Mobility 6 - Hips (part 2)
Controlled Articular Rotations (CARs) for the hips. Serious business!
How are those hips doing? As simple as the hip circles we presented last week are, they are extremely effective. This week we are going deeper and manipulating the entire hip socket. This exercise requires a little more explanation, so here is a handy video to give you a visual as well.
This is the last of our basic CARs (controlled articular rotation) series. There are many more exercises to this, but these are the very basics. If you are interested in learning more, contact me about classes.
THE EXERCISE
Stand barefoot (unless out and about) with your feet flat on the ground. You will likely need to touch a wall for balance. Make a tight fist with the opposite hand and place it the across the chest. This will be your working side.
Bring the knee of the working side to your chest, holding it as high as you can. Slowly move the leg around to the side of your body while keeping the torso forward facing. Keeping the knee at that height, turn the leg so that your heel is as high as you can hold it and the knee is facing forward. Circle the leg towards the back of your body, maintaining that height for as long as you can. Slowly lower the knee back to starting position.
Now reverse the move. Bring the heel to the ceiling, while maintaining upright posture. Circle the knee out and around to the side with the heel reaching to the ceiling. Hold it as high as you can. Slowly bring the knee back around to the front of the body to the starting position. Move with focus and intention, but not haste.
Do this 3x to the left before repeating with the opposite leg.
Tips:
Work into the resistance while maintaining an upright torso.
Pay attention to what you are feeling throughout the exercise. Strong tension is fine, but beware of any pinch points. Work around them.
Move slowly and deliberately, especially through the tightest points.
This exercise can also be done on all 4’s. Take a look at THIS video.