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Lower back and hip pain are quite common nowadays, owing to the sedentary lifestyle led by most people as a consequence of their jobs. Moreover, with work from home in effect, people have become more lethargic and often fail to keep proper posture while working from home. Most people work while sitting on the sofa or lying in bed, putting a considerable amount of stress and strain on the hip muscles.
Yoga is a traditional, natural, and effective way to stretch and relax your muscles, helping to relieve many kinds of bodyache, including hip pain. Check out these Asanas below that will help you relieve stress and alleviate hip pain:
Yoga Poses and Exercises for Hip Pain
1. Baddha Konasana
This Asana is extremely beneficial for opening up your hips, allowing a full range of movement and creating a channel for the free passage of various fluids within the body. If practiced regularly, this exercise will provide relief from back and hip pain and is also good for stimulating the reproductive organs in women.
Check out how you can do the exercise below:
- Sit upright on the floor with your spine straight.
- While exhaling, fold your legs close to your body so that the soles of both your feet are touching each other face to face.
- Your knees should be touching the floor while in position.
- Hold the thumb of your foot with your hands and ensure that the foot soles remain touched to each other and always pressed to the ground.
- Ensure that your torso is stretched. Inhale and exhale normally. Hold this for one minute, take 30 secs break, and perform five repetitions.
2. Ardha Matsyendrasana
This pose lets you twist the upper side of the body, works on the whole spine, and acts as an excellent detox. This Asana will massage your internal organs and stretch your shoulders, hips, and neck. It energizes the entire spinal column and relieves hip pain.
Check out how you can do the Asana below:
- Sit upright with your legs stretched out and your feet together.
- Bend your right leg, placing the heel of your right foot beside your left hip.
- Slowly place your left leg over your right knee.
- Place your right hand on your left foot and your left hand behind you on the floor.
- Twist your waist, shoulders, and neck to the left and look over your left shoulder.
- Hold this posture for upto a minute and continue breathing in and out gently.
- Return to the starting position and repeat on the opposite side.
3. Ananda Balasana
This is an excellent hip stretch that will help you relieve any hip pain and stretch your hips and groin as well as your hamstrings. It plays a pivotal role in stretching the entire body. It increases overall balance and stamina but also increases blood circulation and tones the muscles around the hip. This pose also calms the mind and destresses the body.
Check out how you can do the Asana below:
- Lie down flat on your back on the floor or on a yoga mat.
- Raise both your legs upwards and bring your knees close to your chest.
- Now try to hold both your thumb fingers of your feet, one with each hand. If this is too difficult then wrap your hands around the outside of your feet.
- Slowly stretch your legs and arms upwards. Go as far as you can, comfortably.
- Pull your arms back and down while squeezing your tailbone and sacrum to the floor.
- Breathe normally and attempt to hold the pose for one minute or as long as you can.
- Return to Savasana and repeat 5 times more.
4. Gomukhasana
When your legs pile over each other in the Cow Pose, the load on the muscle-tendon joints increases. In reaction to this stress, the spinal cord signals the muscles to relax. Cow posture helps to release endorphins, which generate a sense of calm in your body and mind, thereby alleviating hip pain. It is highly useful for treating hip pain, pelvic muscle tension, and thigh and leg strain.
Check out how you can do the exercise below:
- Sit up straight on the ground, your legs stretched out in front of you.
- Gently bend your right leg and place it under your left buttock, then fold your left leg over your right thigh.
- Make sure both knees are on top of each other.
- Fold your right arm over your shoulder, then bend your left arm from beneath your back upwards until both hands are stretched enough to touch.
- Maintain a straight trunk and a firm grip on your arms.
- Now breathe in and out normally. Hold for one minute, then rest for 30 seconds before repeating the exercise five times.
5. Anjaneyasana
This stretch is essential for folks who sit at their desks all day. Since it works the greatest hip muscles, this stretch is also the ideal way to begin all hip stretches. It is also great at alleviating hip pain.
Check out how you can do the Asana below:
- Begin by stepping forward with your right foot between your palms.
- Lower your left knee to the floor and slide your foot back until you feel a stretch in your left hip.
- Check that your front knee is exactly above your ankle.
- Raise both arms up and inhale deeply and lean back, raising your hips and ribcage.
- Return to a conventional lunge and repeat five times while exhaling and holding your breath.
6. Viparita Karani
One of the best Asanas to reduce hip pain, Viparita Karani also facilitates lymphatic drainage, evens out blood circulation, and also relieves back pain. This Asana, when practiced regularly, opens up the hip muscles and relieves discomfort and tightness in the pelvic and hip area.
Here's how you can do the exercise:
- Sit about 3 inches away from an empty wall at first.
- Lie on your back and swing your legs up such that the back of your thigh rests against the wall.
- Relax the arms on either side of the body or the tummy and rest your full back, i.e. the spinal column, on the floor below.
- Hold the position for 10 minutes, or as long as you can, before slowly bringing your leg back to the beginning position.
Bottom Line
Aside from having incorrect posture while sitting or sleeping, even reaching for anything in an elevated position can strain the muscles of the pelvic and hip area, causing significant hip pain. If left untreated, this discomfort can lead to pain in the groin, thigh muscles, and inside or outside of the thighs. Therefore, be sure to try these exercises to relieve your pain.
