Osteoporosis exercises for hips to help you safely strengthen your hips at home. These hip exercises are pelvic floor safe exercises for women and men.
Physiotherapist Michelle Kenway guides you step by step through two osteoporosis exercises for hip strengthening. These simple and effective bone density exercises for hips are suitable for most individuals to perform at home including beginners with pelvic organ prolapse and osteopenia or mild to moderate osteoporosis.
Please scroll below this osteoporosis exercises for hips video for step by step exercise guidelines.
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Osteoporosis Exercises for Hips Video Timestamps
0:23 Best exercises for osteoporosis for hips
0:55 Bridging exercise for osteoporosis hips
2:21 Bridging exercise with resistance
3:19 Clam exercise for osteoporosis hips
4:43 Clam exercise with resistance
5:27 Number of hip exercises for osteoporosis
2 Osteoporosis Exercises for Hips at Home
The best osteoporosis and osteopenia exercises to do at home are buttock strengthening exercises. Buttock strengthening exercises include exercises for the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius muscles (shown below). Increases in bone mass can be achieved through specifically directed weight-training exercises1.
No. 1 Osteoporosis Exercise for Hips – Bridging
Bridging exercises strengthen the largest buttock muscle, gluteus maximus (shown above). This gluteal muscle attaches to the hip and bone mineral density gains are made near the attachment point of this muscle tendon.
Small bone cells called osteoblasts lay down new bone in response to strain on the hip bones. Strain is created by progressively loading bones with increased resistance over time.
Bridging Exercise at Home
- Start lying down on your back
- Use a pillow to support your head and neck
- Take your feet and apart, slightly wider than hips
- Turn your toes to face outwards
- Maintain the inward curve in your lower back throughout this exercise
- Press down through your heels to raise your buttocks off the ground
- Lower your buttocks slowly back down to the ground
- Add resistance gradually by placing a 1lb or 1-2kg weight on your pelvis when you have mastered the correct exercise technique.
No. 2 Osteoporosis Exercise for Hips – Clam
Clam exercise creates an unusual strain on the hip bones because it involves a rotational movement of the hip joints. This strain makes the Clam exercise an effective osteoporosis exercise for hips.
The Clam exercise strengthens the gluteus medius muscles that attach to the hip bones (shown above).
Clam Exercise at Home
- Start lying on one side
- Support your head and neck with a pillow or cushion
- Bend both knees to approximately 45 degrees
- Maintain the normal inward curve in your lower back throughout
- Raise the upper most knee just off the lower knee
- Use your uppermost hand to feel Gluteus Medius activation
- Keep your feet together throughout this exercise
- The lower limb including the foot remains in contact with the supporting surface
- Avoid spinal rotation during this hip exercise
- Add resistance gradually by placing a 1lb or 1-2kg weight outer uppermost thigh towards the knee when you have mastered the correct exercise technique.
Number of Osteoporosis Exercises for Hips at Home
Aim to complete 8 repetitions x 2 of resisted hip bone density exercises on at least 2-3 alternate days of the week.
Osteoporosis exercises for hips for beginners start with unresisted hip bone density exercises up to 10 repetitions, 3 times in a row on 2-3 alternate days of the week.
How to Progress Hip Bone Density Exercises
Osteoporosis exercises using resistance require progressive increases in loading over time. When starting out, commence the exercises unweighted and focus on using the correct exercise technique.
Start hip loading with 1lb or 1-2kg if and when you feel ready to commence resistance training.
During the first month of resistance training you may find that you can increase the load or resistance. Progressive bone loading for hips ideally increases at approximately 6 week intervals to effectively stimulate bone growth for treating osteoporosis and osteopenia.
Reference
Bennell, K., Khan, K. & McKay, H. (2000). The role of physiotherapy in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. MANUAL THERAPY, 5(4), pp. 198-213. doi:10.1054/math.2000.0369 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1356689X00903692?via%3Dihub