One of the most common complaints of trainees is that they have knee pan. One of every three people says that he can’t squat or do lunges, because of knee pain. Everybody thinks that they have knee problems, but more often than not, knee problems come from another place. As Gray Cook says: “The knee is a stupid joint and it is affected by what happens in the hip joint and the ankle joint.”
If you give it a thought, it is the mere truth – the knee is in between the hip and the ankle. The hip joint is meant for more rotation, the ankle also has certain rotation. On the other hand, the knee joint is not meant for so much mobility. It actually needs more stability. When the hip joint has a limited mobility, when we perform a movement, which requires hip mobility, we try to achieve it from elsewhere or that is what we think. The lack of hip mobility is compensated with a twist in the knee and we expect it to have more rotation than is safe. This stresses the soft tissues and when we repeatedly use this movement pattern, and when we train this way, we just make the problem worse. With time, soft tissues get worn out and this leads to worse injuries or unpleasant and nagging pain, which makes us think that we cannot do one thing or another. Knee problems, might start from the feet, but we will discuss this in another post.
Now, here are 7 mobility drills that could help you increase your hip mobility and make the knee pain unnecessary.
1.Hip Mobility Exercise 1
Do it for 60 sec. on each side.
2.Hip Mobility Exercise 2
Hold for 30 sec. in each phase or about 60-90sec all together.
3.Hip Mobility Exercise 3
Hold for about 1 minute.
4.Hip Mobility Exercise 4
Do 10 circles on one side, then switch directions – do 10 more and then switch legs and repeat.
5.Hip Mobility Exercise 5
Hold for about 90-120 sec.
6.Hip Mobility Exercise 6
Hold for about 30-60 sec on each side.
