4 Hip Flexor Stretches to Relieve Tight Hips: wikiHow to Align Your Hips

wikiHow to Align Your Hips

Four Parts:Figuring Out the Problem Strengthening Weak Muscles Stretching Away Tension Seeking Professional Help Community Q&A

Misaligned hips can be painful. If you suspect that you have misaligned hips, it is important to get a diagnosis from a doctor. A doctor can not only confirm that your hips are not aligned, they can also help you discover the cause so you can work together to correct the problem. You and your doctor can create a treatment plan, which may include strength-training and stretching.

Confirm that your hips are misaligned. More ↓
Determine any specific causes for misalignment and correct them. ↓
Strengthen weak muscles through exercise, such as pelvic tilts. ↓
Ease away tension through stretches, such as knee to chest stretches. ↓
Seek professional help. Speak with a medical specialist or see a physical therapist. ↓

1 Confirm that your hips are misaligned. The best person to judge this is a doctor, and self-diagnosis is not advisable. If you are unable to see your doctor or you are trying to figure out which type of doctor you should go to, you may want to do some at-home tests to see if misalignment may be an issue. Even if you are fairly certain you know the cause, there is no substitute for seeing a qualified physician, and you should make this a priority.
2 Assess your pain. Hip misalignment can cause pain in three different distinct areas. If you experience pain in one or more of these places, your hips may indeed be misaligned:
- Hips: This may seem obvious, but there are many different types of hip pain with different causes to consider. Its best to identify or feel for achy or inflamed joints by slowly moving left to right possibly in front of a mirror.
- Lower back: Hip misalignment is associated with hyper-extension and tension of the muscles in the abdomen and lower back. Problems with these muscles can manifest as sore or acute lower back pain.^[1]
- Knee: Hip misalignment may cause you to shift too much weight to one side of your body. The knee on that side may not be able to handle the extra weight and stress, causing pain.^[2]
3 Perform a standing assessment. This is a simple test you can do at home to look for obvious signs of misalignment. Wearing form-fitting clothing will make this step easier.
- Stand barefoot in front of a mirror or have a friend take your picture. Try to stand straight but relaxed.
- Imagine a vertical line going straight down the middle of your body.
- Now, imagine a second line near your shoulders that is perfectly perpendicular to the first line.
- Examine the photo for common signs of misalignment. Your pelvis may appear diagonal rather than parallel to the second line, or one leg may appear to be shorter than the other. Again, this does not qualify as a diagnosis, but it may be a helpful bit of information you can pass on to your doctor.
- Repeat this process while standing in profile. You may notice an increased curve in your lower back and bulging (but not necessarily fat) abdomen. This may indicate an anterior pelvic tilt.^[3]
Determine any specific causes for misalignment and correct them.
4 Sometimes there is an easy-to-spot root cause of improper hip alignment that you can fix immediately.
- Not stretching enough after exercise. Over time, overly tight muscles can pull the joints and bring them into misalignment.
- Poor posture. Work on consciously sitting and standing straighter.
- Wearing a heavy shoulder bag. Switch to a backpack to more evenly distribute the weight.
- Not wearing the right shoes. If your arches are too high (sometimes caused by wearing high heels) or too low, this can alter your gait to the point of misalignment of your hips.