In this video, I'm going to show you how to quickly get rid
of hip pain from side sleeping. Stay tuned!
Hey, everyone. Doctor Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
Saint Joseph, Michigan. If you're a side sleeper like me,
I'm sure that you get hip pain from time to time and you also
wonder why does this keep happening? The quick answer is
you probably have weakness in the muscles that support the
legs, the hips, and the back. Weakness that allows tension
and tightness to build while you sleep leading to pain. So
in this video, I want to go over easy daily exercises that
are going to build strength and stability and whole get rid of
hip pain for good while you sleep. All of these exercises
can be done in bed, require no equipment and you may find give
quick pain relief even in as little as 30 seconds. So, you
can do this in the middle of the night if you would like.
So, let's get started and fix that hip pain while you sleep
right now. This first exercise is what I call the outer hip
arc. It's really good for side sleepers that tend to have more
of their hip pain on the outside. What I'm going to do
is off in bed. This one is most comfortable to do in bed but
you can do it on a floor. I'm going to have the painful side
up towards the ceiling. I'm going to rest my head right on
my hand like this or you can use a pillow. So, start off
with your knees bent roughly at 90 degrees and start off in the
position that most mimics your side sleeping position. So, for
me, since I'm a side sleeper, it's about right here. From
here, what I'm going to do is then take my foot on the top
side right here, bring the ankle back into flexion so
bringing it back like this and then turning my foot slightly
inwards. From there, I'm going to keep my leg, the top leg
here in line with the bottom leg and then slowly raise that
leg upward towards the ceiling as much as we can. It's kind of
like a clam shell. What you should really feel is an
activation around the glutes and the outside of the hip.
Really focus on feeling that. If you're not, try to really
focus on bringing that foot back and inward just a little
bit and it should isolate that hip but I try to hold this for
about five seconds from there I just relax and slowly come back
down and then I'm going to repeat this one10 to 15 times
if you want more of a challenge you can throw in another set or
two to make this one even more challenging instead of keeping
this knee bent let's straighten the leg out like this we're
going to bring the foot towards us and then in slightly we're
going to keep this top leg in line with the bottom and then
just slowly raise it up like this and it really starts to
fire on the outside the hip right here so next what I'm
going to do is then build into an arc so I'm going to take
this bottom leg and slightly bring it up towards me just a
little bit and then from there I'm going to repeat this
process what you're going to notice is it hits the hip just
a little bit differently so what you want to do is pretty
much go in a complete arc from your normal sleeping position
to going all the way up as much as you can you're going to
notice that one certain spot, like let's say that this angle
right here, really hits my hip the most. I really just feel
the muscles firing. I stop at that point and then focus on
that by throwing more repetitions in. Always focus on
the spots that need it the most and I do recommend that when
you're done on one side even if the other side doesn't hurt to
do it on that one too just to keep everything in balance. So
here's how we can target inner hip pain which tends to be
caused by weak inner thigh muscles known as adductors.
This one is called the inner hip arc. This time around,
we're going to have our painful side on the bottom. I'm just
going to lay it on that side. The non-painful side, I'm
going to keep that knee bent and then just upwards towards
the ceiling. Foot is kept flat. You can also support your head
with your hand again just like this. We want our whole body in
a nice straight line from our back all the way down to our
toes. I'm going to start off by taking the non-painful side
bringing my foot over the bottom side just like this. I'm
going to do from here is take the foot on the bottom side and
then bring my toes back towards me putting my foot into
flexion. The movement is very easy. We're going to keep our
legs straight at the knee. Treat it like kind of like a
pole and from there, I'm just going to slowly raise my leg
upwards towards the ceiling as much as I can. The more that we
go up, the more that you're going to feel the muscles in
the inner part of the thigh start to fire. Really focus on
feeling that. Hold this one for about 5 seconds. You're just
going to come down, relax, take a breather, you want to repeat
this 10 to 15 times and if you want to make it more
challenging, you can throw in another set or two but let's
build into our arc and focus on spots that needed just a little
bit more. So, I'm going to take the top leg and bring it
backward like this over the other leg, the bottom leg. From
here, I'm going to just slowly take my leg outward just a
little bit to start to create that arc. I'm going to repeat
this process. When you do this, you're going to notice that the
muscles get hit just little bit differently including around
the hip. So, you want to do that a couple times and then
you're just going to build into it even more. Do this whole
process going straight away from you and build into it as
much as you can. If you do notice that one certain angle
like let's say right here for me just targets that inner
thigh, that inner hip just a little bit more. I try to stop
right over that spot and then throw in about 10 to 15
repetitions. Again, always focus on the spots that need it
the most and if you want to make a a little bit more
challenging, you can throw in another set or two but when
you're done on one side, switch to the other to keep them both
in balance. So, here's a great daily exercise that's going to
strengthen and lengthen everything that supports the
back and hips. You can do this one in bed or on a floor. We're
going to start off with the strengthening exercises. Start
off on all fours just like this. The first part is called
the bird dog. Very easy to do and I'm going to custom tailor
it a little bit to the hip just a little bit more. So, this is
how I like to focus on pinpointing the hip. I'm going
to just take one leg back like this while keeping my foot on
the floor or the bed. Just kind of slide it back and reach
out with your toes until you feel a activation of the calf
muscles going into the back of the leg, the hamstrings going
into the hip and then into the glutes. Once we feel that,
we're going to slowly raise the leg up and just have it
pointing straight away from us. Reaching out with our toes the
whole time. You should feel the pelvic muscles firing, the hip,
and also the core muscles right here. I try to hold this one
for about 5 seconds. From there, I just relax, come back
down. From there, I'm going to take that side and then raise
it up keeping my knee bent in 90 degrees. We're going to do a
movement called the fire hydrant and you're going to see
for good reason why it's called that. So, I'm going to raise
that knee up just a little bit and then from there, I'm going
to rotate my leg and body upwards towards the ceiling.
