Finding Balance in Your Hips
- shayne851
- May 5
- 3 min read
Whether it's a nagging ache in the low back or stiffness after a long day at a desk, hip discomfort has a way of making itself known. What many people don't realize is that the muscles surrounding the hip joint have an enormous influence on how the low back feels and functions. Achieving real, functional mobility in your hips isn't just about stretching more. It's about finding balance: building strength where muscles are weak, releasing tension where they're overworked, and helping the whole system move the way it was designed to.
Structures of the Hip
The pelvis acts as a stable foundation for the spine and absorbs the impact and forces of the lower body as we move through the world. Now we dont gatekeep over here so lets break down the anatomy of your hips. When you look at an image of the hip anatomy its not always clear just how many bones there are and how they all work together.
The sacrum: This connects your spine to your pelvis, and it attaches to the left and right hip bones via plane joints, which are joints that allow subtle shifting and gliding. Because our hip bones flare and rotate with the movement of our legs the sacrum keeps the spine relatively stable when we walk, run, or dance.
The left and right hip bones: The iconic shape that we all know when we think of our hips is actually 3 different bones. They connect at the pubic symphysis, which is a joint that allows minimal movement.
Illium
Ischium
Pubis
The Femurs: They are connected via the acetabulum joint. This is the ball-and-socket joint we all think of when thinking of the hip joint. Because this joint is highly mobile, the socket of the hip bone is deep and reinforced by a ring of fibrocartilage, which holds the head of the femur in place.
There are a number of muscles that work to mobilize the joints of the pelvis, and they are often grouped by their function. Even though these muscles have a primary function, they can assist in secondary functions.
Hip flexors like the iliacus and psoas bring the knee toward the chest and swing the leg forward.
Hip extensors like gluteus maximus drive the leg back and pull the upper body upright from a forward bend.
Example of hip flexor movement Example of hip extensor movement
Abductors like gluteus minimus and medius move the leg out to the side and stabilize the pelvis during a single-leg stance.
Adductors pull the legs together, especially important like when bringing your legs together to stabilize at the top of a squat.
External rotators turn the femur outward with the knee pointing to the side
Internal rotators turn it inward with the knee pointing forward.
Abductors Adductors External & Internal Rotators
Hip Mobility and Low Back Pain
Largely, your hip and low back pain stem from imbalances in the muscles connecting to the pelvis, femurs, and lumbar spine. Improving your hip mobility in a functional way is about balancing the strength and development of these different muscle groups. But how do we know what area is a problem?
If you spend long hours sitting at a desk, commuting, or relaxing at home, then it's likely your hip flexors and extensors are overworked. I know you're asking, “How can sitting overwork something?” Sitting long hours makes your hip flexors tired from being in a shortened position while your extensors are lengthened. Over time, this creates an imbalance where some muscles become tight and overworked while others become weak and underused. This can pull the pelvis slightly forward and increase the arch in the low back, putting extra strain on the area. Because these deep hip muscles are closely connected to the spine, tension here often shows up as discomfort or pain in the low back and hips.
For low back pain related to tight hips and too much time sitting, the long-term goal is to get the glutes working again while giving the front of the hips a chance to open up. One of our favorite ways to do this is the glute bridge with a yoga ball. It’s a simple, reliable way to “wake up” the glutes before putting more load through the body.
For the hip flexors, the psoas stretch — a variation of a low lunge — does an excellent job of targeting the deep flexors, iliacus, and psoas.
When the gluteus maximus is weak or inhibited, other muscles can step in during hip extension. Lateral hip rotators like the piriformis and gemellus are not built for that load, and they become tight and overtaxed as a result. This can contribute to low back pain or even nerve pain down the back of the leg. When working with overactive lateral hip rotators, I like to combine glute activation and strengthening with targeted stretches. Standing pigeon is one of my favorite stretches for the lateral rotators.
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