For the past few years I’ve routinely been testing patients for range of motion of their hip joints.

It’s important – hip joint stiffness can lead to big problems.

The most immediate problem is pain in the front of the hip. It can pinch or ache. But restricted range of motion of the hip joint contributes to low back and outer thigh pain, along with knee problems too. And down the road, deterioration of the hip joints might lead to hip joint replacement. That can be a valuable operation when needed, but it’s even better never to need it in the first place.

Along with the hands-on manual therapy methods I use to release the hip joint, and the connective tissue and NeuroTactile® Therapy techniques I use, I’ve been introducing two specific exercises for my patients to enhance their improvement.

I don’t have good pictures yet to show them to you, so instead, here, thanks to Marc Heller, DC, are links to two videos on youtube:

The woodpecker (don’t know why it’s called that)

The side-plank plus

Check them out. Try them. Let me know how they work for you.