Want to Relieve Low Back Pain? Focus on the Hips!

Written by: Dr. Mahmoud Sobhy

Did you know your hips could be the hidden key to relieving lower back pain?
Research shows that hip-focused therapy provides faster pain relief and better mobility in the short term. Over time, combining hip and spine treatments yields similar long-term results.

So, why prioritize the hips?

• The hip joint stabilizes the lower part of the spine, making it essential for back support.
• Hip muscles connect to the pelvis, directly influencing Back-Hip connection & alignment.
• During walking, the hips absorb shock, but when weak, they shift the stress to your lower back.

By strengthening and treating the hips, you reduce pressure on your spine and target the root cause of chronic lower back pain.

Why Mechanics Fail? Let’s see below some examples:

First reason is the Sedentary Lifestyle: (e.g. sitting in poor posture for prolonged periods) can lead to shortening of iliopsoas and rectus femoris muscles. This cause anterior pelvic tilt, increasing the load on lumbar spine, which leads to low back pain.

Also, Improper training: of anterior vs. posterior of pelvic muscle groups. For example, gym routines that focus more on anterior muscles (e.g., quads, hip flexors) than on gluteal muscles, can overload the spine and knees.

Additional example of why mechanics fail:

Gluteus Medius Muscle: which located on the outer side of the hip is crucial for maintaining pelvic balance during single-leg stance. If it becomes weak, especially unilaterally (one side of the hip), during walking, the contralateral side (opposite side) of the pelvis drops, the body compensates with side bending of the lumbar spine (lower back) toward the opposite side this leads to repetitive mechanical stress → chronic low back pain.

Top Tips to Strengthen Your Hips and Speed Up Recovery

• Focus on strengthening and mobilizing your hips through exercises like clamshells, bridges, and other targeted movements.
• Incorporate glute activation, hip abduction, and pelvic control early in your exercise routine to build a strong foundation.
• Prioritizing hip-focused therapy can help speed up your short-term recovery and improve movement efficiency.

Dr. Mahmoud Sobhy

Physiotherapist

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