Mobility Training for Your Hips

Overview

Tight hips or front-of-thigh tension? This simple couch or chair stretch targets the hip flexors and quadriceps to improve hip mobility and ease low-back strain. Using household support, you’ll gently open the front of the hip and thigh, making it a quiMobility Training for Your Hips - Hip Controlled Articular Rotations (CARs)ck, effective addition to any routine, especially for desk-sitters and runners.

Also known as

CARS (Controlled Articular Rotations)

Level

Beginner

Targets

Hips

Step by Step Instructions

Set-up

  1. Stand tall and hold onto a stable support (chair/counter/railing).
  2. Keep your torso upright—avoid leaning side to side.
  3. Brace lightly through your core; let the standing (opposite) hip stabilize you.

Direction 1 (inward turn on the way down)

  1. Lift your knee up and slightly across your body.
  2. Raise the leg up, then move it out to the side.
  3. Lower it down while turning your toes inward toward your body.
  4. Return to the starting position.

Direction 2 (reverse with toes turned out)

  1. From standing, rotate your hip so your toes point out.
  2. Lift the leg out to the side, then bring it in across your body.
  3. Lower and return to start.

[Video Transcript]

Do your hips feel tight? You might need to mobilize them. Your hip is a ball-and-socket joint, meaning it moves in many directions, but we often stop using its full range. Try this hip exercise: hold on to something for support and keep your torso upright—don’t lean side to side. Bring your knee up and across your body. Raise your leg up, move it out to the side, and lower it down while turning your toes inward toward your body. Then reverse the motion: rotate your hip so your toes point outward and bring your leg back in. You’re rotating the hip in all directions, and you’ll likely feel the opposite hip working to stabilize your body. We tend to lean when doing this, try to stay upright. Do both sides, move slowly, and take the hip through its full range of motion in both directions. Hey Hobo, what do you think? Try moving your hips; it will help with hip mobility and decrease a lot of tension.

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