How to Effectively Manage Hip Pain
Hip pain can be a debilitating and life-altering occurrence. The hip joint, the main weight-bearing area of the body, is susceptible to an array of disorders and conditions that can affect its functioning and lead to pain. And a painful hip joint can dramatically affect a person's quality of life and functioning, making even the most basic and mundane activities difficult. Good care is required in order to effectively manage and combat painful hip symptoms, and to maintain a higher degree of functioning.
Instructions
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Avoid all high-impact activities. High impact activities, including running, jumping, and step aerobics, place a tremendous amount of stress and strain on a painful, diseased hip joint. The hip joint is the main weight-bearing center of the body; no other joint supports as much weight as does the hip. Limiting your activities to low-impact and low-stress activities, including swimming, cycling, and light aerobics, will do wonders for reducing your hip pain and allow your hip to remain flexible and strong.
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Keep your weight as low as possible. Carrying excessive body weight places a tremendous burden on your hips. With every step you take, your hips bear the brunt of your body weight. For a painful and diseased hip joint, this can further aggravate the problem. By reducing your body weight you will alleviate a great amount of stress placed on your hip joint. Although exercising can be difficult to perform with a painful hip joint, it would be wise to experiment with activities that allow you to engage in some type of regular exercise regimen; this combined with a moderate diet will allow you to keep your body weight down and improve the feel and function of your hip.
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Engage in a regular stretching routine. Muscles that are tight and stiff can further aggravate a damaged or diseased joint - including the hip joint. The hip is encapsulated by thick, dense muscle, and there are a series of tendons in and around the hip joint that can become stiff and misaligned through disuse or disease. By performing a regular stretching regimen, including stretches for the front and back of the leg, the lower back area, as well as the muscles on the inside and outside of the hip, you will ensure that the muscles and tendons in and around your hip joint remain as flexible and supple as possible. This will maximize your hip's function, and will alleviate much of the tightness and stiffness that can further aggravate and inflame an already painful, achy hip joint.
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Perform pool exercises. The great benefit of exercising in a pool is that the majority of your body weight is supported by the water; thus allowing you to move more freely and effortlessly than would be possible on land. The buoyancy of the water will allow you to move your hip joint throughout it's normal ranges of motion and will enable you to move your hip in ways that would not be possible outside of the water. This will help to keep your hip as flexible and as loose as possible, and will allow you to gently work against the weight of the water to help build strength in the muscles in and around your hip joint.
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Tips & Warnings
The use of heating pads can be a great way to relieve temporary aches and pains of the hip, especially after a workout.
Never force your hip to move in a way that causes severe pain
- Photo Credit Wikipedia
