In this video, I'm going to show you how to fix a high hip
for good. Stay tuned!
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in Saint
Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to deal with
a pelvic imbalance that might be causing a short leg or a
high hip, and I'm going to show you how to fix this in a very
easy to follow step-by-step guide. In the first part, let's
focus on muscle weaknesses and imbalances that are commonly
associated with a high hip. That is the QL, or quadratus
lumborum muscle, the glute (buttocks) and also the
adductors. In the second part, we're going to build stability
by working all of those muscles together. As a note, all these
exercises can be done at home and they do not require any
special equipment. So, let's get started and fix that high
hip right now. So, the big question, how do I know if I
have a high hip, a lateral pelvic tilt, or a short leg?
Here's a very easy way to self test and it's also very good
because you can do a before and after to see if this is helping
to bring your pelvis and hips back into alignment. What you
want to do is stand right in front of a large mirror. Take
two fingers, place them right on the top of the waistline
here. You're going to press in there and find two large mounds
off to the side. These are the iliac crest. So, what you want
to do is notice if one side is up compared to the other. At
that point, you might have a lateral pelvic tilt causing
that high hip. You can confirm this by turning around and
doing the same thing. Take two fingers and place it right
around the belt line. You'll find two large amounts right in
the lower back and notice if one side is just tilted up just
a little bit more. So, do the exercises. If one side is
higher and after you do them, it is starting to balance them
off, you know at that point they are helping. In this part,
we're going to focus on lengthening, and more
importantly, strengthening any muscle imbalances that can
cause a high hip or a short leg. Let's start off by
targeting the QL, or quadratus lumborum, which runs pretty much
right off to the side, right by the rib cage, all the way down
into the lower back and pelvis. When this muscle becomes tight,
it tends to cause a hip hike. Here's a very easy exercise to
help target that muscle. It's called the QL side lift. Best
done on a floor. What I'm going to do is position the side that
I'm having that high hip. In this case would be my left down
towards the floor. I'm going to support my upper body weight by
bending my elbow at 90°, just placing it like this so it's
nice and comfortable. Again, it should feel like a nice stable
anchor point. You might want to put a pillow or towel
underneath the arm too just for extra comfort. Body is going to
be in a complete straight line. What I'm focusing on doing is
trying to lift my top hip in this case would be my right hip
up towards the ceiling. So, I put my hand right on my right
hip and I'm just going to lift my whole body as one complete
unit upwards and this can become very challenging if you
have a lot of weakness going on. So, go up as far as you
feel comfortable. You should really focus on feeling it off
to the side into the lower back even more so right around that
hip. Once you feel those muscles get activated, try to
hold this for up to five seconds. From there, you're
just going to take a breather and repeat this up to 10 to 15
times. With each repetition too, drive that hip up just a little
bit more. Always challenge yourself to activate those
muscles and get a little bit stronger and when you're done
on one side, I would recommend going to the other just to keep
everything imbalance. So, arguably the main cause of a
high hip or short leg is because of glute weakness,
primarily the glute medius. Here is an essential exercise
that's very easy, very effective at addressing glute
weakness. It's known as the glute bridge. You can do this
one in bed or on the floor. What I'm going to do is start
off on my back just like this. Let's have the knees bent, the
feet flat during this exercise. Start off by placing your heels
pretty close to your butt just like this. Movement is very
easy. What I'm doing is I'm putting my hands on the side of
my hips and then lifting my pelvis and hips up towards the
ceiling to achieve a nice straight line from my knees to
my hips to my shoulders. If you find that you don't have the
strength to get into that position. Just try to raise
your butt up towards the ceiling as much as you can. The
goal is to feel it firing into the glutes themselves. So in
this position, if you feel like it's targeting more into the
legs instead of the butt or the glutes, what we're going to do
is change the position of our feet until we have it focused
into the glutes. So, slide your feet just a little bit further
away from you and then repeat this exercise. When I do this,
I already noticed that it is targeting the glutes just a
little bit more. So, really experiment with having the feet
close to you and further away until you find that pinpoint
spot that it is just targeting the glutes more than any other
position at that point we want to hold this right here for
about five seconds. From there, we're just going to relax, take
a breather and do this for 10 complete repetitions. With each
repetition, drive your hips up towards the ceiling just a
little bit more to challenge those muscles and hopefully
correct that glute imbalance. If you do have some weakness off to
one side. So, let's say that I have a lot, I should say I have
a high hip on my left side and I want to address that
weakness. What I can do is take the other side's leg. In this
case, would be my right, and bring the knees towards me. This becomes
a lot harder. I actually feel a lot going on into that glute.
So, to make this one more challenging and taking it to
the next level. Just lift the other side's leg up and repeat
this exercise and that way you can really target weakness on
one particular side. You also make this one even harder by
just instead of bending the knee like this but
straightening the leg out and I tell you what, I feel a lot
firing into that left glute right now! But go through those
movements and target any weakness that you might have.
