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Whether hips are celebrated or shunned, they hold cultural and symbolic significance among groups of people the world over. Often hips are associated with fertility and sexuality due to their proximity to the reproductive organs. However, outside the symbolism, the hips are essential for mobility and body alignments. And in the fitness realm, the hips are critical in strengthening the ever-elusive “core.” Let’s look more closely at the hips and how they relate to other parts of the body to shed light on the concept of activating the core.
Each person has a left and right hip made up of three fused bones each—the ilium, the ischium, and the pubis. When you place your hands on the top ridge of your hips, you are touching the ilium. You can also feel the ilium; more specifically, a part of the ilium called the anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS), when you lie on your stomach and feel your hips pushing into the floor. The ischium makes up the lower, back portion of the hips. When you sit on a hard chair and feel two bony protuberances pushing into the seat, those are your ischial tuberosities, more commonly known as the sit bones. The pubis bones make up the front, lower portion of the hips. The left and right pubis bones connect to each other at the pubic symphysis, a small piece of cartilage. All three bones meet at the center of the hip socket, called the acetabulum, where the leg bone—more specifically, the ball of the femur—connects to the hip. The two hips connect to the pubic symphysis in the front of the body and to the sacrum (a triangular bone at the base of the spine) in the back to form the pelvic girdle, or pelvis. The pelvic girdle is the largest bone structure in the body. Interestingly, while the majority of the skeleton looks pretty much the same in men and women, the male and female pelvis are distinctly different. Men tend to have a narrow pelvis, whereas women have a much wider pelvis. This is primarily in order to support the woman’s ability to bear a child.
Movement can only occur at joints. Therefore, gross movement occurs in the lower spine and at the hip joint where the femur—leg bone—connects to the acetabulum. Movements at the hip joint include flexion, extension, lateral and medial rotation, abduction, and adduction. Flexion is when the leg and torso come toward each other, like when you kick your leg up like a Rockette. Extension is when the leg swings backward, as if winding up to kick a soccer ball. You are laterally rotated at the hip joint when the kneecaps and toes point away from each other like a ballerina in first position. Medial rotation is the exact opposite. In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy medially rotated her legs when she opened her heels away from each other before clicking them together. Abduction is when you separate your legs like in a straddle. Adduction is when you touch your legs together as if on a tightrope. Movements in the lumbar (lower) spine include flexion, extension, lateral flexion, and rotation to the left and right. Flexion at the spine is when you bend forward like you are bowing at the end of a play. The spine is in extension when you arch your back like a gymnast landing a big trick. Lateral flexion is when you bend sideways. If you are working at your desk and drop a pen or pencil, you laterally flex your spine to pick it up from the floor beside you. Rotation of the spine happens when you turn around in your seat to see what’s behind you. When certain movements of the hips and/or back become habitual, this can manifest into a pelvic tilt or misalignment of the pelvis. The pelvis can be anteriorly tilted, posteriorly tilted, or laterally tilted. If you are anteriorly tilted, the hips are flexed, the lower or lumbar spine is extended, and you are kind of sticking your booty out like Beyoncé. If your pelvis were a bowl of soup, all the contents would be spilling out of the front. When the pelvis is posteriorly tilted, the hip joint is extended, the lumbar spine is flexed, and the pelvis is tucked under like a Michael Jackson thrust. If your pelvis were a bowl of soup, the contents would spill out the back of the bowl in a posterior tilt. A lateral tilt is when one side of the pelvis is hiked up higher than the other. This means that if you looked at someone from the front and put a point on each of their hip bones, they would not be on the same horizontal plane. In this scenario, the contents would spill out the side of the bowl. A small amount of movement can occur in the sacroiliac joint, which is where the sacrum and the ilium meet, as well as where the pubis bones meet at the pubic symphysis. There is naturally about two to four millimeters of movement possible at the sacroiliac joint in any direction. If one side of the pelvis has a more dramatic tilt than the other, it can lead to misalignment in the sacroiliac joint. Additionally, when a woman becomes pregnant, the body releases hormones that soften the connective tissue at the joints in the pelvis. It causes the pubic symphysis to soften and the sacroiliac joint to loosen so the pelvis can “open” in preparation for childbirth.
The pelvis is a massive bone structure in the body. It supports the weight of the entire torso and is the junction between the legs and the upper body. Because of its location and sheer size, if the pelvis is out of alignment, it can affect almost every other part of the body. Often, low back pain, knee pain, and foot and ankle pain can be caused, in part, by misalignment in the pelvis. The goal in anchoring the pelvis is to bring it back to proper alignment so all of the muscles, tendons, and ligaments are in proportion with one another and can perform most efficiently and with the least amount of pain. This also increases coordination and balance.
Anchor the Hips to achieve optimal hip alignment, increase mobility in the legs and torso, and decrease risk of pain and injury in the hips, legs, and lower back. To Anchor the Hips is a three-part process—lengthen the side body, engage the deep abdominals, and release tension in the glutes. Start by lengthening the side body—the space between the hips and the ribs. Make “L” Mudra with your hands. Place your thumbs on your ribs and your index fingers on your hips. The space between the thumbs and the index finger is called the side body. This area shortens when you slump or slouch. Consistently decreasing the space at the side body strains the lower back, hips, shoulders, and neck and can even lead to digestive health issues. Increase the space between the index fingers and thumbs to lengthen the side body. The second step to Anchor the Hips is engaging the deep abdominals. There are four types of abdominal muscles. The most superficial layer is called the rectus abdominis, which helps you sit up, or flex the spine, and that is what forms the six-pack. There are also two layers of oblique muscles (external and internal), which help with spinal rotation. The deepest abdominal muscle is called the transverse abdominis, and it is the primary stabilizer for the hips. It is a large muscle that wraps horizontally around the low belly, much like a girdle. When engaged, the belly flattens. You can experience this when forcefully exhaling. Train the transverse abdominis to engage and keep the pelvis aligned (and get ready for bikini season!). Draw the lower belly—the space between the belly button and the pubic bone—back toward the spine and up toward the ribcage. This simple exercise strengthens the transverse abdominis. The final component is releasing tension in the glutes (the butt muscles). The glutes are a group of incredibly strong muscles. And while important, they’re often overused. When the glutes overcontract, they often pull the pelvis out of its natural alignment. Over time, this can lead to pain and potential injury in the legs, hips, and lower back. Releasing tension in the glutes allows the pelvis to return to its natural alignment and helps the transverse abdominis engage more effectively. To learn to release your glutes, it may help to understand what it feels like to do the opposite—grip the glutes. To grip the glutes squeeze them together. Now release. Learning this feeling by opposition will help you remember how to release the glutes. To practice this technique, follow these cues: 1. Inhale; lengthen the side body—the space between the ribs and hips. 2. Exhale; simultaneously engage the transverse abdominis by pulling the belly in toward the back and up toward the ribcage and release the glutes. In everyday life, you can Anchor the Hips when standing from a chair. Before rising, lengthen the side body. On an exhale, Ground the Feet, and simultaneously pull the belly in toward the back and up toward the ribcage and release the glutes to stand.
Try our hip workout to stretch, strengthen, and optimize the hips, and practice our Anchor the Hips technique.
Some maladies that commonly and directly affect the pelvis include arthritis, hip dysplasia, tendinitis, strain, fractures, dislocations, bursitis, sciatica, and piriformis syndrome.
