Once you get your hip injured, your entire mobility gets affected. Along with excruciating pain, you are confined to your bed for several days before walking freely again.

There are several factors that cause mild to serious hip injuries, some of which are as follows:

  • Sports injuries
  • Lifting excessive weight
  • Obesity
  • Performing physically repetitive motions for too long
  • Road traffic accident (RTA)

While some of these causes are under our control, others cannot be seen coming your way. Most senior citizens get their hips damaged via osteoarthritis. The cartilage inflammation results in stiffness, swelling, and pain. If you belong to Gurgaon and any of your elderly family members encounter hip arthritis, seek the best hip osteoarthritis treatment in Gurgaon.

In other cases, make sure you reach out to the best ortho doctors in Gurgaon if the hip injuries get serious.

However, prevention is always better than cure. If you prevent injuring your hip, you won’t need to visit an orthopedic doctor. Especially if you are an athlete or indulge in frequent physical activities, always ensure that you carry yourself with care and precision.

Here are 10 effective ways to prevent hip injuries and save yourself a trip to an ortho doctor:

1. Always Keep A Good Posture

Most hip injuries come without warning signs. It is advisable to avoid all potential circumstances that may increase the risk of hip injuries, starting with maintaining a good posture.

Good posture helps you keep your hips sturdy. The hip flexor muscles connect your torso with the legs, defining your complete posture. Poor posture results in tighter hip flexors, leading to an unwanted tilt in the front of your pelvis. This prevents your hip joint from functioning well.

2. Warm Up Carefully

Never make the mistake of warming up recklessly as an athlete. You may end up damaging your hips if you’re careless while warming up. However, ignoring a good warm-up altogether can also increase the chances of damaging your hips. Your muscles need some time to get the blood pumping before you start playing your sport.

Take a quick walk or go for a light job while warming up to keep your hips healthy and safe from unwanted injuries.

3. Give Importance To Stretching

While this applies to most athletes, stretching is important for everyone who wants to avoid hip injuries. After warming up your muscles, it is advisable to stretch your lower body out to ensure your hip joint’s mobility.

Side-to-side lunging, knee pull-in plank, and clamshells are some of the most common stretching exercises that help you keep your hips healthy.

4. Go For Strength Training For Different Muscles Groups Daily

Even the best orthopedic surgeon in Gurgaon would suggest strength training to prevent hip injuries. Ensure that you exercise different muscle groups each day to keep hip injuries at bay, especially issues like a torn hip labrum.

Strength training helps you keep your abductors and adductors healthy. Athletes should prefer trunk rotation and extension exercises to prevent unwanted hip injuries while playing. If you work out regularly to build lean muscle mass, gradually increase the weight you lift by 10% every week until you get to your goals.

5. Mix Your Training Regimes

Some of the fittest athletes keep changing their training regimes to keep their bones and muscles healthy. Go for effective cross-training and indulge in activities like swimming, biking, walking, and strength training to keep your hips strong.

6. Know When To Stop

Along with maintaining the right posture and performing the right exercises, it is important to know when to stop, especially if you start experiencing hip pain. Even if the pain is mild, stay away from lunges, deep squats, deadlifts, and other similar activities that put pressure on your hips. Wait for the pain to subside before getting back to physical activities. However, if the pain doesn’t go away or gets worse with time, approach the best orthopedic surgeon in Gurgaon to diagnose the issue.

7. Relax After Ensuring Physical Stress

Whether you are heading back home from the gym, getting off the field after a game, or finishing any physically stressful activity, do not forget to take some time off. Let your muscles and bones calm down before you perform any other physically demanding activity.

Taking some time off after performing stressful physical activities lets your body recover itself. If your hips have endured extensive pressure, they need some time to regain normalcy before you can exert any more pressure on them.

8. Maintain A Healthy Body Weight

A lot of hip injuries are caused due to obesity. Excessive body weight puts more pressure on your hip joint and muscles as you perform any physical activity. Over time, your body weight is likely to make your hips weak and prone to injuries. Obesity is one of the most common hip osteoarthritis symptoms.

Keep your diet healthy and exercise regularly to maintain healthy body weight, irrespective of your age.

9. Check Your Sleeping Positions

While it is not completely under your control, try checking your sleeping positions to maintain a healthy hip posture. The muscles and ligaments near your hips relax and heal as you sleep. Sleeping in awkward and stressful positions prevents this healing process, making your hips weak.

Here are a few ways in which you can improve your posture while sleeping:

  • Put a firm pillow between your knees to reduce stress on your hips and lower back
  • Pull your knees closer to your chest
  • Ensure that the pillow under your head keeps your spine straight
  • You can keep a small pillow or a rolled towel under your waist

10. Choose The Right Footwear

Whether you are going for a game or a walk, ensure that you choose footwear that isn’t ill-fitting and uncomfortable. Along with your feet, your footwear affects your legs and hips as well. Inappropriate footwear hampers your body balance as you walk, jog, or run, increasing the risk of hip injuries.

The Final Word

These were some of the most important tips to prevent hip injuries and serious health complications. However, if you experience pain, stiffness, swelling, or discomfort in your hips, seek immediate medical attention from your orthopedic surgeon.