Next, let's focus on another big cause of a high hip which
are tight adductors. Think tightness in the inner part of
the thigh and leg. This exercise is known as an
adductor lift. It's best done on a floor. What I'm going to
do is position whatever side that we're having our high hip
and this will be my left side flush against that floor. I'm
going to support my upper body by bending my elbow at 90° and
putting my weight on my forearm. Make sure to put a pillow or
towel underneath too for extra comfort. I'm going to
take my top leg, this case my right, I'm going to bend my
knee and just put my leg, I should say my foot slightly in
front of me just like this. I take my right hand, just place
it on my right knee like this for a little bit more
stability. The movement is very easy. Imagine your leg, your
bottom leg, as a pole or a plank wood. As a complete unit, you
want to lift that leg up towards the ceiling as much as
you can. When you do this, you're going to feel a lot fire
in the inner part of the leg. Really focus on feeling it on
the inner part of the thigh and leg. You want to hold this
position for about five seconds. You can hold it for
longer though if you do want to challenge yourself but just
take a breather and then on the next repetition, try to drive
this up just a little bit more to get those muscles to fire.
Do this for about 10 to 15 complete repetitions and I do
recommend that once you're done with this to switch over to the
other side, throw some reps in there just to keep everything
in balance. In this part, we're going to focus on great
exercises that are going to work all of the involved
muscles together to help improve pelvic posture, correct
imbalances, and also improve stability into the lower back
and the hips pelvic region. This first exercise is known as
a glute-focused bird dog. It's wonderful can do it in bed or
on the floor. Just start off on all fours just like this. What
I'm going to do is tuck my chin towards my chest and then from
there, I'm going to straighten one leg away from me. Go
straight at the knee, point the toes away from you, really
reach out with your foot. You should already feel muscles
starting to get activated into the leg, into the glute
buttock, and also core and lower back. Focus on feeling
that. Once you do, what I'm going to do from there is just
straight my leg as much as I can and then lift the leg
upwards until I really feel it firing into the core muscles,
the lower back, even more so into the glute buttock. Once we
hit that point, we want to hold this one for about five to 10
seconds. From there, you're just going to relax, bring the
knee back down. On the second part, we're going to do an
exercise called the fire hydrant and you're going to see
for obvious reasons. I'm just going to raise that knee up,
keep it bend at 90 degrees. I'm going to rotate my right side
upwards towards the ceiling. So, pretty much from my lower
back all the way up towards my upper back and head right here
are going to rotate upward towards the ceiling. With this
one, you're going to feel a lot fire into the hip, lower back,
and across the pelvis but really focus on feeling it into
the glute. This one really works the glute medius which is
a big component of that high hip. Hold this one for five to
10 seconds. From there, you're just going to relax, take a
breather, and then you're going to repeat it on the other side.
You want to do this one nice and slow for about 10 to 15
complete repetitions and with each repetition, always
challenge yourself to build into it just a little bit more
to hopefully activate those muscles and strengthen
everything and get rid of that high hip for good. So, if you
stuck around to the end of the video, you're going to be
rewarded with my favorite exercise that brings the hips
and pelvis back into balance. I call this the dynamic hip
leveler. We can do this one next to a staircase. You can
also use a sturdy object like a block of wood, a stack of old
hard-covered books that you don't like. In this case, I'm
going to be using a yoga block. Step up with one side. Doesn't
matter what side you start with because we're going to do it on
both. Try to have very good upright posture stabilize off
to the side like this to help achieve that. The leg that is
off. We're going to keep that one straight at the knee. So,
we're not trying to bend the knee. The inside of the foot is
going to go flush against that object. The movement is very
easy from here. What I'm going to do is put my hand on
my hip just like this. We're going to lower that side is one
complete unit to the point where the foot is hovering off
the floor but touching. From here, what I'm going to do is
I'm going to lift the whole side of my body. So, I'm not
trying to bend my knee or my hip or bend away from it like
this but we're going to lift the whole side upwards towards
the ceiling as much as we can. When we do this, you're going
to feel a ton activate into the leg, hip, pelvis, glute, and
also the lower back. Focus on feeling it into the glute
buttock and also the hip. Once we hit that point, let's hold
this for five seconds. From there, we're going to in
reverse. We're going to go slowly downwards to the point
where our foot is then hovering off the floor. You want to
control this movement and challenge the muscles with
going up and also going down. This helps build coordination
and stability what we're looking for. You want to do
this one nice and slowly for about 10 to 15 complete
repetitions. With each repetition, challenge yourself.
Go more slowly with it. Try to raise that hip up just a little
bit more to engage those muscle. And when you're done on
one side, switch to the other to keep them both in balance
but after doing this, do that self test again with the hips
right here and I hope that balances it off, gets rid of
that high hip, and just gets rid of it for good. If the
exercises help, please support the channel by giving this
video a like and maybe subscribing too. If you have
any comments or questions, please leave them below. I'll
get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks so much for
watching!