Hip soreness is a terribly common issue—it’s something that I certainly suffer with—so I’m always trying to get to the bottom of where this soreness originates from and what you can do about it.
According to Dr Shady Hassan, MD, an interventional pain and sports medicine physician and the founder of NefraHealth, immobility is the root cause of this discomfort.
“Most immobility comes from two extremes: sustained stillness and repetitive overuse,” Hassan tells Fit&Well.
“For the average professional [desk worker], sitting for eight to 10 hours a day keeps the hip flexors in a shortened state. This is essentially a sitting penalty—the physical cost of a sedentary lifestyle.”
As a sports medicine specialist, Hassan sees the other extreme too, athletes with hip pain stemming from overuse.
“Soreness often stems from repetitive loading without adequate recovery, leading to micro-trauma in the labrum or surrounding tendons,” says Hassan.
Additionally, “when the muscles around the joint—like the psoas or glutes—become imbalanced, the brain locks down the joint to protect it, which we perceive as tightness.”
It’s not worth putting up with sore hips, because Hassan has seen how it can have a knock-on effect in other areas of the body.
“If your hips don’t move, your body will find that movement elsewhere,” he says.
He explains that the nearest joints—the lumbar spine and knees—are often the ones that take the strain.
“When the hips are locked, the lower back is forced to over-rotate or over-extend to compensate,” he says.
“Think of it like a rusty hinge on a door: if the hinge won’t move, the doorframe eventually starts to warp and crack under the pressure.”
“Stiff hips are a leading cause of disc herniations and facet joint pain because the spine is doing work it wasn’t designed to do.”
But Hassan is a specialist in injury prevention and offered a starting point for keeping your hips in good working order.
How to improve your hip mobility
Hassan says that the best way to prevent hip soreness is to consistently strengthen and stretch your hips in all the ways they can move.
“You have to train the hip in all three planes of motion,” he says. That means moving forward and backward (through the sagittal plane), side to side (the frontal plane) and rotating them (the transverse plane).
“Strengthening the gluteus medius is also non-negotiable—a stable pelvis protects the hip joint from unnecessary shearing forces,” he adds.
Hassan suggests the following three exercises if you are experiencing limited hip mobility.
1. 90/90 stretch
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Time: 30-60sec each side
Why Hassan recommends it: “This is the gold standard for addressing both internal and external rotation simultaneously.”
How to do it:
- Sit on the floor with your right leg in front of you, knee bent to 90°, and your left leg out to the side, with your knee bent to 90°.
- Without bending your spine, lean slightly forward from your hips over your front shin—you should feel a stretch in your outer hip.
- Hold for time, then repeat on the other side.
2. World’s greatest stretch
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Time: 30-60sec each side
Why Hassan recommends it: “This is a dynamic movement that hits the hip flexors, hamstrings and thoracic spine.
How to do it:
- Start in a high plank position, with your shoulders over your hands and your body in a straight line from head to heels.
- Step your right foot to the outside of your right hand.
- Lower your right elbow to the instep of your right foot.
- Raise your right hand straight up, rotate your torso to face right and look up at your hand.
- Continue for time, alternating between your elbow by your instep and your hand above you.
- Return to the high plank position, then repeat on the other side.
3. Couch stretch
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Time: 30-60sec each side
Why Hassan recommends it: “Most people stretch their hip flexors incorrectly by arching their back—this version fixes that.”
How to do it:
- Kneel with a couch behind you.
- Place the top of your right foot on the couch keeping your right knee on the floor, then step your left foot in front of you.
- Adjust your position so your left knee is bent to 90° and is directly above your left foot.
- Tuck your tailbone under (posterior pelvic tilt) and squeeze your left glutes.
- Raise your torso, lifting your hands off the floor—you should feel a stretch in the top of your right thigh.
- Hold for time, then repeat on the other side.
Dr Shady Hassan MD is the founder of NefraHealth, an interventional pain and sports medicine practice. He is board-certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation with subspecialty certification in both interventional pain medicine and sports medicine.
He completed his fellowship in interventional spine and sports medicine at Alabama Orthopedic Spine and Sports Medicine Associates. He also served as chief resident during his residency at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn.
