Stack your hips and give them a chance!

The hip withstands tremendous forces over our lifetime. Walking, running, standing and stairs really put huge forces through this joint. This can be in the order of up to 800% of our body weight for activities such as running and jumping. Astounding!

Arthritis and pain in the hip is a common complaint as we age, and when considering these forces, there is no wonder why. Erosion and thinning of the joint cartilage, the formation of osteoarthritic bone spurs, and lack of joint lubrication are all a natural response of any joint in our body to these loads. But, we can delay this ageing effect with a few strategies.

• Building muscular support. This is a huge one! Just think, if you have a string set of muscles surrounding the hip, they buffer some of these loads through absorption of the daily forces we are putting through our hip. Strong glutes, quads and core will all support your hip better.

• Good pelvic posture and stability. The hip lives in the pelvis, so an improved strength around here and your trunk generally will help with better hip alignment. Think of your level and controlled pelvic foundation with all you do, and build deep abdominal strength to be able to hold it there!   

• Stack you hips over your ankles. This very simple (but constant, if able) mindfulness on your posture will allow the hips to withstand forces when you are upright. Did you know that the hip joint has thicker bone at the top of the joint socket? This is to sustain these exact daily loads. Standing with your hips pushed forward as we see in a 'sway backed' posture misses this thicker bone, placing more force through the thinner bone at the front of your joint. This can wear out your cartilage here quicker, risking the early onset of hip arthritis.

So, stand in front of a mirror and practice placing your hips directly above outer ankle bones, just like the picture above. It is not rocket science, but for some of us, may feel very odd indeed. Like anything, the more your practice, the more you will be become aware of your pelvis, hip and leg. Habits die hard, but you will begin to notice your 'bad' hip postures more often, and know how to 'make good.' After all, avoiding hip pain and a hip replacement down the track are a great incentive to make little changes like these.  

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The pubic symphysis joint is a specialized joint located in the pelvis, specifically between the left and right pubic bones. It connects the 2 halves of the pelvis.  The joint is composed of fibrocartilage, which provides strength and stability while allowing slight movement.

The pubic bone itself is a thick, flat bone that forms the lower part of the front of the pelvis. It serves as an attachment site for various muscles, including the adductor (groin) muscles of the inner thigh, the abdominal muscles and the pelvic floor muscles. (You could think of the pubic symphysis and the coccyx as the 2 fixed ends of your pelvoc floor 'hammock'. Together, the pubic symphysis joint, along with the surrounding pelvic floor muscles, play a crucial role in maintaining pelvic stability and supporting the pelvic organs. During activities such as walking, running, and standing, these structures work together to provide strength and control to the pelvis.

I adore moving slowly, especially in a mindful movement class like Pilates reformer or my mat classes. The same can be said for weights at the gym. Moving slowly feels safe and it feels really good. The after effects are huge in the days that follow, but why do slow movements work so well? There are many great reasons why slow movements are used in muscle strengthening.

💪Training slow brings your muscles to exhaustion by keeping them loaded throughout the movement. This is called 'time under tension' (TUT).

💪Using a slow weighted movement to fatigue produces greater increases in rates of muscle protein synthesis than the same movement performed rapidly.

💪Lifting with a slower tempo, when controlled for the same relative load, increases the total energy required and improves your metabolic function.

💪Slow movements reduce your injury risk, requiring better awareness of technique and movement patterns. Making any needed changes here are more possible than when moving explosively or quickly.

💪Slow movements in each direction ask much more of your smaller supporting and postural muscles. These important stabilisers to all of our movements can really benefit with gains in strength and endurance with slower movements.

💪 Slower, controlled movements are often used to stimulate muscle hypertrophy or growth, while faster, uncontrolled movements are typically employed to develop strength and muscle power.

So, learn to move a little slower within parts of your gym, Pilates or boot camp classes and routines.



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