing. When you need a breather, just rock
forward like this and then repeat it three to five times
and with each repetition, build into it just a little bit more.
Really focus on driving those knees out. So, another way to
take this one to the next level is instead of going straight
with it, angle your upper body towards one side. So, I'm
angling my shoulders a little bit towards my left and then,
I'm going to repeat. What you're going to notice is it
opens up the other side just a little bit more. So, if you're
leaning towards your left, you're really going to feel a
deep stretch in the right side of your back going down towards
your hips. So, experiment with it. Go towards the left and
also towards the right. If any of those positions offer more
relief, at that point, throw more repetitions in. In this
part, we're going to focus on another big cause of hip pain
at night which is due to weak muscles. If your muscles are
weak, they will not support your hips at night and this
will lead to pains and overall discomfort. So, here are two
easy strengthening exercises that you can do daily before
going to bed. The first one, we're going to lying on our
back. You can do this one in bed or on a floor. We're going
to have our knees straight up towards the ceiling, knees bent
roughly at 90 degrees. My legs are roughly hip width apart. My
arms are going to go straight up like this too. We call this
one the dead bug because I guess it looks like a dead bug.
I'm going to show you the beginner's dead bug and then I
will show you how to progress into the full dead bug. So, the
beginners version, we're just going to lower one leg down
like this, straightening our knee and letting our leg hover
an inch or too above the bed or the floor. Don't let it touch.
In this position, you're going to feel a ton of muscles start
to fire including the core muscles which are really
important towards stabilizing our hip. Hold this one
comfortably for about 5 seconds. You're going to relax
and then you're going to repeat on the other side. Do this a
couple times just to get a feel for it. It's probably going to
become easy pretty quickly and once that's the case, you can
then progress into the full dead bug which is very similar
but this time around, we're going to lower one leg and the
opposite side's arm. So, my left leg is going down, right
side's arm and then, repeat on the other side. Try to do this
one again for a couple times, get a feel for it. Once that
becomes too easy, then, we're really going to take it to the
next level and do what is called the 3D dead bug to
target the hips just a little bit more. So, this time around,
I'm just going to lower one side's leg down like this. Once
it's down, I'm then going take my foot turn it inward as much
as I can until I feel the muscles around the hips start
to fire and then I'm going to sweep it inward like this as
much as I can you should feel a ton of muscles right here
starting to fire including the glutes hold this comfortably
for about 3 to 5 seconds relax and then on the next part we're
going to turn our foot outward and then sweep outward as much
as we can again you're going to feel a ton of muscles around
the hips start to fire it's just going to be in a different
location I really feel this one more towards my groin. You're
just going to relax at that point and then repeat this on
the other side. I try to do this one nice and slowly for
about three to five complete repetitions on both sides and
with each repetition, try to build into it just a little bit
more. If it does feel like you have a little bit more energy,
try to throw in another set or two. So, in my opinion, the
best exercise that you can do to strengthen your hips and
just pretty much make it you have less pains throughout the
day with any activity that you do including walking going up
and down stairs or getting out of a chair is to do body weight
squats and I know a lot of people get scared away from
them because they feel like they're too challenging or
they're just not doing them right so here is a foolproof
way to do a body weight squat it's called a wall sit for this
one you just need a smooth wall or a smooth door to get into
position you're going to start with your whole backside flush
again that door from your head all the way down to your
tailbone. Your legs are going to be roughly hip width apart,
your feet space slightly out in front of you. That way you can
lean your body weight into the door. You're going to put all
of your body weight onto your heels during this exercise.
That's really important and we're going to space our feet.
We're just going to turn them out very very slightly about
five to 10 degrees. This helps take tension off the knees.
Once we've done that, we're then going to brace our core
muscles. It's kind of like somebody poking you in your
stomach how you tighten up mimic that and hold it during
this exercise and then we're going to squeeze our glutes
really focus on squeezing the glutes because it'll help
activate them just a little bit more from there pretty straight
forward what I like to do is take my hands make a prayer
position put them right on my chest and kind of press my
hands into my chest and then just slide downward towards the
floor so I'm squatting my butt down towards the floor as much
as I can keep going down the further that you go down the
more that you're going the leg muscles, the hips, and the
glutes start to fire. Once you feel a deep activation of those
muscles but not causing any pain or discomfort, if that's
the case, kind of go up a little bit. You're going to try
to hold this one for about five seconds and then you're
going to slide back up, take a breather and then you're going
to repeat this ten times and with each repetition, challenge
yourself to go down a little bit further and if it feels
like you have a little bit more energy afterwards, what I would
recommend is throwing in another set or two, real focus
on trying to build these muscles up as much as you can.
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