+ Healthy Hips

Shape Your Moneymaker

By Cary Bohnet
Photo by Kristy Davison
Model: Abby Lynn Knorr

Your favourite winter activities place unique stresses on your body.  For example: you are zooming down an icy slope strapped to two planks of wood, as you navigate snow and ice covered terrain, the forces acting on your body are extensive.  The quality of your skiing, boarding or snowshoeing may be limited by your stability, balance, mobility and strength.  Your hips play a key role in all of those functions.  Invest a little time into your hip health and avoid starring in a re-enactment of Bambi on ice this season.

To understand the pump in your rump and how it can aid in snow sports, you need a mini-lecture in hip function.  The pelvis acts as a powerful central connection between the legs and torso by providing a solid base of strength and support for movement of the rest of the body.  Hip strength can be a key factor not only in leg strength, but also in how effectively you can control and apply the force the legs generate.  The value of a pair of strong legs can be leveraged many times over when accompanied by a solid and mobile backside. 

Snow sports demand more hip flexibility than a backcountry lodge kama sutra session.  The larger the range of motion at the hip joint, the better you can use the strength of the hips when lunging and sliding.  If your hips are as stiff as a new pair of ski boots, your ability to apply your lower body strength will be much less.  Flexible hips ensure that you can fully use their strength, thus improving performance and preventing injury in less sturdy areas of the body such as the knees and back. 

The hips are a multi-faceted and complex group of muscles. In order to provide you with a holistic approach to hip health, the following is a simple collection of exercises that address strength, mobility, and muscle health from four professionals hailing from the disciplines of chiropractic, massage therapy, yoga, and strength training.

Glute Bridging

The purpose of the bridge is to retrain your glutes to engage with appropriate timing and adequate force. When you have poorly functioning glutes, your brain responds by recruiting other large muscles inappropriately. This may cause you to overwork your hamstrings or lower back muscles causing them to become tight and sore. Therefore, retraining your glutes decreases the stresses on the muscles and joints of your lower back and lower extremities.

Instructions: Lie on your back on a firm surface with your knees bent and feet a few centimetres apart. Recruit your core muscles and use your glutes (not your lower back) to raise your hips until your shoulders, hips, and knees form a straight line. Do not arch your lower back! Holding this position, slowly lift one foot off the floor until your knee is pointing straight upwards, being sure to keep the hips level. Slowly lower the foot to the floor and repeat with the other leg for 10 repetitions each leg.

Torben Jensen H.B. Kin, D.C. & Sarah Macchi H.B. Kin, D.C. Active Edge Chiropractic

Glute Release

Glute and piriformis release with a tennis ball is done to release muscle tension allowing increased mobility of the hip joint. This exercises acts as self massage by applying tension on the muscle to break up adhesions within the muscle and promote increased blood flow and tissue health.

Instructions: Sit with your legs out in front of you and hands placed behind your body. Lift weight onto your hands and a place tennis ball under the right butt cheek. Cross your right foot over your left knee and roll the ball around the glute muscles. Let the ball work under each spot for 15 to 20 seconds before moving it to another area. Usually areas that are painful and sore indicate that you are on a tight spot in the muscle. Concentrate on relaxing your glute muscles and working out this tight spot. Repeat on your left side.

Vanessa Joosten B.Kin., Registered Massage Therapist Back At It - Massage www.backatitmassage.com

Glute Stretch

Everyone can benefit from the hip opener know as pigeon pose or Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (Sanskrit name). Practicing pigeon pose elongates the back and stretches the glutes, groin and hamstrings. For the athlete, this pose is critical to overall health, speed and agility. Check out a new yoga video for athletes focused on hip flexibility called Pursuit of Happy Hips. Visit www.balancequest.net for more information.

Instructions: Start on your knees and hands in a table position. Slide your right knee forward towards your right hand. Angle your right knee at approximately two o’clock. Over time as your hip flexibility increases you can bring your foot parallel with the front edge of your mat. Slide your left leg back as far as your hips will allow. Keep your hips square to the floor. Beginners you will be upright on your hands while sinking the hips forward and down. For a more advanced posture, rest on your forearms, and to take the move one step further, rest your chest on the floor with your arms fully extended in front. Stay in this position from 10 breaths to five minutes; then repeat on the other side.

Tracey Delfs BPE, CPCC, RMT Owner of Balance Quest Yoga/Massage/Life Coaching

Single Deadlift

The single deadlift is a great functional hip strength exercise as it targets the glute and hamstring muscles, both main contributors in hip strength. By performing the move on one leg, this exercise works on not only strength, but the balance and stability required to be solid on the snow.

Instructions: Stand tall with good posture on one leg with your knee in the slightest bend and opposite leg bent to 90 degrees. While holding a dumbbell in the opposite hand of the standing leg, tilt at the hip joint by lifting your back leg. Make sure you keep you back as flat as possible and do not bend the knee of the standing leg. You should feel this in the back of the leg and butt of your standing leg. Complete two to three sets of 10 reps with a weight that challenges your stability and posture.

Cary Bohnet NSCA-CPT, NASM-PES Pure Movement Training Systems www.puremovement.ca.

Remember, the caboose not only drives the train but also controls where it is going.

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