That's a fluid motion. The more that you go up, the more that
you're going to feel a very good activation into the hip.
Hold this for about 5 seconds. From there, you're just going
to come down, take a breather, and then I'm going to repeat
this on the other side. You want to do this one nice and
slowly for about 10 to 15 repetitions on both sides and
with each repetition, try to build into it just a little bit
more. Really challenge those muscles. If you feel like you
have a little bit more energy, you can do a other set or two.
Next, we're going to build a little bit more into mobility
to help stretch everything out. We're going to do what is known
as a frog rocker. So again, I'm going to start on all fours.
I'm going to put my feet together and then slide my
knees outward as much as we can until you feel a very good
stretch in the inner part of the legs and also going on into
the hips. Once we feel that, I'm going to tuck my chin
towards my chest and then rock my whole body backwards. Kinda
like taking my butt down towards my heels. You really
want to focus on feeling it into the legs and hips. Once we
feel a very deep comfortable stretch, we're going to hold
this one for 20 to 30 seconds. Do nice, slow, controlled
breathing too. Just let that tension out. From there, I'm
going to rock forward with my whole body. This right here is
going to hit the hip flexors. You'll feel a very deep stretch
in the front part of leg. The hip flexors are a big
instigator of back pain and also hip pain. Again, hold this
one for about 20 to 30 seconds and then we're just going to
relax, take a breather. On the next repetition, try to stretch
into it even more. Do this for three to 5 times. To take this
one to the next level instead of going straight forward with
it, tilt your body in one direction. Whatever way that
you're tilting, you're going to feel it open up a little bit
more on the opposite side. So, I'm tilting towards the left, I
really feel it off to my right side. Again, I just hold this
one for about to 30 seconds and then rock forward. Experiment
with different angles. Go all the way towards the left, go
all the way towards the right. If one feels like it's hitting
the hips just a little bit better. At that point, make a
note, stop right there, throw more repetitions in. One of my
absolute favorite exercises for the legs, the hips, and the
back is the pelvic bridge because it works so much in
such a little amount of time but I'm going to modify the
bridge to hit the hips just a little bit more. You can do
this one in bed or on a floor. Just lie flat on your back like
this. Our knees are going to be bent. Our legs are going to be
roughly about hip width apart, my feet flat. I'm going to take
my hands and I'm going to place them right on my hips. Let's
start off with the basic glute bridge. I'm going to focus on
driving my hips up towards the ceiling until I feel I have a
nice straight line from my knees to my hips to my
shoulders. If you're unable to get into this position, let's
say you can only raise it up a little bit. Focus time on
building strength and flexibility to be able to get
into this position but we should feel the core muscles
activate the lower back the legs everything around the hips
really focus on feeling that I try to hold this one for about
five seconds from there I just relax take a breather and then
slowly repeat this one 10 to 15 times. If you want to make it
more challenging you can throw in another set or two but just
always focus on engaging those muscles as much as you can how
to take this one to the next level and focus a little bit
more on a hip what I'm going to do is a hip march so let's get
back into that basic bridge right here but I'm going to
lift one leg up kind of marching my knee back towards
me knee to the chest right here and this becomes a lot more
challenging try to hold this one for about three to five
seconds you're just going to relax, take a breather, and then
repeat it on the other side try to do this one for about 10 to
15 reps on both sides. You can make it harder too by instead
of keeping the knee bent by going straight out with it.
You'll really feel the core right here engage but give that
one a try too if you want to take that one to even the next
level. So, if you deal with a little bit more pain in the
inner part of the leg or towards the groin while you
sleep, this is how you can modify the bridge to target
that. What I'm going to do this time around is put my feet, my
knees, and pretty much my whole legs together and then, I'm
going to repeat this bridge. Instead, this time around,
you'll notice a lot more firing in the part of the legs and the
inner hip. Hold this one for 5 seconds, relax, take a
breather, and then try to repeat this one10 to 15 times
and if you feel like you have a little bit more, you can throw
in another set or two. If the exercises helped, please
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