low back pain: How hip mobility impacts the lumbar spine
When it comes to maintaining a healthy lower back, many of us might focus on strengthening exercises or ergonomic adjustments. But one often-overlooked factor in low back health is hip mobility. Improving hip mobility and strength can have a significant impact on alleviating and preventing low back pain. Here’s how enhancing your hip function can lead to a healthier, more resilient lower back.
The Hip-Low Back Connection
Your hips and lower back are intricately linked through a complex web of muscles, tendons, and ligaments. They work together to support your body's weight and facilitate movement. When your hips lack mobility, it can lead to compensatory stress on your lower back, resulting in discomfort or pain.
Reduced Range of Motion: When your hips are tight or restricted, they can limit your ability to move freely. This restricted movement often forces your lower back to take on additional stress, which can lead to pain or injury over time. We can look at all movements as a LOADING or an UNLOADING motion, whether it is in sports or everyday life. For instance, when you bend forward to pick something up (this is a loading motion) and your hips can’t fully flex, your lower back has to compensate for the lack of hip movement. The same goes for rotation. Hip rotation is a critical component of total body loading and unloading. If you can’t rotate well through the hips, your lower lumbar spine will compensate with extra rotation. Over the long term, the lumbar spine doesn’t love having to do all of this extra work and can create a hypermobility (too much motion) at this part of spine.
Improving Hip Mobility for a Healthier Back
The good news is that you can enhance your hip mobility and strength through targeted exercises and stretches, which can help improve your lower back health.
Active Stretching: Incorporating active stretches into your routine can help increase the range of motion in your hips and lead to longer lasting changes. Hip flexor and the glutes/hip external rotators are two common muscles that get tight. Just a few quick examples to get you started. Check out how to do the hip flexor stretch here https://youtube.com/shorts/PspC9aN1hhc?feature=share and how to do the hip external rotator stretch here https://youtu.be/f7ro1QtdyCQ.
Foam Rolling and Lacrosse Ball Soft Tissue: Using a foam roller or lacrosse ball on your hip flexors, glutes, and surrounding muscles can help release tightness and improve blood flow. Foam rolling is an excellent way to prepare your muscles for stretching and enhance overall mobility. Here is an example that I really like to use with patients for their glutes: https://youtu.be/HQz4744idt8 This one hurts so try hard to relax and focus on your breathing.
Core stability exercises: Building strength in the muscles of the core and hips will lead to better STABILITY in the areas of the low back that tend to move too much. Exercises that require you to brace your trunk or keep the trunk from moving are good ways to work on low back stability. Here are a couple quick examples: 1) https://youtube.com/shorts/zHMo7T5lg_w?feature=share 2) https://youtube.com/shorts/IaPWm-hVBI?feature=share 3) https://youtu.be/akVsR_IFaBc
Regular Movement: Sitting for extended periods can lead to tight hips. Incorporating regular movement into your day, such as standing up, stretching, or taking short walks, can prevent hip stiffness and promote better overall mobility.
Putting It All Together
Improving hip mobility is a powerful strategy for maintaining a healthy lower back. By addressing tightness and enhancing mobility in your hips, you can reduce compensatory strain on your lower back and improve your movement quality. So, next time you’re looking to alleviate low back pain, don’t forget to consider the role your hips play in your overall spinal health.
Remember, consistency is key. Incorporate hip mobility exercises into your daily routine, and you'll likely find that not only does your hip flexibility improve, but your lower back feels better too.
If you’ve been struggling with low back pain, contact us or leave a comment and we will be sure to reach out!
