Help Back, Knee, and Hip Pain with ‘The Hinge’

Wouldn’t it be awesome if there was one move that could help your back, shoulders, knees, and hips?

Well…surprise…THERE IS!

The single most important exercise anyone can do to get their entire body moving and feeling better is the Hip Hinge.

Why is the Hip Hinge so amazing?

Think of it like this: You can have the most beautiful front door. Heavy and solid oak with brass Traeger hardware and the best Schlage deadbolt money can buy.  You can have a heavy Mahogany doorframe that would stop an axe, a bullet, and a cannonball thrown by The Incredible Hulk and Juan Marichal, but if the hinge that ties them together is made of cheap, rusty, tin? Well, my friends…  you have a lousy door.

This is just like your body. If your hips don’t move well your body doesn’t move well and if your body doesn’t move well? Say hello to back, knee, shoulder, and hip pain and you don’t want to let those guests in, do you? I didn’t think so.

Here’s a quick test to see if you need to work on your hip hinge.

Stand with your back against a wall. Now take a small step away from the wall and push your butt back to it. Try it. I’ll wait.

You done? Great! If you couldn’t do it or if your knees bent when you pushed back that means your hip hinge needs work. It’s likely you’re either rounding your back or bending your knees instead of using your hips.

Now, here’s how to work on it.

Grab a broom or some other kind of long stick and hold it behind your back with it touching your butt, upper back, and back of your head. Keeping your knees soft, push your butt back while maintaining all three points of contact.

If you do this correctly, your body will form a V-shape. Common mistakes would be either rounding your back or bending your knees instead of moving your hips.

What this is teaching you, is how to use your hips while maintaining a neutral back position and the reason that’s important is that the better you can move your hips, the less your low back needs to move. That means less pain and dysfunction and that’s good, right?

Give this a try and drop me an email to let me know how it goes. I’d love to hear about it!